THE    STATE    OF    PRISONS 


AND   OF 


CHILD-SAVING    INSTITUTIONS. 


THE 


STATE  OF  PRISONS 

AND   OF 

CHILD-SAVING   INSTITUTIONS 

IN 

THE    CIVILIZED    WORLD. 


BY 

E.  C.  WINES,  D.D.,  LL.D., 
I 

HONORARY  PRESIDENT  OF   THE   INTERNATIONAL  PENITENTIARY  CONGRESS 
OF  STOCKHOLM. 


CAMBRIDGE: 

UNIVERSITY   PRESS:   JOHN   WILSON  &  SON. 
1880. 


Copyright,  1879, 
BY  FRED.  H.  WINES. 


PREFACE. 


present  work  is  the  result  of  eighteen  years  of  close 
study  and  wide  observation.  It  is  a  vast  repository  of 
facts,  relating  to  a  vital  interest  of  society,  which  in  our  day 
belongs  more  to  the  domain  of  statesmanship  than  to  that 
of  philanthropy.  What  chiefly  concerns  the  reader  is  to  be 
assured  that  the  record  is  trustworthy,  —  that  what  claim  to  be 
facts  are  such  in  reality.  In  order  to  this  assurance  he  must 
be  satisfied  as  to  the  character  of  the  sources  from  which  the 
record  is  made  up.  The  guarantees  of  trustworthiness  offered 
by  the  author  are  these :  — 

1.  Much  the  larger  portion  of  the  facts  contained  in  this  vol- 
ume is  drawn  from  official  communications  personally  addressed 
to  him  by  the  various  Governments  of    the  world. 

2.  Another  considerable  part  has  been  furnished  by  printed 
reports  stamped  with  the  official  seal. 

3.  A  large  amount  of  information  has  been  communicated  by 
experts,  specialists,  and  functionaries  of  various  name  and  grade, 
in  a  correspondence  extending  to  every  region  of  the  globe,  and 
running  through  a  long  series  of  years. 

4.  The  author  has  been  materially  aided  in  his  work  by  not  a 
few  of  the  diplomatic  and  consular  officers  of  the  United  States, 
who,  through  the  courtesy  of  the  State  Department  both  under 
Secretary  Fish  and  Secretary  Evarts,  have  supplied  him  with 
numerous  interesting  details  relating  to  the  penitentiary  systems 
and   administrations  of  the  several  countries  to  which  they  have 
been  accredited. 

5.  The  information  so  obtained  has  been  verified,  corrected,  or 
supplemented,  as  the  case  might  be,  by  the  personal  observations 
of  the  author  in  nearly  all  the  more  important  prisons  and  States 
of  Europe  and  America,  as  well  as  through  personal  converse 
with   numerous  officials    conspicuously  connected  with    the  ad- 
ministration of  penal  justice  and  prison  discipline  in  the  same 
countries. 


VI  PREFACE. 

The  author  finds  it  impossible  to  thank  by  name  all  who  have 
lent  him  a  helping  hand  in  this  labor,  for  while  the  catalogue 
would  be  too  long,  some  names  would  be  unavoidably  omitted. 
He  begs  therefore,  in  this  general  way,  to  convey  to  his  help- 
ers, one  and  all,  his  profound  acknowledgments  and  most  sin- 
cere thanks  for  their  assistance,  given  with  an  alacrity  equal  to 
its  generosity,  though  often  amid  pressing  engagements,  and  at 
the  sacrifice,  it  may  be,  of  more  important  as  well  as  more  agree- 
able duties. 

The  reader  of  these  pages  cannot  fail  to  be  impressed  with  the 
extraordinary  degree  of  thought  and  activity  now  being  given 
by  the  Governments  of  the  civilized  world,  and  by  the  wise  and 
good  of  all  countries,  to  the  problem  of  making  crime  less  than 
it  is.  If  the  present  work  shall  hasten  by  an  hour  the  coming 
of  the  auspicious  day,  when  effective  agencies  shall  be  applied 
to  the  repression  and  still  more  to  the  prevention  of  crime,  which 
is  a  perpetual  menace  to  the  peace  and  order  of  society,  the  author 
will  not  have  lost  his  reward.  An  ideal  system,  such  as  the  author 
conceives  might  accomplish  the  end  in  view,  if  adopted  on  con- 
viction and  faithfully  carried  into  effect,  is  briefly  sketched  in  the 
concluding  Book  of  the  present  volume,  to  which  special  attention 
is  invited. 

E.  C.  W. 


IRVINGTON-ON-THE-HUDSON,  NEW  YORK, 

December,  1879. 


NOTE.  —  Within  three  days  after  writing  the  above  Preface,  and  while  the 
proof-sheets  of  some  ninety  pages  of  his  book  were  yet  unrevised  by  him,  the 
author  suddenly  died,  almost  without  premonitory  symptoms  of  any  approach- 
ing fatal  disease.  The  work,  however,  has  been  completed  in  exact  accord- 
ance with  his  well-known  plans  and  wishes,  and  is  now  committed  by  the 
family  and  friends  of  Dr.  WINES  to  the  public,  with  the  devout  desire  that  all 
which  he  had  so  ardently  hoped  for  it  may  be  abundantly  fulfilled. 


CONTENTS. 


JFtrst 

AN   HISTORICAL  REVIEW   OF   PRISON    REFORM   AND 
CHILD-SAVING   WORK. 


PART    FIRST. 

/ 

PRISON   REFORM. 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.     Dark  Ages  of  Prison  Life I 

II.     Early  Breathings  towards  Prison  Reform  in  England      .     .  6 

III.  An  Effective  Advance  in  Italy 7 

IV.  Further  Progress  in  England 8 

V.     Remarkable  Progress  in  Belgium 10 

VI.    John  Howard  and  his  Work  of  Prison  Reform 12 

VII.     Prison  Reform  after  Howard's  Death 15 

VIII.     Mrs.  Fry  and  her  Prison  Work 16 

IX.     Sir  Robert  Peel's  consolidated  Jail-Act 18 

X.     Work  of  the  London  Prison-Discipline  Society       ....  18 

XI.     Dark  Age  of  Prison  Life  in  the  United  States   .^  .     .     .     .  22 
XII.     Beginning  and  Progress  of  Prison  Reform  in  the  United 

States 23 

XIII.  Struggle  between  the  Pennsylvania  and  Auburn  System      .  25 

XIV.  Further  Progress  of  Prison  Reform  in  England      ....  27 
XV.     Reformation  of  the  Criminal,  or  Protection  of  Society    .     .  29 

XVI.     The  Question  of  Transportation  in  England 30 

XVII.     Prison  Reform  in  Spain  by  Montesinos 30 

XVIII.     Prison  Reform  by  Obermaier  in  Germany  and  Despine  in 

Savoy 32 

XIX.     Maconochie's  Work  at   Norfolk  Island,  and   Crofton's  in 

Ireland 32 

XX.     Count  Sollohub's  Experiment  in  Russia 33 

'    XXI.     Prison  Reform  in  Sweden  under  Royal  Leadership     ...  34 

XXII.     Prison  Reform  in  France.  —  Royal  Prison  Society  of  1819.  36 
XXIII.     Prison  Reform  in  France  (continued}. —  M.  Charles  Lucas, 

his  Writings  and  Labors 37 


Vlll 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

XXIV.  Prison  Reform  in  France  (concluded}.  —  More  recent  Move  • 

ments 40 

XXV.     Recent  Progress  in  Belgium 42 

XXVI.     International  Prison  Congresses 42 

XXVII.     Congress  of  Frankfort,  1845 43 

XXVIII.     Congress  of  Brussels,  1846 44 

XXIX.     Congress  of  Frankfort,  1857 44 

XXX.     Congress  of  London,  1872 45 

XXXI.     Congress  of  Stockholm,  1878 57 

XXXII.     Professional  Education  of  Prison  Officers 65 


PART   SECOND. 

CHILD-SAVING  WORK. 

XXXIII.     Child-Saving  Work  among  the  Ancient  Hebrews   ....  67 

XXXIV.     Child-Saving  Work  in  the  Primitive  Christian  Church    .     .  69 

XXXV.     Supreme  Importance  of  this  Work 71 

XXXVI.     Child-Saving  Work  in  Germany 73 

XXXVII.     Child-Saving  Work  in  England 75 

XXXVIII.     Child-Saving  Work  in  the  United  States   .     ......  80 

XXXIX.     Child-Saving  Work  in  France 81 

XL.     Child-Saving  Work  in  other  Countries  .........  84 


3300ft  SeronlL 

THE   UNITED   STATES. 


PART   FIRST. 

UNITED   STATES   IN   GENERAL. 

I.     Special  Relation  of  United  States  Government  to  Prison 

Work 87 

II.     Early  History  of  Cellular  and  Associated  Imprisonment      .  90 

III.  Different  Classes  of  Prisons 92 

IV.  Aggregate  Value  of  Property.  —  Cells.  —  Officials.  —  Sala- 

ries. —  Cost  and  Earnings.  —  Sexes.  —  Foreigners    .    .  93 

V.     Vicious  Organization 95 

VI.     Public  Opinion  becoming  more  Enlightened 96 

VII.     Moral  Forces  replacing  Physical  Force 99 

VIII.     Actual  Problems  in  American  Prison  Management    .     .     .  100 

IX.     Religious  and  Educational  Agencies     .     . " 100 


CONTENTS. 


IX 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

X.    Proper  Size  of  Prisons 103 

XL     Prison  Industries. —Labor  Systems 106 

XII.     The  Contract  System  of  Prison  Labor 108 

XIII.  The  Lease  System  of  Prison  Labor in 

XIV.  Character  and  Causes  of  Crime 112 

XV.     Divers  Facts 114 

XVI.     County  Jails 115 

XVII.     Lock-ups 117 

XVIII.     Sentences  and  Executive  Clemency 119 

XIX.     Dietaries  and  Hygiene 120 

XX.     Aid  to  Discharged  Prisoners 121 

XXI.  Commutation  Laws.  —  Participation  in  Earnings    ....  123 

XXII.     Reformatory  and  Preventive  Institutions 125 

XXIII.  Child-Saving  Work  in  the  City  of  New  York 127 

XXIV.  Child-Saving  as  a  Preventive  of  Crime  in  New  York      .     .  130 
XXV.     Hopeful  Character  of  Child-Saving  Work 131 


PART   SECOND. 

INDIVIDUAL   STATES   OF  THE   AMERICAN   UNION. 

XXVI.     New  England  States.  — Massachusetts 133 

XXVII.  New  England  States  (continued}.  —  Rhode  Island    ...  136 

XXVIII.  New  England  States  (continued).  —  Connecticut       .     .     .  138 

XXIX.  New  England  States  (continued}.  —  New  Hampshire    .     .  140 

XXX.     New  England  States  (continued}.  —  Maine 145 

XXXI.     New  England  States  (concluded}. — Vermont 147 

XXXII.     Middle  States.  —  New  York 149 

XXXIII.  Middle  States  (continued}.  —  New  Jersey 154 

XXXIV.  Middle  States  (concluded}  .  —  Pennsylvania  ;  Delaware      .  157 
XXXV.     Western  States  —  Michigan  ;  West  Virginia 161 

XXXVI.     Western  States  (continued}.  —  Ohio 164 

XXXVII.     Western  States  (continued}.  —  Indiana 168 

XXXVIII.     Western  States  (continued}.  —  Illinois 171 

XXXIX.     Western  States  (continued}.  —  Wisconsin 173 

XL.     Western  States  (continued}.  —  Minnesota 177 

XLI.     Western  States  (continued}. —  Iowa 178 

XLII.  Western  States  (continued).  —  Kansas;   Colorado     .     .     .  180 

XLIII.     Western  States  (concluded}.  —  Nebraska 182 

XLIV.     Pacific  States.— California 184 

XLV.  Pacific  States  (concluded}.  —  Oregon;  Nevada      ....  186 

XLVI.     Southern  States. —  Texas;  Louisiana 188 

XLVII.  Southern  States  (continued}  —  Georgia  .......  191 

XLVI  1 1.  Southern  States  (continued}.  —  Florida;  South  Carolina  .  194 

XLIX.  Southern  States  (continued}.  —  Mississippi ;  Alabama      .  196 

L.  Southern  States  (continued}.  —  Arkansas  ;  Missouri     .     .  198 

LI.  Southern  States  (continued}. —  North  Carolina    ....  201 


CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

LI  I.     Southern  States  (continued}.  —  Virginia 203 

LIII.     Southern  States  (continued}.  —  Kentucky 205 

LIV.     Southern  States  (continued}.  —  Tennessee 207 

LV.     Southern  States  (concluded}.  —  Maryland 211 


PART  THIRD. 

SEAT   OF  GOVERNMENT. 
LVI.     District  of  Columbia 214 


GREAT  BRITAIN  AND   HER  DEPENDENCIES. 


PART   FIRST. 

HOME    COUNTRIES. 

I.     England.  —  Change  of  Prison  System 217 

II.     England  (continued}.  —  Progressive  Classification  in  Local 

Prisons 219 

III.     England  (continued}.  —  Centralization 219 

IV.     England   (continued}.  —  Diet    Scales. — Cumulative    Sen- 
tences    221 

V.     England   (continued}.  —  Religious   and    Scholastic    Instruc- 
tion.—  Libraries.  —  Buildings.  —  Moral  Action      .     .     .     221 
VI.     England  (continued}.  —  Reformatory  and  Preventive  Sys- 
tems        223 

VII.     England  (concluded). — Aid  to  Discharged  Prisoners      .     .     225 
VIII.     Scotland. — Transitional  Stage.  —  Convict  System    .     .     .     228 
IX.     Scotland  (continued). — County  Prisons.  —  Police  Supervi- 
sion.—  Aid  to  Discharged  Prisoners 229 

X.     Scotland  (continued).  —  A  new  Plan  Suggested  Extra-Offi- 

cially    .     • 230 

XI.     Scotland  (concluded).  —  Aid   to   Discharged  Prisoners. — 

Child-Saving  Institutions • 232 

XII.     Ireland.  —  Convict  System 233 

XIII.     Ireland  (continued).  —  County-Jail  System    ......     238 

XIV.     Ireland  (concluded).  —  Reformatory  and  Preventive  System    239 
XV.     Royal  Commission  on  Convict  Prisons.  —  Reforms  Recom- 
mended      r     240 


CONTENTS. 


XI 


PART   SECOND. 

COLONIAL  POSSESSIONS. 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

XVI.     Canada 248 

XVII.     Ontario 250 

XVIII.     Newfoundland -.     ...  251 

XIX.     Nova     Scotia.  —  New     Brunswick.  —  Prince     Edward's 
Island.  —  Vancouver    Island.  —  British    Columbia.  — 

Falkland  Islands.  —  Bermuda 253 

XX.    Jamaica 257 

XXI.     Bahamas 259 

XXII.     Trinidad 262 

XXIII.  St.  Vincent 265 

XXIV.  Grenada     . 266 

XXV.     Barbadoes 267 

XXVI.     Tobago 270 

XXVII.     Santa  Lucia .'    .     .  271 

XXVIII.     Antigua.— British  Honduras 273 

XXIX.     Mauritius 274 

XXX.     Turks  Islands.  —  British   Guiana.  —  St.  Kits.  —  Nevis.  — 

Virgin  Islands.  —  Dominica 278 

XXXI.     Gibraltar.  —  Natal 281 

XXXII.     Cape  of  Good  Hope 283 

XXXIII.  Gambia , 285 

XXXIV.  Malta.  —  St.  Helena 288 

XXXV.     Ceylon 289 

XXXVI.     New  Zealand 294 

XXXVII.     Fiji.  —  Straits  Settlement 297 

XXXVIII.     Labuan 299 

XXXIX.     New  South  Wales       .301 

XL.     South  Australia       304 

XLI.     Victoria 307 

XLII.     Queensland. —  Tasmania.  —  Western     Australia. —  Hong 

Kong 311 


PART   THIRD. 

EAST   INDIAN  EMPIRE. 

XLI  1 1.     Growth  of  the  Prison  System  in  India.  —  Lord  Macaulay's 

Committee  of  Inquiry  in  1836 314 

XLIV.     A  Second  Commission  in  1864  and  a  Third  in  1877  .     .     .  315 

XLV.     Jail  Code  of  Bengal 316 

XLVI.     Police.  —  Criminal    Courts.  —  Reports.  —  Prison    Popula- 
tion. —  Buildings.  —  Administration.  —  Employes.  — 

Cost.  —  Defective  Organization 317 

XLVI  I.     Prison  Statistics  —  Prison  Labor 820 

XLVIII.     Dietaries.  —  Discipline.  —  Schools 322 


Xll 


CHAPTER 

XLIX. 


L. 
LI. 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 


Prisoners  as  Warders.  —  Intermediate  Imprisonment  and 
Agricultural  Colonies.  —  Reconvictions.  —  Prison  Horti- 
culture.—  Mortality 325 

Convict  Settlement  on  the  Andaman  Islands 327 

Aid  to  Discharged  Prisoners.  —  Reformatories.  —  Conclu- 
sion       327 


Booft  jFourtlj. 

CONTINENTAL   EUROPE. 


PART    FIRST. 
FRANCE. 

lo     Prison  Administration 329 

II.     Explanation  of  Certain  Terms 329 

III.     Classification  of  Prisons 330 

IV.     Transfer  of  Prisoners 331 

V.     Law  of  1875 332 

VI.     Hygiene 332 

VII.     Classification  of  Sentences 332 

VIII.     Classification  of  Prisoners 333 

IX.     Earnings.  —  Peculium.  —  Labor 333 

X.     Personnel.  —  Other  Functionaries 334 

XI.     Special  Provision  for  Insane  Criminals 335 

XII.     Rewards  and  Punishments 336 

XIII.  Religious  and  Moral  Agencies 336 

XIV.  Illiteracy.  —  Schools.  —  Libraries 337 

XV.     All  Labor  Industrial.  —  Recidivists 337 

XVI.     Patronage  of  Liberated  Prisoners 338 

XVII.     Early  Development  of  Child-Saving  Work 338 

XVIII.     Demetz,  and  his  Work  at  Mettray 341 

XIX.     Movement  towards  Industrial  Schools 343 

XX.     Naval  and  Military  Prisons 344 

XXI.     Penal  Colonies 344 

XXII.     Prisons  in  Paris 345 

XXIII.     Additional  Items 350 


PART   SECOND. 

BELGIUM. 

XXIV.     Cellular  System 352 

XXV.     Classification  of  Prisons  and  Sentences 352 

XXVI.     Supervision.  —  Peculium.  —  Pistole 353 


CONTENTS. 


Xlll 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

XXVII.  The  Prison  Staffs 354 

XXVIII.  Professional  Education 355 

XXIX.  Schools.  —  Libraries.  —  Moral  Lectures 355 

XXX.  Religious  Instruction 356 

XXXI.  Prison  Labor 357 

XXXII.  Prison  Hygiene 358 

XXXIII.  The  Prisoner's  Day 358 

XXXIV.  Patronage 359 

XXXV.  Moral  Biography  of   Prisoners.  —  Question  of  Rewards  360 

XXXVI.  Public  Opinion  as  a  Governing  Force  in  Prisons  ....  361 

XXXVII.  Character  of  the  Discipline 362 

XXXVIII.  Reformatory  and  Preventive  Work 363 

PART   THIRD. 

SPAIN. 

XXXIX.  Noble  Words  by  Madame  Arenal 365 

XL.  Penal  Legislation 365 

XLI.  Classification  of  Punishments  and  Prisons 366 

XLII.  The  Detention  Prison  (Carcel} 368 

XLIII.  The  Penal  Prison  (Presidio) 371 

XLIV.  Spanish  Prisons  in  Africa 377 

XLV.  Prisons  for  Women 377 

XLVI.  Effect  of  Imprisonment 378 

XLVII.  Prison  Reform 379 

XLVIII.  Grounds  of  Encouragement 381 

XLIX.  Organization  of  a  General  Prison  Society 382 

L.  Further  Items  touching  Prison  Work  in  Spain     ....  383 


PART   FOURTH. 

TURKEY. 

LI.     Blacque  Bey's  Letter  to  the  Author 385 

LI  I.     Prisons  at  Erzroum,  Adrianople,  and  Cyprus 387 

LI  1 1.     General  Condition  of  Turkish  Prisons 389 

LIV.     Additional  Items  on  Turkish  Prisons 390 


PART   FIFTH. 

HOLLAND. 

LV.     Activity  in  Penitentiary  Reform 392 

LVI.     Cellular  System 392 

LVII.     Classification  of  Prisons  and  Prisoners.  —  Funds.  —  Pen- 
sions. —  Proportion  of  Women 393 


XIV 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

LVI 1 1.  Administration.  —  Inspection.  —  Officers. —  Discipline  .     .  394 

LIX.  Religious  and  Literary  Instruction 395 

LX.  Prison  Labor 396 

LXI.  Hygiene  of  the  Prisons 396 

LXII.  Reformatory  Action,  etc 397 

LXI  1 1.  Aid  to  Discharged  Prisoners 398 

LXIV.  Military  Prison  at  Leyden •     .     .  398 

LXV.  Cellular  Prison  at  Amsterdam 399 

LXVI.  Detention  Prison  at  the  Hague 400 

LXVII.  Child-Saving  Work.  — Netherlands  Mettray 400 

PART   SIXTH. 

THE   GERMAN   EMPIRE. 

LXVI  1 1.  New  Penal  Code 403 

LXIX.  Prison  Reform  Earnestly  Studied 403 

LXX.  Influence  of  Dr.  Julius  and  Professor  Mittermaier     .     .     .  404 

LXXI.  No  General  System  yet  Established 405 

LXXII.  Classification  of  Punishments  and  Prisons 405 

LXXI  1 1.  Progressive  Classification 406 

LXXIV.  Devotion  of  Baden  to  Penitentiary  Studies 407 

LXXV.  Interest  in  Prison  Reform  Shown  by  other  German  States  407 

LXXVI.  Baron  von  Holtzendorff 's  View  of  the  Irish  System  .     .     .  409 


PART   SEVENTH. 

INDIVIDUAL  STATES   OF  THE   GERMAN    UNION. 

LXXVII.     Prussia 4" 

LXXVIII.     Grand-Duchy  of  Baden 416 

LXXIX.     Bavaria - 4:9 

LXXX.     Saxony 424 

LXXXI.    Wiirtemberg 427 

LXXXII.     Frankfort-on-the-Maine 429 

LXXXI  1 1.     Grand-Duchy  of  Brunswick 43° 

LXXXIV.     Bremen .434 

LXXXV.     Hamburg 437 

LXXXVI.     Liibec     . 442 

LXXXVII.     Principality  of  Reuss 443 


PART   EIGHTH. 

AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN  EMPIRE. 

LXXXVIII.    Austria.  — Progress  since  1872 447 

LXXXIX.     Austria  (continued}.  —  Administration.  —  Prisons.  —  Pris- 
on System.  —  Support.  —  Pensions 448 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER 

xc. 


xv 


PACK 


Austria  (continued].  —  Discipline.  —  Religion.  —  Educa- 
tion. —  Libraries     .     • 450 

XCI.    Austria  (concluded}.  —  Labor.  —  Hygiene.  —  Qualifica- 
tions of  Officers.  —  Imprisonment  for  Debt.  —  Causes  of 

Crime.  —  Aid  to  Liberated  Prisoners 452 

XCI  I.     Hungary  and  Croatia.  —  Recent  Progress 454 

XCI  1 1.     Hungary  and  Croatia  (continued).  —  Public  Opinion  Fa- 
vorable to  Progressive  System 455 

XCIV.     Hungary  and  Croatia  (continued],  —  Progressive  System 

Adopted 456 

XCV.     Hungary  and  Croatia  (concluded}.  —  Results  of  Progjres- 

sive  System .    460 


PART   NINTH. 

RUSSIAN   EMPIRE. 

XCVI.     Russia  Proper.  —  Recent  Progress 462 

XCVII.     Russia  (continued].  — The  Empress's  Interest  in  Prison 

Reform 464 

XCVIII.     Russia  (concluded}.—  Additional  Items 465 

XCIX.     Finland.  —  General  View  of  the  Prison  Question    .     .     .  467 

C.     Finland  (concluded].  —  Additional  Items 469 

CI.     Poland.  —  Early  Efforts  towards  Child-Saving    ....  470 
CII.     Poland  (continued].  —  Agricultural  Penitentiaries  and  In- 
dustrial Asylums 471 

CII  I.     Poland  (continued}.  —  Family  System  Adopted  for  Peni- 
tentiary Colonies 472 

CIV.     Poland  (continued}.  —  Inmates.  —  Labor.  —  Education.  — 

Establishment  for  Girls 473 

CV.     Poland  (concluded}.  —  Comprehensive  Plan  of  Industrial 

Asylums 474 


PART   TENTH. 

PORTUGAL. 

CVI.     Difficulty  in  Obtaining  Information 476 

CVII.     Condition  of  Prisons 477 

CVI  1 1.     Accessibility  of  the  Prisons  to  the  Outside  World  .     .     .  477 

CIX.     Hardening  Effect  of  Contact  with  the  Outside  World  .     .  478 

CX.     Bad  Effect  of  Long  Delay  of  Trial 479 

CXI.     The  Remedy  for  such  Delay 480 


XVI 


CONTENTS. 


PART  ELEVENTH. 

ITALY. 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

CXI  I.     Classes  of  Prisons.  —  Administration 481 

CXI  1 1.     Aim  of  the  Discipline 481 

CXIV.     Religion.  —  Schools. —  Libraries 482 

CXV.     Prison  Labor 483 

CXVI.     Reformatory  Results.  —  Classes  and  Causes  of  Crime      .  483 

CXVII.     Child-Saving  Work 484 

CXVI  1 1.     Agricultural  Penitentiary  Colonies 485 

CXIX.    Three  Penal  Codes  Proposed.  —  Additional  Agricultural 

Colonies 486 

CXX.     Improvements  Recently  Introduced 486 

CXXI.     Public  Interest  in  Prison  Reform 488 

CXXII.     Advance  in  Child-Saving  Work 488 

CXXI  1 1.     Work  of  Patronage  Extended.  —  Activity  of  the  Press     .  489 

CXXIV.     Professional  Training  for  Prison  Officers 489 


V      PART  TWELFTH. 

SCANDINAVIAN   COUNTRIES. 

CXXV.     Denmark.  —  Historical  Sketch  of  the  Prison  Question    .  491 

CXXVI.     Denmark  (continued}.  —  Earnest  Work  Done  since  1840  492 
CXXVII.     Denmark  (continued}.  —  Patronage  Well  Organized  and 

Effective 492 

CXXVII  I.     Denmark    (continued}.  —  Progressive    System    Adopted 

in  its  Entirety 493 

CXX IX.     Denmark    (continued}.  —  Remarkable    Success    of   the 

System 496 

CXXX.     Denmark  (continued}.  —  Frequent  Visitation  of  Prison- 
ers in  Cells 497 

CXXXI.     Denmark   (continued).  —  Cellular   Detention   Prison  at 

Copenhagen • 497 

CXXXI  I.     Denmark  (continued}.  —  Child-Saving  Work       ....  498 
CXXXI  1 1.     Denmark  (concluded}.  —  Prisons  in   Iceland.  —  Peniten- 
tiary Journal 499 

CXXXIV.     Sweden.  —  Royal  Administration  of  Prisons      ....  499 
CXXXV.     Sweden    (continued}.  —  Classes    of    Prisons.  —  Staff.— 

Personnel 501 

CXXXVI.     Sweden  (continued}. —  Model  Prison  for  Young  Criminals  502 

CXXXVII.     Sweden  (continued}.  —  Methods  of   Instruction     .     *     .  505 

CXXXVI  1 1.     Sweden  (continued}.  —  Moral  and  Religious  Instruction  .  508 

CXXX  IX.     Sweden  (continued}.  —  Prison  Labor 509 

CXL.     Sweden  (continued}.  —  Discipline 511 

CXLI.     Sweden  (continued}.  —  Hygiene 511 

CXLII.     Sweden  (continued'}.  —  Aid  to  Discharged  Prisoners       .  512 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER 

CXLIII. 

CXLIV. 

CXLV. 

CXLVI. 

CXLVII. 

CXLVI  1 1. 

CXLIX. 

CL. 

CLI. 

CLII. 


XV11 

PAGE 

Sweden  (concluded}.  —  Child- Saving  Work 512 

Norway.  —  Classes  of  Prisons.  —  Administration    .     .     .  513 
Norway    (continued}. —  Public    Opinion    Favorable  to 

the  Progressive  System 515 

Norway  (continued}.  —  Penitentiary  at  Christiania     .     .  515 
Norway  (continued}.  —  Fortress  Prison  at  Christiania    .  519 
Norway   (continued}.  —  House  of  Correction  at  Chris- 
tiania    521 

Norway  (continued}.  —  Detention  Prison  at  Christiania  521 

Norway  (continued}.  —  Prison  Labor 522 

Norway  (continued}.  —  Recent  Improvements  .     •     .     -  524 

Norway  (concluded}.  —  Child-Saving  Work 524 


PART   THIRTEENTH. 

SWITZERLAND. 

CLII  I.    Extraordinary  Progress  Realized  within  the  Last  Few 

Years 526 


PART   FOURTEENTH. 

GREECE. 
CLIV.     Penal  Legislation.  —  Prison  System  and  Administration  .     529 


MEXICO   AND   CENTRAL   AMERICA. 


PART   FIRST. 
MEXICO. 

I.  No  Central  Authority.  —  Prisons  in  Capital.  —  Reforma- 
tory Institutions.  —  Political  Offenders.  —  Prison  Sys- 
tem. —  Results 533 

II.     Encouragement  to  Prisoners 534 

III.  Moral  and  Religious  Agencies.  —  Education 535 

IV.  Prison  Labor 53^ 

V.     Aim  of  Punishment.  —  Imprisonment  for  Debt.  —  Causes 

of  Crime.  —  Obstacles  to  Reform 537 


xviii  CONTENTS. 


PART   SECOND. 

CENTRAL    AMERICA. 
CHAPTER  PAGE 

VI.     Guatemala.  —  Prisons.  —  Population.  —  Proportion    of 
Women.  —  Inspection.  —  Officials.  —  Appointment  and 

Qualifications.  —  Discipline 539 

VII.  Guatemala  (continued).  —  Moral  and  Religious  Instruc- 
tion. —  Correspondence  and  Visits.  —  Education.  —  Per- 
centage of  Females.  —  Labor.  —  Expenses 540 

VII  I.     Guatemala     (continued).  —  Hygiene.  —  Sentences .  —  Ex- 
ecutive Clemency.  —  Commutation.  —  Recidivists      .     .     541 
IX.     Guatemala  (continued).  —  Character  and  Causes  of  Crime. 

—  Defects.  —  Reforms  Needed 543 

X.  Guatemala  (concluded).  —  Efforts  toward  Reform.  —  Prog- 
ress Realized.  —  Criminal  Justice.  —  No  Needless  De- 
lays.—  Apparent  Increase  of  Crime 545 


Book  Ststfj. 

SOUTH   AMERICA. 
PART  FIRST. 

UNITED  STATES   OF  COLUMBIA. 

I.     State  of  Prisons  in  1870.  —  Efforts  toward  Reform  ...     547 
II.     Death   Penalty.  —  Model  Prison  at   Bogota".  —  Labor. — 
Education.  —  Encouragements  to   Prisoners.  —  Orphan 
Asylum 54-8 

III.  Penal  Legislation.  —  State  Penitentiary  of  Boyaczi.—  In- 

struction, Scholastic  and  Religious.  —  Under-Officers.  — 
Discharged  Convicts 549 

IV.  Progressive  System  Described 550 


PART  SECOND. 

BRAZIL. 

V.     Political  Constitution.  — Judiciary  System.  —  General  Ad- 
ministration.—  Inspection.  —  Internal   Administration.     552 
VI.     Convict  Prison.  —  Labor. — Moral  and  Religious   Agen- 
cies.—  Penitentiary   System.  —  Progressive   Plan   Pro- 
posed.—  Hard-Labor  Prisons 553 

VII.     Imprisonment  of  Slaves.  —  Appointment  of  Employe's. — 

Discipline.  —  Religious  Education.  —  Prison  Labor  .     .     554 


CONTENTS.  xix 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

VIII.     Hygiene.  —  Sentences    and    their    Consequents.  —  Death 

Penalty.  —  Aid  to  Liberated  Prisoners 556 

IX.  Type  of  Crime.  —  Preventive  Institutions.  —  No  Prison 
Code.  —  No  General  System.  —  Progressive  System  Fa- 
vored   558 


PART  THIRD. 
PERU. 

X.     Historical  Re'sume' 560 

XI.     Penitentiary  of    Lima.  —  Prison   System.  —  Labor.  —  Re- 
sults          .....     561 


PART   FOURTH. 

ARGENTINE   REPUBLIC. 

XII.     Administration  of  Criminal  Justice 565 

XIII.  Detention  Prisons 566 

XIV.  Penitentiary  of  Buenos  Ayres 567 


Boofc  Se&entff. 

OTHER   COUNTRIES. 


PART  FIRST. 

HAWAII. 

I.     Historical  Sketch 569 

II.     Prison  System 570 

III.  Prison  Administration 570 

IV.  Discipline 571 

V.     Religious,  Moral,  and  Educational  Agencies 571 

VI.     Prison  Labor.  —  Prison  Hygiene 571 

VII.     Sentences.  —  Executive    Clemency.  —  Death    Penalty.— 

Imprisonment  for  Debt 572 

VIII.     Recidivists.  —  Discharged  Prisoners.  —  Witnesses  .     •     .  573 

IX.     Reformatory  Institution 573 

X.     Preventive  Agencies 574 


XX 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER 

XI. 

XII. 
XIII. 

XIV. 


XV. 


PART   SECOND. 


LIBERIA. 


PAGE. 


Common  Jail.  —  Religious  Agencies.  —  Character  of  Crime. 

—  No  Prison  Schools  or  Libraries.  —  Lectures  .  .  .  575 

Labor.  —  Hygiene.  —  Sentences 575 

Imprisonment  for  Debt.  —  Reformation.  —  Deterrence. — 

No  Aid  Societies.  —  Witnesses 576 

Character  of  Crime. — No  Reformatory  Institutions.— 

Government  Not  Satisfied.  —  Administration  of  Crimi- 

inal  Justice 577 

Additional  Items  on  Liberian  Prisons 577 


PART   THIRD. 

EMPIRE  OF   MOROCCO. 

XVI.     Administration  of  Criminal  Justice 578 

XVII.     Administration  of  Prisons 578 

XVIII.     Prisons  in  the  Interior. — At  Tangier. — At  Fez      .     .     .  579 

XIX.     Justice  Administered  by  a  Religious  Code 579 

XX.     Officials.  — Abuses 579 


PART   FOURTH. 

SI  AM. 

XXI.    Siamese  Jails. —Cruelties  Practised 581 

XXII.     Punishments.  — Abuses.  —  Inoffensiveness  of  the  Siamese     581 


PART   FIFTH. 

PERSIA. 

XXIII.  Fixity  of  Koranic   Law. —  Modified   Interpretations  and 

Applications 582 

XXIV.  Promptness  of  Persian  Justice.  —  Penalties.  —  Cruelties.  — 

Lynch  Law 582 

XXV.     Prisons  of  Persia.  —  Abuses  by  Jailers 583 


CONTENTS. 


XXI 


PART  SIXTH. 

CHINA. 
CHAPTER 

XXVI.     Criminal  Laws  of  China 585 

XXVII.     Prisons  and  Prison  Administration  in  Canton 586 

XXVIII.     Abuses  in  Prison  Administration 592 

PART   SEVENTH. 

JAPAN. 

XXIX.  Preliminary  Statement 595 

XXX.  Historical  Review 595 

XXXI.  Prison  System 597 

XXXII.  Prison  Administration.  —  Officials.  —  Qualifications      .     .  597 

XXXIII.  Reformation.  —  Means   Employed.  —  Rewards.  —  Punish- 

ments      598 

XXXIV.  Religion.  —  Education.  —  Correspondence.  —  Visits.  — 

Women 599 

XXXV.     Prison  Labor.—  Its  Results 600 

XXXVI.     Sanitary  State  of  the  Prisons 601 

XXXVII.     Sentences.  —  Life  Prisoners.  —  Death   Penalty.  —  Impris- 
onment for  Debt 602 

XXXVIII.     Reformatory  Results.  —  Liberated  Prisoners 603 

XXXIX.     Reformatory  Institutions 603 


Boofc 

MISCELLANEOUS   POINTS. 


PART   FIRST. 

IDEAL  SYSTEM  OF    INSTITUTIONS  FOR    THE  PREVENTION  AND 
REPRESSION  OF  CRIME. 

I.     Minimization  of  Crime 605 

II.     Supreme  Central  Authority  Needed.  —  Gradation  of  Insti- 
tutions    606 

III.  Preventive  Institutions 607 

IV.  Reformatory  Institutions 610 

V.     The  Lock-up. — The  County  Jail 611 

VI.     Bases  of  a  Reformatory  Prison  Discipline 613 

VII.     Agencies  to  be  Used  in  Reforming  Criminals 616 

VIII.     Professional  Education  of  Prison  Officers 624 

IX.     Care  of  Discharged  Prisoners 625 


XX11 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER 

x. 

XI. 

XII. 

XIII. 

XIV. 

XV. 

XVI. 


PAGE 

The  Juvenile  Prisons 625 

The  House  of  Correction,  or  District  Prison 629 

Prisons  for  Women 630 

State-Prisons  for  Men 630 

Subsidiary  Suggestions 632 

Criminal  Reform 640 

Conclusion 604 


PART    SECOND. 

CRIME,  — ITS   CAUSES  AND   CURE. 

XVII.     Despine's  View  as  to  the  Role  of  Science  in  the  Matter 

of  Criminality 641 

XVIII.     Despine's  View  of  the  Treatment  of  Criminals  Suggested 

by  Science 650 

XIX.     Critique  on  Despine's  Philosophy 655 


PART  THIRD. 

STUDIES   IN  PENITENTIARY   SCIENCE. 

XX.     Mode  of  Executing  Penalties 66 1 

XXI.     Assimilation  of  Penalties 663 

XXII.     Transportation.  —  Inspection 666 

XXIII.  Prison  Statistics 667 

XXIV.  Professional  Education  of  Prison  Officers 669 

XXV.     Disciplinary  Punishments 671 

XXVI.     Conditional  Liberation 672 

XXVII.     Cellular  System 673 

XXVIII.     Duration  of  Cellular  Separation 674 

XXIX.     Patronage • 675 

XXX.     State  Aid  to  Patronage 678 

XXXI.     Reformatory  Institutions 679 

XXXII.     Preventive  Institutions 682 

XXXIII.     International  Police 684 

XXXIV.     Relapse 685 


PART    FOURTH. 

CHILD-SAVING  INSTITUTIONS   IN   GERMANY. 

XXXV.     Origin  of  these  Institutions. — Their  Character       .     .     .  688 

XXXVI.     History  of  German  Child-Saving  Institutions 689 

XXXVII.     Leading    Principles.  —  Conditions    of    Success.  —  Congre- 
gate and  Family  Systems  .     .'    ." 693 


CONTENTS.  Xxiii 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

XXXVIII.     Discipline.  —  Religious  Education.  —  Discharge.     .     .     .     699 
XXXIX.     Results 700 


A  Plan  for  Giving  Breadth,  Stability,  and  Permanence  to  the  Work  of 

Crime-Prevention  and  Crime-Repression 703 


STATE    OF    PRISONS 

AND 

CHILD-SAVING    INSTITUTIONS    IN    THE 
CIVILIZED   WORLD. 


AN    HISTORICAL    REVIEW    OF   PRISON    REFORM   AND 
CHILD-SAVING    WORK. 


PART     FIRST. 

PRISON    REFORM. 

CHAPTER  I.  —  DARK  AGES  OF  PRISON  LIFE. 

THE  "dark  ages"  of  prison  life  were  very  dark.  They  were 
also  long  and  dreary,  extending  from  the  origin  of  civil 
societies  to  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century  of  the 
Christian  era.  It  will  be  enough  to  recall  the  names  of  the 
Mamertine  at  Rome,  the  Tower  of  London,  the  Bastile  in  Paris, 
the  Spielberg  in  Austria,  the  Plombs  of  Venice,  the  Mines  of 
Siberia,  and  the  Dungeons  of  the  Inquisition,  as  types  of  tens  of 
thousands  of  others,  less  renowned  but  no  less  cruel,  in  all  ages 
and  all  parts  of  the  world.  The  terrific  personification  of  punish- 
ment in  the  Hindu  code  was  a  living  reality  in  them  all :  "  Pun- 
ishment is  the  inspirer  of  TERROR  ;  with  a  black  aspect  and  a 
red  eye  it  terrifies  the  guilty."  No  sentiment  of  humanity 
towards  the  prisoner  seems  ever  to  have  penetrated  the  breast  of 
his  jailer ;  no  look  or  tone  of  kindness  ever  to  have  saluted  the 
culprit's  senses,  or  soothed  the  misery  of  his  incarceration.  The 
inscription  over  the  entrance  of  Dante's  "  Inferno,"  —  "  Let  all 
who  enter  here  leave  hope  behind,"  —  stood,  through  centuries 
and  cycles,  over  all  the  prison  gates  of  the  world,  crushing  every 
aspiration  and  paralyzing  all  effort,  except  the  effort  to  escape 
from  the  hated  hell. 

The  prison  existed  in  China  more  than  two  thousand  years 
before  the  vulgar  era.  In  a  Chinese  work,  entitled  "  Shu-king," 
bearing  date  about  2600  years  before  Christ,  mention  is  made  of 
the  punishment  of  the  prison.  The  emperor  Yao,  it  is  therein 


2  HISTORICAL  REVIEW  OF  PRISON  REFORM.          [BOOK  I. 

related,  having  occasion  to  punish  four  disturbers  of  his  kingdom, 
banished  three  of  them,  and  kept  the  fourth  closely  confined  in 
prison.  A  curious  story  is  told  of  the  young  king  Tai-Kia,  who, 
deaf  to  the  monitions  of  his  minister  Y-in,  instead  of  following  the 
example  of  his  predecessors,  gave  himself  up  to  every  species  of 
vice.  The  minister  tried  to  reform  him  ;  but  the  king  would  not 
listen.  Thereupon  Y-in  declared :  "  The  conduct  of  the  king  is 
but  a  series  of  vices  ;  his  associations  accord  with  his  nature.  No 
communication  must  be  allowed  him  with  evil  companions.  I 
will  cause  to  be  built  a  palace  in  Tong.  There,  near  the  ashes  of 
his  royal  sire,  I  will  give  him  instructions,  to  the  end  that  he  may 
no  longer  pursue  a  vicious  life."  Accordingly  the  king  took  up 
his  solitary  abode  in  the  palace  of  Tong,  put  on  mourning  (a 
prison  dress  !),  and  at  length  entered  into  the  true  path  of  virtue. 
Was  this  the  first  case  of  separate  imprisonment  ?  Let  the 
cellurists  score  one  for  their  system,  for  it  is  the  only  case  on 
record,  in  all  antiquity,  of  a  reformed  prisoner. 

The  prison  was  not  one  of  the  institutions  given  by  Moses  to 
the  Hebrews.  It  crept  into  the  Hebrew  manners  at  a  later  day, 
but  is  nowhere  mentioned  in  the  "  Book  of  the  Law."  The  near- 
est approach  to  it  in  that  code  was  in  the  cities  of  refuge,  where 
persons  —  who,  having  committed  an  involuntary  homicide,  had 
fled  thither  to  escape  the  avenger  of  blood  —  were  kept  in 
duress  until  the  death  of  the  high  priest.  Still,  frequent  men- 
tion is  made  of  the  prison  in  the  sacred  books.  The  earliest 
instance  therein  recorded  is  that  of  Joseph,  who  was  thrust  into 
prison  on  the  false  accusation  of  a  shameless  woman,  —  the  wife  of 
Potiphar,  captain  of  the  guard,  —  where  he  lay  unjustly  immured 
for  years. 

To  render  the  punishment  of  imprisonment  more  or  less  severe, 
the  prison  would  seem  to  have  consisted  of  different  parts.  First, 
there  were  subterranean  dungeons,  to  which  the  descent  was  by 
means  of  ropes,  and  in  which  the  prisoner  remained  sunk  in  mud 
and  mire,  exposed  to  a  lingering  death  (Jer.  xxxviii.  6).  Then 
there  was  the  prison  proper,  in  which  the  prisoners  were  ordi- 
narily confined  (Josephus,  1.  10 ;  c.  10).  Finally,  there  was  the 
"court  of  the  prison,"  where  the  prisoners  enjoyed  the  open  air, 
and  could  converse  and  transact  business  with  their  friends  (Jer. 
xxxii.  7-12).  Of  Samson,  when  taken  by  the  Philistines  and 
thrown  into  prison,  it  is  recorded  that  "  he  did  grind  corn  in  the 
prison-house."  From  this  it  would  appear  that  prisoners  were 
sometimes  at  least  put  to  work,  and  their  labor  turned  to  account. 
It  further  appears,  from  the  before  cited  Chinese  book^  "  Shu- 
king,"  that  a  certain  considerable  enclosure  of  land  in  China  was 
assigned  to  the  inmates  of  a  prison.  "  It  would  thus  seem,"  says 
Mr.  Beltrani-Scalia,  "  that  the  convicts  were  employed  in  cultivat- 
ing the  soil  on  which  they  lived.  Was  not  this  a  sort  of  agricul- 


PART  i.]  DARK  AGES  OF  PRISON  LIFE.  3 

tural  colony,  on  the  invention  of  which  our  age  so  much  prides 
itself  ? " 

Tortures  of  a  horrible  severity  were  practised  upon  prisoners 
by  the  ancient  Persians,  Egyptians,  Phoenicians,  and  Carthagin- 
ians. The  word  "  prison  "  among  those  peoples  meant  a  place  of 
sighs  and  groans  and  weeping,  —  an  abode  most  hideous,  loath- 
some, and  terrific.  Hence  my  friend,  and  the  friend  of  all  who 
seek  the  improvement  of  prisons  and  prisoners,  Signer  Beltrani- 
Scalia,  well  remarks :  "  Not  short  would  be  the  narration,  if  I 
should  here  produce  all  the  historical  attestations  of  the  cruelty 
and  ferocity  that  characterized  the  treatment  of  prisoners  among 
the  nations  of  the  East." 

Torture  was  not  only  freely  employed,  but  was  even  studied  as 
a  science,  so  that  the  greatest  possible  amount  of  pain  might  be 
inflicted  without  destroying  life,  and  in  such  manner  that  the 
wretched  object  might  soonest  be  ready  to  undergo  it  again.  It 
was  made,  in  fact,  the  principal  part  of  prison  treatment  for 
long  centuries  ;  and  when,  in  Italy,  Beccaria  first  raised  his  voice 
against  it,  and  showed  its  folly  as  well  as  its  wickedness,  men 
were  amazed  at  his  daring  to  meddle  with  a  practice  so  time- 
honored,  of  such  easy  application,  and  withal,  as  was  thought, 
so  useful  in  its  effects.  It  still  lingers  in  countries  where  it 
can  be  practised  without  publicity,  for  "  the  dark  places  of  the 
earth  are  full  of  cruelty." 

Turn  we  now  to  Greece,  the  mother  of  philosophy,  art,  and 
literature.  The  laws  of  Athens,  till  modified  by  Solon,  were 
cruel  to  a  proverb,  — "  Dracon  made  every  crime  capital,  and 
punished  it  with  death."  The  laws  of  Sparta  were  hard  and 
relentless  to  the  last  degree. 

Did  the  prison  exist  in  Athens  ?  Yes,  beyond  a  doubt.  Plato, 
in  his  "  Apology  of  Socrates,"  after  having  made  Socrates  refute, 
one  by  one,  all  the  accusations  of  his  enemies,  draws  him  into 
a  conversation  on  the  punishments  that  might  be  given  to  him. 
Among  others,  that  of  the  prison  was  discussed,  when  Socrates 
thus  expressed  himself :  "  What !  from  fear  of  suffering  the 
punishment  to  which  Miletus  adjudges  me  (concerning  which 
I  confess  that  I  know  not  whether  it  is  a  good  or  an  evil), 
shall  I  instead  select,  myself,  that  which  I  certainly  know  to  be 
an  evil,  and  adjudge  and  condemn  myself  to  it?  Shall  I  choose 
the  punishment  of  the  prison  ?  —  What  will  perpetual  imprison- 
ment avail  me  ?  Shall  I  choose  a  pecuniary  fine,  and  undergo  the 
prison  till  it  is  paid  ?  —  But  I  have  just  said  that  I  have  no  money 
wherewith  to  pay  such  fine.  Shall  I  expiate  my  offence  by  exile  ? 
—  for  perhaps  you  will  adjudge  me  to  that  punishment." 

On  the  prison,  Plato,  the  thinker  for  the  ages,  thus  declared  his 
opinion  in  his  book  "  De  Legibus  : "  "  Let  there  be,"  he  said,  "  three 
prisons  in  the  city :  one  for  the  safe-keeping  of  persons  awaiting 


4  HISTORICAL  REVIEW  OF  PRISON  REFORM.         [BOOK  I. 

trial  and  sentence ;  another  for  the  amendment  of  disorderly  per- 
sons and  vagrants,  those  guilty  of  minor  offences,  to  be  called  a 
Sophronesterion, — that  is,  a  house  of  correction,  a  place  for  teach- 
ing wisdom  and  continence,  —  which  should  be  visited,  especially 
at  night,  by  the  magistrates,  called  sophronestoi ;  a  third,  to  be 
situated  in  the  country,  away  from  the  habitations  of  men,  and 
to  be  used  for  the  punishment  of  offenders."  Here  we  have  the 
detention  prison  (what  the  French  call  la  prison  preventive), 
the  municipal  prison  (the  English  county  or  borough  jail),  and 
the  convict,  state,  or  central  prison,  —  a  remarkable  approach 
to  the  modern  idea  of  a  penitentiary  system.  But  this  was  only 
the  conception  of  a  great  thinker,  and  was  never  applied  in  actual 
administration  by  the  statesmanship  of  antiquity.  According  to 
Plutarch,  a  feeble  effort  in  that  direction  was  made  by  Solon, 
who,  desiring  to  remove  from  the  prison  something  of  its  horror, 
proposed  to  change  even  its  name,  and  to  call  it  by  a  word  signi- 
fying habitation,  dwelling,  abode,  —  thus  covering  up,  under  fair 
and  pleasing  expressions,  things  in  themselves  foul  and  displeas- 
ing. These,  so  far  as  I  know,  are  the  only  two  gleams  of  light 
that  ever  shone  upon  the  dense  mass  of  darkness  that  hung 
like  an  unbroken  pall  of  death  over  prisons  and  prisoners  for 
thousands  of  years. 

Of  the  prisons  of  Sparta  we  know  only  what  is  stated  in  a 
passage  of  Plutarch,  to  the  effect  that  there  was  in  them  an 
apartment  where  prisoners  condemned  to  death  were  strangled, 
and  into  which  King  Agis  was  dragged,  after  sentence  by  the 
ephori,  to  answer  with  his  life  the  crime  of  having  sought  to 
revive  the  government  of  Lycurgus. 

Horrible  were  the  prisons  of  Peloponnesus,  as  shown  in  a 
description  left  by  Plutarch  of  those  of  Messene,  where  he  speaks 
of  "subterraneous  chambers  without  external  air  or  light,  and 
of  the  machine  (meaning  the  prison)  being  without  a  door,  but 
closed  by  a  huge  rock  placed  upon  it."  So,  as  it  appears,  the 
terrible  labyrinth  of  Crete  was  a  prison;  but,  according  ^  to 
Plutarch  again,  the  Cretans  claimed  that  it  was  a  prison  which 
had  nothing  bad  about  it,  except  that  those  who  were  put  in 
were  never  able  to  get  out !  —  a  sufficient  horror  one  would 
think. 

Glancing  now  for  a  moment,  and  only  a  moment,  at  the  prisons 
of  ancient  Rome,  I  remark  that  we  know  nothing  of  their  inter- 
nal organization  and  administration,  and  little  of  the  pains  and 
punishments  inflicted  by  the  magistrates  upon  the  prisoners 
confined  in  them.  Among  the  aboriginal  tribes  of  the  Italian 
Peninsula,  which  afterwards  united  and  formed  the  Roman  peo- 
ple, the  oldest  government  was  patriarchal.  The  father  of  the 
family  was  absolute  judge,  from  whom  there  was  no  appeal  within 
the  domestic  walls  :  there  was  none  to  whom  he  was  responsible 


PART  i.]  DARK  AGES  OF  PRISON  LIFE.  5 

for  punishments  inflicted  in  consequence  of  acts  done  within 
that  sacred  enclosure.  But  Livy  relates  that  as  the  number  of 
citizens  increased  crimes  multiplied  in  equal  ratio,  and  a  prison 
was  built  in  the  midst  of  the  city,  near  the  forum,  to  frighten 
and  hold  in  check  the  growing  audacity.  This  is  what  Guizot 
has  said  in  his  "History  of  Civilization":  "The  progress  of  so- 
ciety is  precisely  to  substitute,  on  the  one  hand,  the  public  au- 
thority for  personal  will,  and,  on  the  other,  legal  for  individual 
resistance."  The  first  prison  was  built  by  Ancus  Marcius,  and 
received  the  name  of  Mamertine.  Afterwards,  both  population 
and  crime  increasing,  King  Tullius  erected  a  second  prison,  as  is 
commonly  thought,  under  the  Mamertine,  which  was  called,  after 
his  own  name,  the  Tullian  prison.  These  prisons  were  both  celebra- 
ted as  the  scene  of  intense  suffering  to  the  early  Christians.  It 
is  well  nigh  certain  that  St.  Paul,  on  his  second  incarceration,  was 
imprisoned  in  the  Mamertine;  and  the  tradition  is — though  of  this 
there  is  more  doubt,  and  indeed  the  probabilities  are  against  it  — 
that  St.  Peter  was  confined  there  also.  It  was  in  the  Tullian 
prison,  according  to  Sallust,  that  Lentulus  and  the  other  conspira- 
tors who  joined  with  Catiline  were  put  to  death  by  strangulation. 
He  describes  it  as  "  a  dark,  foul  hole,  emitting  a  horrible  stench, 
and  fearful  in  aspect."  Other  prisons  were  added  as  time  rolled 
on  and  population  increased,  whose  necessity  is  thus  bemoaned 
by  Juvenal,  in  his  third  Satire  :  — 

"  Felices  proavorum  atavos !  felicia  dicas 
Saecula !  quae  quondam  sub  regibus  atque  tribunis 
Viderunt  uno  contentam  carcere  Romam."  l 

Christianity,  ever  quick  to  discern  and  as  quick  to  relieve 
human  wrong  and  misery,  did  what  it  could,  amid  innumerable 
and  formidable  obstacles,  to  ameliorate  the  condition  of  prisoners 
under  the  emperors  who  succeeded  Constantine.  The  Christian 
rulers  not  only  authorized  the  humane  intervention  of  the  Church, 
but  they  even  sought  and  required  it  j  for  example,  in  charging 
the  bishops  to  provide,  in  concert  with  the  magistrates,  by  regu- 
lar visits  and  inquests  that  no  prisoner  should  be  unjustly  de- 
tained or  submitted  to  inhuman  treatment,  and  to  cause  to  be 
released  those  who,  despite  the  laws,  had  been  shut  up  in  the 
private  prisons.  See  the  codes  of  Theodosius  II.  and  Justifiian, 
the  latter  of  whom  especially  counted  much  in  this  respect  upon 
the  active  and  charitable  aid  of  the  bishops. 

1  Happy  ancestors !  fortunate  ages !  which,  of  yore,  under  kings  and  tribunes,  saw 
Rome  satisfied  with  a  single  prison. 


HISTORICAL  REVIEW  OF  PRISON  REFORM.        [BOOK  i. 


CHAPTER  .II.  —  EARLY  BREATHINGS  TOWARDS   PRISON   REFORM 

IN  ENGLAND. 

IT  is  scarcely  necessary  to  pursue  this  history,  which  flows  on 
with  almost  unbroken  current  through  the  lapsing  ages.  Be- 
yond some  rescripts  of  the  Christian  emperors  referred  to  above, 
enjoining  a  more  humane  treatment  of  prisoners,  everywhere 
there  reigned  the  stillness  of  death. 

Some  breathings  of  desire  for  a  better  state  of  things  were 
heard  in  England  as  far  back  as  the  reign  of  Edward  VI., —  about 
the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  century  (1550).  In  a  sermon  preached 
before  that  monarch,  Latimer  lifted  up  his  voice  against  the  hea- 
thenism of  the  London  prisons.  "  Oh,"  said  he,  "  I  would  ye 
would  resort  to  prisons,  —  a  commendable  thing  in  a  Christian 
realm.  I  would  there  were  curates  of  prisons,  that  we  might  say, 
'  The  curate  of  Newgate/  '  The  curate  of  the  Fleet ; '  and  I  would 
have  them  waged  for  their  labor.  It  is  holyday  work  to  visit  the 
prisoners,  for  they  be  kept  from  sermons."  Fox,  in  his  "  Book  of 
Martyrs,"  often  glances  sharply  at  the  iniquities  practised  and  the 
miseries  endured  in  prisons  in  the  reign  of  Mary,  which  succeeded 
that  of  the  sixth  Edward.  In  Elizabeth's  reign  (1558-1603)  Ber- 
nard Gilpin  regularly  visited  all  the  jails  that  fell  within  the  range 
of  his  missionary  circuits  in  the  northern  counties  of  England. 
But  the  first  regular  treatise  on  prison  abuses  appeared  in  1618, 
in  the  reign  of  James  I.,  under  the  title  of  "  Essayes  and  Char- 
acter of  a  Prison  and  Prisoners,"  from  the  pen  of  "  Geffrey  Myn- 
shull,  of  Gray's  Inn,  Gent."  Mynshull  was  an  insolvent  debtor, 
who  plaintively  whiled  away  his  time  while  in  prison  in  the  com- 
position of  his  quaint  but  instructive  jeremiad.  In  his  description 
of  the  English  prison  as  a  school  of  villany,  a  moral  pest-house, 
a  sink  of  debauchery,  and  a  place  where  the  penniless  might 
starve  to  death  ;  and  in  his  catalogue  of  malpractices,  strip- 
pings  for  garnish,1  carousings  at  the  tap,  squeezings  for  fees,  etc., 
—  he  completely  anticipated  the  revelations  of  Howard. 

A  noteworthy  attempt  at  prison  reform  took  place  soon  after 
the  formation  of  the  Christian  Knowledge  Society,  in  1699.  A 
committee  of  prisons  was  appointed,  which  inspected  Newgate 
and  the  Marshalsea,  visited  the  prisoners  in  their  cells,  distributed 
some  money  among  them,  and  reported  the  result  of  their  inves- 
tigations to  the  Society.  Dr.  Thomas  Bray,  chairman  of  the  com- 
mittee, followed  the  report  by  an  "  Essay  towards  the  Reformation 
of  Newgate  and  the  other  Prisons  in  and  about  London."  This 
document,  which  is  still  extant,  and  is  printed  in  the  first  chapter 

1  "  Pensiuncula  carceraria,  an  entrance  fee  demanded  by  the  old  prisoners  of  one 
just  committed  to  jail."  —  WEBSTER. 


PART  I.]  AN  EFFECTIVE  ADVANCE  IN  ITALY,  J 

of  Hepworth  Dixon's  "  Life  of  Howard,"  is  a  remarkable  one  in 
several  respects.  It  presents  a  vivid  picture  of  the  abuses  and 
immoralities  of  the  London  jails,  offers  a  series  of  shrewd  prac- 
tical suggestions  on  the  management  of  prisons,  anticipates  many 
of  the  improvements  of  later  years  in  prison  discipline,  and  boldly 
recommends  that  provision  be  made  to  keep  every  prisoner  in  a 
distinct  cell,  —  the  first  proposition  for  separate  imprisonment,  I 
think,  ever  suggested.  The  result  of  the  effort  thus  made  was  : 
the  distribution  of  some  religious  books  to  the  London  prisons  ; 
the  despatch  of  a  parcel  of  such  books  to  every  county  jail  in 
England  ;  the  gift  of  a  pulpit  to  the  Marshalsea,  and  provision 
for  religious  services  therein.  Beyond  this  nothing  is  recorded, 
and  it  is  probable  that  nothing  further  resulted,  though  it  is 
something —  it  is  a  good  deal  —  to  have  accomplished  so  much. 


CHAPTER  III.  —  AN  EFFECTIVE  ADVANCE  IN  ITALY. 

BUT  we  come  now,  in  the  dawn  of  the  eighteenth  century,  to 
a  real  and  effective  step  forward  in  the  work  of  prison 
reform,  taken  in  1704,  by  a  power  from  which  few  in  the  Protest- 
ant world  would  have  looked  for  it,  —  the  supreme  Pontiff  of 
Rome.  There  and  then,  however,  beyond  all  doubt,  was  first 
established  in  the  juvenile  prison  of  St.  Michael,  for  boys  and 
young  men,  the  plan  of  prison  discipline  which  has  since  been, 
and  is  to-day,  known  as  the  "  Auburn  system,"  —  that  is  to  say, 
of  separate  cellular  imprisonment  by  night,  and  silent  associated 
labor  by  day.  This  prison  is  historic.  Howard  visited  and 
praised  it  a  hundred  years  ago  ;  but  it  had  a  history  before,  most 
interesting  and  instructive.  He  found  over  the  prison  door  this 
inscription  :  "  Clemens  XL,  Pontifex  Maximiis,  perditis  adolescen- 
tibus  corrigeudis  instituendisque,  ut  qui  inertes  oberant,  instructi, 
reipublicae  serviant.  Anno  Salutis  MDCCIV,  Pontificis  IV," 
— "  Clement  XL,  Supreme  Pontiff  [reared  this  prison],  for  the 
reformation  and  education  of  criminal  youths,  to  the  end  that 
those  who,  when  idle,  had  been  injurious  to  the  State  might, 
when  better  instructed  and  trained,  become  useful  to  it.  In  the 
Year  of  Grace  1704;  of  the  Pontiff  the  fourth."  Within  the 
prison,  on  a  marble  slab  inserted  in  the  wall,  he  found  this  (as  he 
terms  it)  "  admirable  sentence "  :  "Parum  est  improbos  coercere 
pcend,  nisi  bonos  efficias  disciplina"  — "  It  is  of  little  use  to  re- 
strain criminals  by  punishment,  unless  you  reform  them  by 
education." 

In  this  golden  sentence  Howard  found,  as  every  right-thinking 


8  HISTORICAL  REVIEW  OF  PRISON  REFORM.        [BOOK  i. 

man  must,  the  true  policy  of  all  just  prison  treatment.  In  the 
centre  of  the  principal  working-room  was  hung  up,  in  large  let- 
ters visible  to  all,  the  word,  "  SILENTIUM,"  —  indicating  that,  while 
sleeping  in  separate  cells  at  night,  the  work  of  the  prisoners  must 
go  on  by  day  in  silence.  So  that,  as  would  appear,  the  system  of 
associated  silent  labor  by  day  and  cellular  separation  at  night, 
combined  with  a  reformatory  prison  discipline,  was  inaugurated 
at  Rome  in  the  very  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century,  —  one 
hundred  and  seventy-three  years  ago ;  and  that  one  of  the  main 
agencies  relied  upon  to  effect  such  reformation  was  industrial 
labor.  This  was  more  than  a  hundred  years  prior  to  the  intro- 
duction of  the  same  system  in  America,  by  Elam  Lynds  and  his 
associates.  Surely,  Pope  Clement  XI.  must  be  allowed  a  place 
among  the  most  enlightened  of  sovereigns.  That  such  a  doctrine 
should  have  been  taught  and  such  a  practice  inaugurated  at  the 
seat  of  the  papacy,  and  by  the  Pontiff  himself,  at  a  time  when 
chains,  dungeons,  and  tortures  were  almost  the  only  forms  of 
public  punishment  in  the  rest  of  the  world,  is  a  marvel.  But  let 
honor  be  given  where  honor  is  due. 


CHAPTER  IV.  —  FURTHER  PROGRESS  IN  ENGLAND. 

WE  must  now,  pursuing  the  subject  chronologically,  take 
another  glance  at  the  progress  of  the  work  in  England. 
From  the  date  of  the  effort  made  by  the  Christian  Knowledge 
Society,  and  the  publication  of  Dr.  Bray's  Essay  towards  the 
reformation  of  Newgate  and  other  prisons  in  and  around  London 
(1699),  the  whole  subject  would  seem  to  have  died  out  of  mind 
till  the  year  1 728,  when  General  Oglethorpe  —  illustrious  as  the 
founder  of  the  State  of  Georgia,  then  a  member  of  Parliament — 
procured  the  appointment  of  a  committee  of  the  House  of  Com- 
mons, to  "  inquire  into  the  state  of  jails  in  this  Kingdom." 
Parliament  took  up  the  investigation  warmly.  Corruptions,  pecu- 
lations, and  abuses  of  the  most  flagrant  kind  were  brought  to 
light.  News-writers  and  pamphleteers  took  up  the  subject. 
Hogarth  helped  to  intensify  the  public  indignation  by  an  illustra- 
tive picture  and  engraving.  It  was  in  compliment  to  Oglethorpe's 
committee  that  Thompson,  in  bringing  out  a  new  edition  of  "  The 
Seasons"  in  1730,  introduced  the  following  lines  :  — 

"  Ye  sons  of  mercy !  yet  resume  the  search, 
Drag  forth  the  legal  monsters  into  light ; 
Wrench  from  their  hands  oppression's  iron  rod, 
And  make  the  cruel  feel  the  pangs  they  give." 


PART  i.]  FURTHER  PROGRESS  IN  ENGLAND.  9 

These  lines  were  a  prophecy.  Some  of  the  "  legal  monsters" 
were,  indeed,  made  to  feel  the  pangs  they  gave.  Bambridge  of 
the  Fleet,  Acton  of  the  Marshalsea,  and  Huggins  and  Barnes  of 
the  King's  Bench  prison  were  ejected  from  their  governorships, 
and  subjected  to  legal  prosecution  ;  and  some  of  them  were  sen- 
tenced to  imprisonment  within  the  very  walls  of  the  prisons 
where  they  had  practised  their  abuses  and  cruelties.  Some  legis- 
lation was  had  as  the  result  of  the  labors  of  this  committee ;  but 
little  was  effected  in  the  way  of  practical  reform. 

In  1735  another  parliamentary  committee  was  created,  with 
one  William  Hay  at  its  head.  Hay  was  a  deformed  pigmy  in 
person,  but  a  man  of  clear  head,  strong  sense,  and  genuine  be- 
nevolence. He  was  far  in  advance  of  his  times  on  questions  of 
social  reform.  His  report  was  an  able,  sagacious,  comprehensive 
document ;  too  wise  and  far-reaching  in  its  recommendations  for 
his  contemporaries,  but  many  of  its  suggestions  have  since  been 
enacted  into  law. 

About  this  time  the  cause  of  prisoners  was  taken  up  in  another 
quarter.  The  members  of  the  "  godly  club,"  embracing  the  Wes- 
leys,  Whitefield,  and  the  most  zealous  of  their  followers,  prayed, 
preached,  and  distributed  alms  in  all  the  jails,  bridewells,  and 
bedlams  that  came  within  their  circuits  ;  and  it  was  only  on 
compulsion  that  they  at  length  desisted  from  this  part  of  their 
labors.1 

Prison  reform  struggled  on,  with  but  dubious  success,  for  many 
years.  Owing  to  the  alarming  increase  in  the  consumption  of  alco- 
holic liquors,  crimes  multiplied  at  a  rapid  rate,  and  Acts  for  hang- 
ing criminals  at  an  equal  pace.  Capital  felonies  had  arisen  to  one 
hundred  and  sixty,  and  went  on  increasing  till  the  list  contained 
two  hundred  and  twenty-two.  The  publication  of  Blackstone's 
"  Commentaries,"  in  1765,  gave  a  rude  shock  to  the  public  confi- 
dence in  such  severe  penalties ;  and  translations  of  Montesquieu's 
"  Spirit  of  Laws,"  and  of  Beccaria  on  "  Crimes  and  their  Punish- 
ment," added  to  the  force  of  the  blow.  In  1772  a  clergyman  by 
the  name  of  Denne,  in  a  letter  to  Sir  Robert  Ladbroke,  proposed 
and  advocated  separate  imprisonment  as  a  means  of  reforming 
criminals  and  thereby  checking  crime.  To  Denne  is  commonly 
given  the  credit  of  being  the  first  proposer  and  champion  of  this 
system,  although,  as  the  reader  has  seen,  Dr.  Bray  made  a  sug- 
gestion to  that  effect  as  early  as  1699,  and  a  few  lines  to  the  same 
purport  occur  in  a  sermon  by  Bishop  Butler  in  1740.  Denne's 
pamphlet  attracted  much  attention  at  the  time  of  its  publication, 
and  Howard  quotes  it  with  respect  some  years  later. 

The  same  year  that  produced  Denne's  letter  was  marked  by  a 

1  It  was  in  allusion  to  this  prohibition  that  Wesley  made  the  sarcastic  remark, 
"  We  are  forbidden  to  preach  in  jails,  lest  we  should  make  the  prisoners  wicked ;  and 
in  bedlams,  lest  we  should  make  their  inmates  mad." 


10  HISTORICAL  REVIEW  OF  PRISON  REFORM.        [BOOK  i. 

still  more  hopeful  token  of  the  coming  reform,  —  the  organization 
of  a  Society,  which  exists  to  this  day,  for  the  relief  of  poor  debt- 
ors. The  following  year  an  act  of  parliament  was  passed,  author- 
izing the  magistrates  at  the  quarter  sessions  to  appoint  chaplains 
to  their  jails.  This  was  the  first  official  recognition  of  the  fact 
that  prisoners  are  within  the  pale  of  salvation ;  and  thus  was 
fulfilled  the  passionate  desire  of  Bishop  Latimer,  expressed  in  his 
sermon  preached  in  the  presence  of  Edward  VI.,  more  than  two 
centuries  before.  The  same  year  Mr.  Popham  introduced  into 
parliament  a  bill  for  the  abolition  of  jailer's  fees  and  the  payment 
of  fixed  salaries  instead.  A  few  months  earlier  John  Howard, 
the  illustrious  philanthropist,  the  world-renowned  prison  re- 
former, had  been  appointed  high-sheriff  for  Bedfordshire.  Thus 
did  the  shadows  of  the  night  begin  to  disappear,  and  the  pale 
upshootings  of  the  dawn  to  skirt  the  distant  horizon. 


CHAPTER  V.  —  REMARKABLE  PROGRESS  IN  BELGIUM. 

NEAR  the  middle  of  the.  eighteenth  century  all  Europe  was 
desolated  by  the  scourge  of  innumerable  tramps,  which  the 
laws  and  customs  of  that  time  rather  encouraged  than  repressed. 
Out  of  this  fact  grew  a  remarkable  reform  in  penitentiary  science 
and  practice  in  that  part  of  Europe  which  now  forms  the  Kingdom 
of  Belgium.  That  enlightened  and  able  sovereign  Maria  Theresa, 
moved  by  the  state  of  things  mentioned  above,  sought  to  intro- 
duce measures  for  its  removal.  Prince  Charles,  then  governor- 
general  of  Flanders  (1765),  called  the  attention  of  the  privy 
council  at  Vienna  to  the  inefficacy  of  whipping,  branding,  and 
torturing  for  the  repression  of  the  evil.  M.  de  Fierlant,  in  strong 
language  before  the  council,  denounced  as  useless  the  employ- 
ment of  infamous  and  torturing  punishments,  and  advocated  the 
immediate  establishment  of  houses  of  correction.  With  profound 
philosophical  insight,  he  declared  that  people  without  honor  could 
not  be  restrained  by  the  fear  of  infamy  ;  that  neither  the  scaffold, 
the  scourge,  nor  the  branding-iron  could  ever  put  an  end  to  dis- 
orders that  had  their  source  in  a  dislike  of  work ;  and  that  the 
only  means  of  correcting  the  lazy  and  the  idle  was  to  compel  them 
to  labor.  The  empress  herself  wrote  two  papers  on  the  subject, 
honorable  alike  to  her  intelligence  and  her  humanity,  in  which 
she  recommended  the  gradual  abolishment  of  capital  punishment 
except  in  cases  of  atrocious  crimes,  and  the  establishment  of 
correctional  prisons  to  take  its  place.  But  the  most  important 
agent  in  this  work  of  reform  was  the  Viscount  Vilain  XIV,  one 


PART  I.]  REMARKABLE  PROGRESS  IN  BELGIUM.  \  I 

of  the  wisest  and  most  gifted  statesmen  who  have  ever  contrib- 
uted, by  the  light  and  warmth  of  their  genius,  to  the  progress 
of  humanity.  He  was  the  planner  and  founder  of  the  great 
central  or  convict  prison  (maison  de  force)  at  Ghent,  opened  in 
1775,  on  the  plan  of  separate  sleeping  cells  at  night  and  associa- 
ted labor  by  day,  —  a  second  anticipation  of  the  Auburn  system  of 
imprisonment. 

It  would  be  interesting  to  go  into  some  detail  as  to  the  history 
and  character  of  this  remarkable  reform,  but  lack  of  space  forbids. 
Only  the  general  principles  on  which  the  prison  was  organized 
and  managed  can  be  stated,  and  that  in  the  briefest  terms.  Here, 
then,  in  the  prison  of  Ghent,  we  find  already  applied  nearly  all 
the  great  principles  which  the  world  is  even  to-day  but  slowly 
and  painfully  seeking  to  introduce  into  prison  management. 
What  are  they  ?  Reformation  as  a  primary  end  to  be  kept  in 
view ;  hope  as  the  great  regenerative  force  ;  industrial  labor  as 
another  of  the  vital  forces  to  the  same  end ;  education,  religious 
and  literary,  as  a  third  essential  agency ;  abbreviation  of  sentence 
and  participation  in  earnings  as  incentives  to  diligence,  obedi- 
ence, and  self-improvement ;  the  enlistment  of  the  will  of  the 
criminal  in  the  work  of  his  own  moral  regeneration,  —  his  new 
birth  to  a  respect  for  law  ;  the  introduction  of  variety  of  trades 
into  prisons  ;  the  mastery  by  every  prisoner  of  some  one  handi- 
craft as  a  means  of  honest  support  after  his  liberation ;  the  use  of 
"  the  law  of  love  and  love  in  law"  as  an  agent  in  prison  discipline, 
to  the  exclusion  as  far  as  possible  of  the  grosser  forms  of  force, 
which  act  upon  the  will  mainly  through  the  body;  the  utter 
worthlessness  of  short  imprisonments  and  the  absolute  necessity 
of  longer  terms  to  effective  reformation  ;  and,  finally,  the  care, 
education,  and  industrial  training  of  the  children  of  the  poor,  and 
of  all  children  addicted  to  vagrant  habits  or  otherwise  in  peril  of 
falling  into  crime,  —  an  anticipation,  in  all  essential  aims,  of  the 
industrial  school  and  juvenile  reformatory  of  the  present  day. 

Howard  visited  this  prison  in  1776,  and  again  in  1778.  He 
found  there  three  hundred  and  fifty  prisoners,  —  one  hundred  and 
ninety-one  men  and  one  hundred  and  fifty-nine  women.  Being 
present  at  the  dinner  of  the  men,  he  admired  the  regularity, 
decency,  and  order  with  which  every  thing  was  done  at  the  word 
of  the  director.  Not  the  least  noise  or  wrangling  was  heard. 
He  remarks :  "  This  assemblage  of  one  hundred  and  ninety 
criminals,  robust  and  turbulent,  seems  to  be  governed  with 
greater  facility  and  less  confusion  than  would  be  an  assemblage 
composed  of  an  equal  number  of  educated  men  in  civil  society." 
All  this  was  effected  by  moral  forces  even  at  that  early  day,  when 
the  rule  of  public  punishment  and  prison  discipline  the  world 
over,  and  even  in  other  parts  of  Flanders,  was  barbarity  and 
torture. 


12  HISTORICAL  REVIEW  OF  PRISON  REFORM.        [BOOK  i. 


CHAPTER  VI.  —  JOHN  HOWARD  AND  HIS  WORK  OF  PRISON 

REFORM. 


"^HE  name  of  Howard  has  just  been  mentioned.  That  name 
-*•  brings  us  back  to  England,  where  he  was  then  just  be- 
ginning his  remarkable  career  as  a  prison-reformer. 
^  The  state  of  English  prisons,  —  for  cruelties,  filth,  loathsome 
sickness,  and  manifold  abominations,  —  prior  to  and  at  that  time, 
was  almost  past  belief.  The  central  evil  of  the  system  was  that 
the  jailer,  free  from  supervision  and  restraint,  was  left  to  make 
his  living,  and  even  to  enrich  himself,  out  of  the  prisoners.  No 
salary  was  paid,  but  on  the  contrary  the  place  was  often  pur- 
chased. As  a  matter  of  course,  rapacity  became  a  leading  char- 
acteristic of  the  race  of  jailers.  Extortion  was  legalized,  for  the 
law  as  well  as  custom  laid  the  cost  of  the  prisons  upon  the  pris- 
oners themselves.  Such  are  the  outlines  of  the  picture  ;  the 
filling  up  was  in  keeping.  Fees,  rents,  parings  of  rations,  garnish, 
filth,  squalor,  starvation,  swarms  of  vermin,  colonies  of  rats,  the 
sale  even  of  the  privilege  of  begging,  the  systematic  stimulation 
of  vices  which  the  keepers  knew  how  to  make  profitable,  drunk- 
enness and  debauchery  in  their  most  horrid  forms,  ponderous 
irons  of  cruel  tightness,  thumbscrews,  underground  dungeons, 
chaining  to  dead  bodies,  jail  fevers  which  swept  away  their 
wretched  victims  by  scores  and  hundreds,  the  villanous  trading 
on  prisoner's  lusts,  elaborate  and  ingenious  contrivances  for  fleec- 
ing both  debtors  and  creditors,  and  a  shameless  feeing  of  magis- 
trates, up  even  to  the  Lord  Chief-Justice  himself,  to  induce  them 
to  remain  in  convenient  ignorance  of  a  thousand  iniquitous  prac- 
tices, —  these  things,  and  such  as  these,  are  among  the  details 
that  complete  the  sickening  picture. 

What  has  been  not  inaptly  called  Howard's  "  universal  jail- 
commission  "  arose  out  of  his  appointment  to  the  shrievalty  of 
Bedfordshire.  It  is  worth  while  to  relate,  in  his  own  words,  the 
way  in  which  he  was,  without  any  previous  purpose  of  his  own, 
led  into  the  work  of  prison  visitation.  "  The  circumstance,"  he 
writes,  "  which  excited  me  to  activity  in  behalf  of  prisoners  was 
the  seeing  some  who  by  the  verdict  of  juries  were  declared 
not  guilty,  some  on  whom  the  grand  jury  did  not  find  such  an 
appearance  of  guilt  as  subjected  them  to  trial,  and  some  whose 
prosecutors  did  not  appear  against  them,  after  having  been  con- 
fined for  months,  dragged  back  to  jail  and  locked  up  again  till 
they  should  pay  sundry  fees  to  the  jailer,  the  clerk  of  assize,  etc. 
In  order  to  redress  this  hardship,  I  applied  to  the  justices  of  the 
county  for  a  salary  to  the  jailer  in  lieu  of  his  fees.  The  bench 
were  properly  afflicted  with  the  grievance,  and  willing  to  grant 


PART  i.]  JOHN  HOWARD  AND  HIS   WORK.  13 

the  relief  desired,  but  they  wanted  a  precedent  for  charging  the 
county  with  the  expense.  I  therefore  rode  into  several  counties 
in  search  of  a  precedent,  but  I  soon  learned  that  the  same  in- 
justice was  practised  in  them  ;  and,  looking  into  the  prisons,  I 
beheld  scenes  of  calamity  which  I  grew  daily  more  and  more 
anxious  to  alleviate.  In  order,  therefore,  to  gain  a  more  perfect 
knowledge  of  particulars  and  the  extent  of  the  evil  by  varied  and 
accurate  observation,  I  visited  most  of  the  county  jails  in  Eng- 
land. Seeing  in  two  or  three  of  them  some  poor  creatures  whose 
aspect  was  peculiarly  deplorable,  and  asking  the  cause  of  it,  I 
was  answered,  '  They  were  lately  brought  from  the  bridewells.' * 
This  started  a  fresh  subject  of  inquiry.  I  resolved  to  inspect  the 
bridewells,  and  for  that  purpose  I  travelled  again  into  the  counties 
where  I  had  been,  and  indeed  into  all  the  rest,  examining  bride- 
wells and  city  and  town  jails.  I  beheld  in  many  of  them,  as 
well  as  in  the  county  jails,  a  complication  of  distresses  ;  but  my 
attention  was  principally  fixed  by  the  jail-fever  and  the  small- 
pox, which  I  saw  prevailing  to  the  destruction  of  multitudes,  not 
only  of  felons  in  their  dungeons,  but  of  debtors  also." 

Howard  began  his  labors  as  a  prison-reformer  in  1773,  at  the 
age  of  forty-six,  and  continued  them,  as  Carlyle  says,  "with 
unequalled  energy,  patience,  practicality,  sedulity,  and  sagacity," 
to  the  day  of  his  death,  which  occurred,  while  busily  pursuing 
his  mission  in  the  Russian  Crimea,  January  20,  1791.  The  num- 
ber of  journeys  he  made  and  the  toil  he  expended  in  the  prose- 
cution of  his  self-imposed  mission  during  those  years  were 
something  wonderful.  "  I  am  a  plodder,"  he  said  of  himself, 
"  who  go  about  to  collect  materials  for  men  of  genius  to  make 
use  of."  His  philosophy  was  quite  of  the  inductive  school.  He 
never  indulged  in  abstract  speculations  ;  his  forte  was  common- 
sense  suggestions  drawn  from  wide  and  careful  observation. 

Finding  the  English  public  and  parliament  utterly  ignorant 
on  the  subject  of  prisons,  Howard  ransacked  Europe  for  the 
desired  information,  but  left  to  others  —  Blackstone,  Popham, 
Eden  (afterwards  Lord  Auckland),  and  Romilly  —  the  task  of 
evolving  principles  and  framing  laws  out  of  his  vast  accumula- 
tion of  facts.  With  his  measuring  tape,  weighing  scales,  and 
note-book,  he  repeatedly  visited  every  jail  in  England,  and  once 
at  least  all  the  principal  prisons  in  every  continental  State ;  some 
of  them  several  times.  He  never  took  a  statement  on  hearsay, 
but  cross-questioned  keepers,  turnkeys,  and  prisoners.  He  ex- 
plored every  dungeon  and  cell  himself,  closely  scrutinizing  each 
with  his  own  eyes.  Finally,  having  satisfied  his  exacting  con- 
science by  repeated  revision  and  verification,  he  brought  out  his 
book  on  the  "  State  of  Prisons,"  with  its  twenty-five  quarto 

1  Another  name  for  jail,  or  house  of  correction;  the  distinction  is  not  clearly 
marked. 


14  HISTORICAL  REVIEW  OF  PRISON  REFORM.        [BOOK  i. 

pages  of  "proposed  improvements,"  ballasted  by  five  hundred 
and  odd  pages  of  facts.  It  was  his  intense  truthfulness,  his  im- 
perious conscience,  and  his  indomitable  will  that  made  him  what 
he  eventually  became,  —  a  European  censor  morum.  Far  from 
being  a  courtly  man,  and  by  no  means  a  respecter  of  persons, 
—  grave,  patient,  energetic,  unselfish,  intensely  religious,  never 
shrinking  from  any  suffering  or  danger,  —  in  season  and  out  of 
season  he  "  plodded,"  as  he  himself  says,  about  his  task,  dragging 
abominations  into  daylight,  and  forcing  them  upon  the  notice 
of  all  whom  it  concerned.  He  once  spent  forty  days  of  volun- 
tary quarantine  on  board  a  filthy  lazaretto  at  Venice,  in  order 
to  learn  the  full  truth  about  its  management.  Within  a  month 
afterwards,  and  while  still  quaking  with  the  effects  of  a  quaran- 
tine fever,  he  had  a  private  interview  with  the  Emperor  Joseph 
of  Austria,  during  which  he  seems  to  have  told  him  all  the  most 
unpalatable  facts  he  knew  concerning  the  imperial  prisons. 

Howard's  labors  and  writings  awakened  a  wide-spread  interest 
in  prison  reform.  His  book  on  the  "  State  of  Prisons"  called 
forth  numerous  reviews.  One  of  these  was  a  glowing .  eulogy 
from  the  pen  of  Sir  Samuel  Romilly,  illustrious  for  his  labors 
in  favor  of  law-reform.  Other  works  on  the  same  subject  soon 
appeared  from  the  press.  Jonas  Hanway  denounced  English 
jails  as  "  schools  for  instruction  in  iniquity,"  and  laid  down  the 
proposition  that  association  is  "  irreligious,  inhuman,  and  im- 
politic." He  proposed  a  plan  of  solitary  imprisonment,  to  be 
enforced  with  much  rigor,  —  recommending  not  only  separate 
cells,  but  separate  exercise  yards,  and  separate  stalls  in  the 
chapel.  As  indispensable  adjuncts  to  solitude,  he  proposed 
labor,  the  firm  and  just  government  of  a  "gentleman  keeper," 
and  the  religious  ministrations  of  an  able,  earnest  chaplain. 
"  To  render  the  punishment  subservient  to  no  end  but  terror,"  he 
says,  "  is  but  half  the  work ;  it  is  intended  to  preserve  the  pris- 
oner, and  restore  him  to  the  world  with  impressions  of  religion 
and  social  love  in  his  mind."  Hanway,  it  will  thus  be  seen, 
anticipated  the  essential  principles,  as  well  as  the  incidental 
exaggerations,  of  the  modern  system  of  cellular  imprisonment. 

In  1779  Howard  published  a  second  edition  of  his  "State  of 
Prisons,"  with  an  additional  volume  containing  the  results  of  his 
further  investigations  at  home  and  abroad.  Considerable  prog- 
ress was  reported.  His  strictures  had  borne  fruit.  Few  prison 
authorities  had  altogether  neglected  his  recommendations.  In 
many  jails  salaries  had  been  granted  to  the  keepers  in  lieu  of 
fees ;  jail  fever  had  largely  disappeared.  These  improvements 
were  due  almost  wholly  to  Howard's  personal  exertions.  They 
were  substantial  and  important,  yet  they  fell  far  short  of  his 
wishes  and  aims.  "  At  this  point,"  he  said,  "  the  spirit  of  im- 
provement seems  to  stop,  scarcely  touching  that  still  more  im- 
portant object,  —  the  reformation  of  morals  in  our  prisons." 


PART  r.]  AFTER  HOWARD1* S  DEATH.  15 

With  unabated  zeal  Howard  continued  his  prison  visitation 
till  1784,  when  he  brought  out  a  third  edition  of  the  "  State  of 
Prisons,"  embodying  all  the  fresh  information  he  had  gathered. 
In  this  he  was  obliged  to  report  a  retrogression  instead  of  an 
advance,  so  far  as  his  own  country  was  concerned.  In  many  lo- 
calities the  interest  in  prisons  was  either  on  the  wane  or  already 
extinct.  The  jails  were  overcrowded,  and  the  jail-fever  had  again 
appeared  with  desolating  effect.  A  chief  cause  of  this  over- 
crowding, with  its  inevitable  consequences,  was  the  suspension 
of  transportation  to  America  in  consequence  of  the  separation  of 
the  colonies  from  the  mother  country.  New  outlets  were  sought 
for  the  enormous  accumulation  of  the  convict  population.  Sierra 
Leone  was  tried,  but  proved  a  failure.  At  length,  in  May,  1787, 
Commodore  Phillips  set  sail  from  Spithead  for  Botany  Bay,  in 
New  South  Wales,  in  charge  of  a  convoy  of  seven  transports,  laden 
with  eight  hundred  felons,  male  and  female,  —  the  founders  of  the 
British  Australian  empire.  Howard  was  vehemently  opposed  to 
transportation.  He  saw  that  it  involved  the  postponement,  if 
not  indeed  the  abandonment,  of  his  long  and  much  cherished 
scheme  of  penitentiaries  for  the  reformation  of  criminals.  "  The 
gentlemen,"  he  said,  "  who  defeated  the  design  of  penitentiary 
houses,  and  adopted  the  costly,  dangerous,  and  destructive  scheme 
of  transportation  to  Botany  Bay,  I  leave  to  their  own  reflections 
on  their  conduct."  A  few  months  after  penning  these  lines, 
Howard  died,  —  a  life-weary,  disheartened,  disappointed  man. 


CHAPTER  VII.  —  PRISON  REFORM  AFTER  HOWARD'S  DEATH. 

THE  interest  in  prisons,  feeble  before,  waned  still  further 
after  Howard's  death.  Yet  in  a  few  districts  his  reforms 
were  pursued  with  vigor  and  success.  The  most  notable  in- 
stance of  this  was  in  Gloucestershire,  where  Sir  George  O.  Paul, 
an  enlightened  and  energetic  magistrate,  whom  Howard  had 
inoculated  with  his  doctrine  and  inspired  with  his  zeal,  worked 
out  a  complete  prison-system  for  the  county,  consisting  of  four 
bridewells,  and  of  a  common  jail  and  penitentiary  combined, 
which  last  is  in  the  city  of  Gloucester.  The  penitentiary  — 
which  the  present  writer  has  had  the  pleasure  of  visiting  and 
inspecting — was  modelled  on  the  reformatory  principles  of  How- 
ard. Two  cells  were  allowed  to  each  convict,  —  one  to  sleep  in, 
the  other  to  work  in.  But  the  solitude  was  far  from  being  un- 
broken. The  prisoners  met  every  morning  in  the  chapel  ;  and 
in  the  evening,  before  they  were  locked  up,  they  were  permitted 


1 6  HISTORICAL  REVIEW  OF  PRISON  REFORM.        [BooK  i. 

to  "  walk  for  exercise  and  air  in  the  airing  yards  of  the  prison," 
but  always  in  the  presence  of  an  officer.  Excellent  work  was 
done  in  that  prison  when  first  erected,  and  is  still,  —  indeed,  has 
never  ceased  to  be  done  there.  Nothing  better  can  be  asked 
than  that  under  the  new  regime  .things  may  move  on  as  well  in 
the  future  as  they  have  in  the  past.  The  world  does  not  contain 
a  more  efficient  prison-board  than  the  body  of  local  magistrates 
for  the  county  of  Gloucester  has  shown  itself  to  be  through  its 
entire  history. 

Two  years  after  Howard's  death  Jeremy  Bentham  proposed  a 
prison  on  a  new  plan,  —  a  strange  compound  of  semi-sound  prin- 
ciples and  impracticable  details.  He  called  it  a  "  panopticon  ; " 
because,  from  a  central  argus-chamber  a  continual  inspection 
of  the  prisoners  was  to  be  kept  up  by  means  of  a  system  of 
reflectors,  and  that  by  night  as  well  as  by  day.  It  is  unneces- 
sary to  give  .a  detailed  account  of  the  plan,  as  it  never  was  nor 
could  be  carried  into  effect. 


CHAPTER  VIII.  —  MRS.  FRY  AND  HER  PRISON  WORK. 

FOR  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century  the  cause  of  prison  reform 
languished,  and  was  in  a  half  moribund  condition  ;  that  is  to 
say,  from  the  death  of  Howard  in  1791  till  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Fry's 
work  in  Newgate  became  the  talk  of  the  town  and  the  topic  of 
the  platform.  Owing  to  her  aristocratic  connections,  her  hus- 
band's .wealth,  her  thorough  goodness,  and  her  peculiar  gift  of 
exhortation  she  had  become  a  spiritual  leader  among  the  Quakers, 
and  was  one  of  their  most  prominent  preachers.  Through  the 
influence  of  William  Allen  and  Stephen  Grellet  (the  famous 
American  Quaker)  Mrs.  Fry,  accompanied  by  only  one  lady,  paid 
three  visits  to  Newgate  prison  in  1813,  and  distributed  some 
coarse  clothing  among  the  women.  On  the  third  visit,  the  ladies 
had  the  courage  to  kneel  down  and  pray  in  the  midst  of  the 
rabble.  "  I  heard  weeping,"  wrote  Mrs.  Fry  in  her  journal,  "  and 
I  thought  they  appeared  much  tendered ;  a  very  solemn  quiet 
was  observed.  It  was  a  striking  scene,  the  poor  people  around  us 
on  their  knees,  in  this  deplorable  condition."  Nearly  four  years 
passed  before  Mrs.  Fry  resumed  her  ministrations.  About  Christ- 
mas, 1816,  she  and  a  friend  named  Mary  Sanderson  obtained 
permission  to  try  the  experiment  of  a  reformatory  discipline  at 
Newgate.  An  unoccupied  room  was  assigned  them,  in  which 
they  established  a  school  under  one  of  the  prisoners,  whom  the 
rest  elected  as  school- mistress.  Other  ladies  joined  in  the  work, 


PART  I.]  MRS.  FRY  AND  HER    WORK.  17 

and  in  April,  1817,  eleven  friends  and  a  clergyman's  wife  formed 
themselves  into  an  "  Association  for  the  Improvement  of  female 
Prisoners  in  Newgate."  They  first  drew  up  a  set  of  rules,  to 
which  the  women  promised  obedience.  They  then  procured 
materials  for  employment,  formed  the  prisoners  into  working 
companies,  found  a  market  for  their  productions,  provided  them 
with  decent  clothing  out  of  their  own  earnings,  and  established 
Bible  classes  among  them. 

By  these  measures  the  savage  rabble  was  reduced  to  decency 
and  order.  The  city  dignitaries  and  prison  officials  could 
scarcely  credit  what  they  saw.  A  letter  by  Robert  Dale  Owen, 
published  in  all  the  newspapers,  drew  public  attention  to  the 
Newgate  ladies  and  their  work.  The  visitors,  already  numer- 
ous, increased  and  multiplied.  On  the  two  public  mornings  in 
the  week,  parties  of  inspection  streamed  through  Newgate. 
Fashionable  philanthropists,  benevolent  aristocrats,  members  of 
paVliament,  cabinet  ministers,  royal  dukes  and  duchesses,  flocked 
to  the  philanthropic  show,  and  the  experiment  was  swamped 
through  its  very  success. 

However,  the  publicity  it  had  enjoyed  was  not  without  its  use. 
It  thoroughly  aroused  the  popular  interest  in  prison  reform  ;  and 
Mrs.  Fry  had  all  the  gifts  necessary  to  utilize  the  motive-power 
which  she  had  evoked.  Her  indefatigable  exertions  stimulated 
into  wide  activity  the  newly-awakened  and  increasing  interest  in 
prison  discipline.  She  was  an  invaluable  ally  to  Wilberforce, 
Buxton,  and  the  whole  community  of  benevolent  innovators.  It 
was  through  her  influence  that  prison  discipline  and  the  amelio- 
ration of  the  penal  code  were  raised  to  an  equality  with  the 
abolition  of  slavery.  It  was  she  who  firmly  established  the 
principle  that  none  but  women  should  be  employed  in  the  super- 
intendence of  women  prisoners.  She  did  more  than  any  one  else 
to  introduce  Christian  faith  and  godliness  as  the  essential  basis 
of  a  reformatory  prison  discipline.  She  was  the  first  to  ameliorate 
the  condition  of  female  convicts  on  board  the  transport  ships  and 
in  the  English  colonies.  These,  together  with  her  wide,  earnest, 
long-continued,  and  successful  labors  in  this  direction  all  over  the 
continent  of  Europe,  constitute  her  direct  contribution  to  the 
development  of  prison  discipline  and  the  progress  of  prison 
reform.  But  her  indirect  aid  to  the  cause  —  by  awakening  an 
interest  in  it  among  the  high,  the  wise,  and  the  noble,  wherever 
she  went  —  was  of  no  less,  if  not  indeed  of  even  greater,  impor- 
tance to  it. 


1 8  HISTORICAL  REVIEW  OF  PRISON  REFORM.  [BOOK  I. 


CHAPTER  IX.  —  SIR  ROBERT  PEEL'S  CONSOLIDATED  JAIL-ACT. 

/CONTEMPORANEOUSLY  with  the  work  of  Mrs.  Fry 
^-/  there  was  formed  in  London,  in  1815,  a  "Society  for  the 
Improvement  of  Prison  Discipline."  Its  influence  for  good  was 
not  unimportant.  It  guided  the  hitherto  desultory  efforts  of 
individuals ;  collected  and  diffused  valuable  information  ;  and 
organized  and  conducted  numerous  inspections  of  prisons  in  all 
parts  of  the  realm.  Pamphlets  on  prisons  swarmed  from  the 
press,  and  found  eager  readers.  Buxton's  "  Inquiry  into  the 
Present  System  of  Prison  Discipline"  ran  through  six  editions 
in  a  year.  Another  parliamentary  jail-commission  was  created, 
which  found  the  prison  laws  a  medley  of  bewildering  statutes,  full 
of  anomalies,  crudities,  and  contradictions.  Sir  Robert  Peel  put 
the  twenty-three  most  important  of  these  statutes  into  his  cruci- 
ble, and  transmuted  the  whole  into  the  consolidated  jail-act,  which 
came  into  effect  in  1823.  The  principle  of  separation  by  day  as 
well  as  by  night  was  discarded,  Mrs.  Fry  and  the  prison-discipline 
society  being  vehemently  opposed  to  it.  Classification  was  sub- 
stituted, but  upon  a  vicious  principle,  —  legal  offence  being  made 
the  basis,  without  regard  to  either  age,  character,  or  conduct  in 
prison;  so  that  the  very  object  of  classification  was  defeated, 
whether  that  object  be  the  separation  of  the  more  hardened  from 
the  less  hardened,  or  the  excitation  of  all  to  an  improved  behavior. 
Other  reforms  effected  by  the  act  were  more  valuable.  Female 
prisoners  were  to  be  placed  exclusively  under  the  charge  of 
female  officers ;  short  daily  services  were  to  be  held  in  the 
chapel ;  reading  and  writing  were  to  be  taught ;  important 
restrictions  were  laid  on  the  jailer's  hitherto  unchecked  power; 
both  keeper  and  chaplain  were  to  make  regular  reports  to  the 
court  of  quarter  sessions,  and  the  court  to  the  Government.  This 
jail-act  of  Peel  gave  a  wonderful  stimulus  to  prison  reform.  In 
many  of  the  counties  the  justices  thoroughly  reorganized  the 
prisons ;  and  in  nearly  all  the  discipline  was  more  or  less 
improved. 


CHAPTER  X.  —  WORK  OF  THE  LONDON  PRISON-DISCIPLINE 

SOCIETY. 

BRIEF  mention  was  made  of  this  Society  in  the  last  chapter  ; 
but  the  importance  of  its  work  and  influence  entitle  it  to  a 
more  extended  notice  in  a  review  such  as  the  author  has  now  in 
hand.    Its  full  title  was,  "  Society  for  the  Improvement  of  Prison 


PART  I.]  WORK  OF  THE  LONDON  SOCIETY.  19 

Discipline  and  for  the  Reformation  of  Juvenile  Offenders."  Cre- 
ated in  1815,  it  was  twin  sister  to  that  founded  in  Philadelphia  in 
1776,  being,  so  far  as  I  know  and  believe,  the  second  of  the  great 
prison  societies  of  the  world.  The  third  was  the  Royal  Prison 
Society  of  France,  organized  in  1819;  and  the  fourth,  the  Boston 
Prison-Discipline  Society,  established  in  1824. 

The  English  Prison-Discipline  Society  grew  out  of  the  alarming 
increase  of  crime  and  the  consequent  growing  number  of  convic- 
tions and  executions  ;  and  it  was  founded  on  the  belief  that  wher- 
ever the  law  has  affixed  a  punishment  short  of  death,  it  has,  or 
should  have,  two  objects  in  view,  —  the  repression  of  the  offence 
and  the  reformation  of  the  offender.  It  held  that  fear  alone  is 
not  sufficient  to  deter  from  crime,  but  that  if  in  addition  abhor- 
rence of  vice  and  love  of  virtue  can  be  excited ;  if  religious  and 
moral  principles  can  be  instilled  ;  if  sober  and  industrious  habits 
can  be  formed,  —  society  will  have  all  the  security  which  the  condi- 
tion of  humanity  allows  us  to  expect. 

When  death  is  not  the  penalty  of  crime,  imprisonment,  vary- 
ing in  duration,  is  the  common  punishment  The  great  inquiry 
therefore  for  the  Society  was,  how  far  such  imprisonment  could 
be  rendered  beneficial  at  once  to  the  criminal  and  to  society. 
This  was  the  point  of  departure  for  the  studies  and  labors  of  the 
newly-formed  association. 

A  considerable  part  of  the  Society's  work  was  given  to  the 
condition  and  requirements  of  juvenile  transgressors.  All  that 
will  be  eliminated  from  the  present  chapter,  as  being  more  suit- 
able for  treatment  in  the  second  part  of  the  present  Book,  — 
namely,  that  relating  to  child-saving  work. 

In  its  wide  and  abundant  inspection  of  jails  it  found  the  sys- 
tem of  prison  discipline  universally  defective,  or  rather  it  reported 
an  entire  lack  of  system  as  everywhere  apparent.  Want  of  classi- 
fication appeared  in  their  view  to  be  a  chief  defect.  Boys  were 
thrown  into  the  association  of  veteran  thieves,  and  young  girls 
into  that  of  veteran  prostitutes.  Want  of  employment  was  also 
found  to  be  a  conspicuous  defect :  all  attempts  at  reformation 
they  pronounce  hopeless  without  useful  occupation.  Prison  archi- 
tecture was  made  an  object  of  earnest  study.  Attention  was 
given  to  the  prisoner's  needs  at  the  supreme  hour  of  liberation. 
Necessary  clothing  was  provided  ;  tools  were  supplied  ;  pecuni- 
ary aid  judiciously  bestowed  ;  and  work  secured  when  possible. 
Nor  this  alone.  The  Society  also  founded  a  refuge  or  asylum  for 
destitute  and  distressed  prisoners.  This  was  intended  not  only  for 
those  who  had  been  imprisoned  and  discharged,  but  for  those  also 
who  had  been  acquitted  as  not  guilty,  who  yet  had  the  odium 
of  the  "  prison  bird  "  still  clinging  to  them.  These  as  well  as  the 
liberated  found  in  the  asylum  comfortable  accommodation  till 
they  could  be  provided  for,  either  by  procuring  suitable  employ- 


20  HISTORICAL  REVIEW  OF  PRISON  REFORM.  [BoOK  I. 

merit,  by  reconciling  them  to  their  friends,  or  by  passing  them  to 
their  parochial  settlements.  The  refuge  was  opened  in  1818,  and 
during  that  and  the  next  year  two  hundred  and  ten  persons  were 
admitted,  of  whom  one  hundred  and  seventy-seven  were  provided 
for,  thirteen  remained  in  the  establishment,  and  twenty  were  dis- 
missed or  absconded.  All  therefore,  except  the  twenty,  were  prob- 
ably saved  from  ruin. 

Many  of  the  suggestions  and  labors  of  the  Society,  says  Mr. 
Hoare,  its  treasurer,  were  by  some  "  regarded  as  the  visionary 
efforts  of  an  excessive  philanthropy.*'  But  he  adds :  "  A  new- 
plan  has  been  gradually  developed,  in  which  moral  restraint 
removes  the  necessity  of  brutal  violence :  a  system  equally 
opposed  to  that  dangerous  indulgence  which  permits  scenes  of 
vice,  drunkenness,  and  debauchery  to  be  exhibited,  and  to  that 
useless  cruelty  which,  producing  no  beneficial  effect  in  the  way 
of  example,  tends  but  to  harden  those  who  are  subjected  to  its 
operation ;  a  system  which  suppresses  many  evil  habits,  and  sub- 
stitutes those  of  industry,  decency,  sobriety,  and  order." 

The  Society  undertook  and  carried  through  the  useful  labor  of 
digesting,  from  the  numerous  statutes  and  regulations  then  in 
force,  a  complete  code  of  rules  founded  on  those  principles 
which  experience  had  shown  to  be  most  beneficial,  comprising 
the  several  duties  of  the  officers  as  well  as  those  of  the  prisoners, 
with  general  observations  by  which  they  might  be  adapted  to 
jails  of  various  capacities. 

The  Society  was  in  full  sympathy  with  the  aims  and  labors  of 
Mrs.  Fry's  committee  of  ladies  for  Newgate  prison,  and  with 
those  of  other  similar  ladies'  committees  for  the  Borough  Comp- 
ter  prison  of  London,  and  for  the  jails  of  Liverpool,  Bristol,  Car- 
lisle, and  Glasgow.  Some  of  the  results  at  Newgate  may  be  here 
fitly  compressed  into  a  few  sentences.  There  was  a  time  when 
nothing  was  considered  safe  at  Newgate ;  but  after  the  influence 
of  the  ladies'  committee  had  made  itself  felt,  pilfering  was  hardly 
ever  heard  of..  A  lady  visitor  dropped  a  five-pound  note  ;  a  pris- 
oner found  it,  took  it  to  the  matron,  and  asked  her  to  restore  it  to 
the  lady,  which  was  done  before  she  herself  had  missed  it.  Out 
of  one  hundred  thousand  articles  manufactured  by  the  women, 
not  one  was  known  to  have  been  stolen.  Of  the  whole  number 
of  women  who  had  been  under  the  discipline  of  the  ladies,  in 
several  years  only  four  returned  convicted  of  fresh  offences  ;  and 
when  they  again  appeared  in  the  prison  they  manifested  a  strong 
sense  of  uneasiness  and  shame.  These  are  great  facts,  and  may 
stand  in  the  place  of  all  others ;  though  pages  might  be  filled  with 
the  recital  of  the  wonderful  changes  wrought  in  the  character, 
habits,  and  manners  of  these  wretched  outcasts  by  the  power  of 
Christian  love  and  kindness. 

Through  the  efforts  of  the  prison-discipline  society,  in  many  of 


PART  i.]  WORK  OF  THE  LONDON  SOCIETY.  21 

the  jails  of  the  kingdom  schools  were  formed  and  successfully 
carried  on  under  the  inspection  of  volunteer  visitors,  particularly 
ladies,  with  the  sanction  of  the  magistrates,  chaplains,  and  gov- 
ernors. These  labors  were  especially  directed  to  the  female 
inmates,  and  their  beneficial  effects  were  seen  in  the  steady 
decrease  in  the  number  of  that  class  of  prisoners  re-committed, 
which  diminished,  in  the  course  of  even  a  few  years,  to  the 
astonishing  degree  of  not  less  than  forty  per  cent. 

Great  results  were  also  accomplished  by  the  Society  in  the 
introduction  of  industrial  and  productive  labor  into  prisons, 
though  I  am  sorry  to  be  obliged  to  add  that  it  also  gave  its  sanc- 
tion and  support  to  "  the  treading  mill "  of  Mr.  Cubitt,  as  a  great 
gain  to  prison  discipline ;  and  perhaps  it  was  better  than  nothing 
when  first  introduced,  for  then  it  did  not  take  the  place  of  indus- 
trial labor,  but  of  no  labor,  —  of  blank  idleness.  Among  other 
instances  of  the  good  effects  of  employment  in  prisons,  it  cites 
in  its  reports  that  of  the  Glasgow  jail,  where,  it  says,  "the  profits 
have  so  nearly  defrayed  all  the  charges  of  the  establishment,  that 
the  annual  expense  of  each  prisoner  has  not  exceeded  ten  shil- 
lings." In  illustration  of  the  same  point  it  cites  the  case  of  the 
house  of  correction  at  Preston,  Lancashire,  where  in  1821  the 
earnings  were  ,£2,149,  13^.  5  d.,  equal  to  $10,742;  while  the 
cost  of  the  prisoners'  food  was  .£1,988,  8  s.  5^  d.,  equal  to 
$9,940.  This  sum  was  actually  earned  in  cash  by  cleaning  and 
weaving  cotton. 

The  Society  further  labored  with  great  zeal  and  no  little  success 
for  the  promotion  of  religious  instruction  and  influence  in  the 
prisons.  It  declares  that  "  a  chaplain's  duty  is  not  only  to  feel 
deeply  concerned  for  the  welfare  of  his  charge,  but  to  be  able  to 
convince  them  that  his  earnest  and  zealous  efforts  are  devoted  to 
their  best  interests.  He  will  confer  in  private  with  his  prisoners, 
not  with  the  cold  formality  of  the  official  instructor,  but  with  the 
warm-hearted  affection  of  a  friend.  He  will  be  the  investigator 
of  their  wants,  the  depositary  of  their  cares,  and  the  renovator  of 
their  hopes."  And  it  adds  :  "  This  is  the  grand  secret  by  which 
the  affections  of  the  vicious  may  be  gained." 

This  account  of  the  useful  labors  of  the  Society  might  be 
greatly  enlarged,  but  space  is  wanting  for  the  record. 


22  HISTORICAL  REVIEW  OF  PRISON  REFORM.  [BOOK  I. 


CHAPTER  XI.  —  DARK  AGE  OF  PRISON  LIFE  IN  THE  UNITED 

STATES. 

THE  progress,  of  prison  reform  in  the  United  States  had 
attracted  attention  in  Europe,  and  commissioners  were  sent 
from  several  European  countries  to  inspect  the  American  prisons. 
England  sent  Mr.  Crawford  ;  Prussia,  Dr.  Julius  ;  France,  Messrs, 
de  Beaumont  and  de  Tocqueville,  and  afterwards  Messrs.  Demetz 
and  Blouet.  It  will  at  this  point,  therefore,  be  necessary  to  re- 
cross  the  Atlantic  and  see  what  had  been  going  on  in  America. 
It  is  but  a  glance,  however,  that  we  can  give  to  this  matter,  as 
our  proposed  sketch  begins  already  to  take  on  dimensions  some- 
what menacing. 

Prison  life  can  hardly  be  said  to  have  had  its  "dark  ages"  in 
the  United  States,  but  it  had  its  "  dark  age "  here  as  elsewhere. 
For  more  than  fifty  years  (1773-1827)  Connecticut  had  an  under- 
ground prison  in  an  old  mining-pit  on  the  hills  near  Simsbury, 
which  equalled  in  horrors  all  that  was  ever  related  of  European 
prisons.  Here  the  prisoners  were  crowded  together  at  night,  their 
feet  fastened  to  heavy  bars  of  iron,  and  chains  about  their  necks 
attached  to  beams  above.  These  caves  reeked  with  filth,  causing 
incessant  contagious  fevers.  The  inmates  were  self-educators  in 
crime.  Their  midnight  revels  are  said  to  have  resembled  often 
the  howlings  of  a  pandemonium,  banishing  sleep  and  forbidding 
all  repose.  In  Philadelphia,  all  ages  and  sexes  were  mingled,— 
the  novice  in  crime,  the  hardened  veteran,  the  debtor,  the  wretch 
streaming  with  blood  from  the  whipping-post,  the  vagrant,  the 
drunkard,  and  the  convict.  Intoxicating  liquors  were  bought  and 
sold  at  the  bar  kept  by  one  of  the  prison  officials  ;  acquitted 
prisoners  were  kept  for  jail  fees  ;  the  custom  of  garnish  prevailed. 
No  instruction,  religious  or  otherwise,  was  known  there.  When 
the  first  sermon  was  preached,  a  man  stood  by  with  a  loaded 
cannon  and  a  fuse  during  the  preaching.  In  the  Boston  jail,  in 
one  year,  a  thousand  debtors  were  confined  in  the  same  crowded 
night-rooms  with  a  thousand  criminals.  Men,  women,  boys,  idiots, 
lunatics,  drunkards,  innocent  and  guilty,  were  mingled  pell-mell 
together.  No  restraint  was  'put  upon  gambling,  lascivious  con- 
versation, or  quarrelling. 

The  penalties  were  often  barbarously  severe.  During  the  early 
history  of  New  York  negroes  were  burned  alive,  sometimes  with 
green  wood  to  prolong  their  agony ;  at  other  times  they  were 
hanged  in  iron  frames  to  die  of  starvation,  their  bodies  being 
devoured  by  birds  of  prey.  In  almost  every  village  in  the  coun- 
try the  stocks,  pillory,  and  whipping-post  were  to  be  seen  through- 
out the  eighteenth  century. 


PART  i.j         BEGINNING  OF,  IN  THE   UNITED  STATES.  23 


CHAPTER  XII.  —  BEGINNING  AND  PROGRESS  OF  PRISON  REFORM 
IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

BUT  why  multiply  these  sickening  details  ?  Let  us  look  now 
at  the  other  side  of  the  picture,  though  it  be  but  a  glance  we 
can  give  to  it.  The  work  of  prison  reform  began  a  full  century 
ago  in  the  United  States.  Four  great  organizations  have  taken 
part  in  this  work  and  hastened  its  progress  :  I.  The  Philadelphia 
"  Society  for  Alleviating  the  Miseries  of  Public  Prisons,"  formed 
originally  in  1776,  suspended  during  the  greater  part  of  the  Revo- 
lutionary War,  and  revived  in  1787.  This  Society  still  exists, 
and  is  as  active  and  useful  as  ever.  2.  The  Boston  "  Prison-Dis- 
cipline Society,"  organized  in  1824,  and  dissolved  some  twenty 
years  subsequently,  after  having  accomplished  an  amount  of  good 
that  can  never  be  weighed,  sounded,  or  measured.  3.  "The 
Prison  Association  of  New  York,"  which  still  lives,  with  all  the 
springs  and  pulses  of  life  as  fresh  and  vigorous  as  ever.  4. 
"  The  National  Prison  Association  of  the  United  States  of  Amer- 
ica," which  dates  only  from  1870,  but  whose  influence  in  these 
brief  years  has  made  itself  felt  to  the  ends  of  the  earth. 

But  individuals  as  well  as  associations  have  had  their  share  in 
the  work  of  prison  reform,  and  have  done  yeoman's  service  in 
this  country  as  well  as  in  others.  If  England  has  had  her  How- 
ard, France  her  Lucas,  Spain  her  Montesinos,  Italy  her  Clement 
XL,  Belgium  her  Vilain  XIV.,  Holland  her  Suringar,  Germany 
her  Mittermaier,  Scandinavia  her  Oscar  I.,  and  Austria  her  Maria 
Theresa,  so  the  United  States  has  had  her  Edward  Livingston, 
who  towers  high  above  all  his  co-laborers,  and  may  be  named  the 
giant  of  giants  in  this  field  of  thought  and  inquiry,  —  as  Ney, 
among  the  marshals  of  Napoleon,  was  called  "  the  brave  of  the 
braves,"  —  le  brave  des  braves.  And  as  the  countries  named  had 
lesser  as  well  as  greater  lights  in  prison  reform,  so  has  it  been  in 
the  United  States.  Among  those  (omitting  the  living)  who  may 
be  named  as  worthy  of  special  honor  in  this  cause  are  Elam 
Lynds,  Gershom  Powers,  Roberts  Vaux,  Matthew  Carey,  Louis 
Dwight,  Amos  Pilsbury,  Francis  Wayland,  Francis  Lieber,  Charles 
Sumner,  Samuel  G.  Howe,  John  "David  Wolfe,  John  Stanton 
Gould,  John  W.  Edmands,  Isaac  T.  Hopper,  and  Abraham  Beal. 

It  would  be  impossible,  within  any  permissible  limits,  to  go 
into  any  lengthened  detail  on  this  subject.  All  that  can  be  done 
will  be  to  state  the  more  important  reforms  which  have  been 
effected,  and  even  this  more  after  the  fashion  of  a  catalogue  than 
a  description.  Cropping,  branding,  whipping,  and  torture  in 
punishment  of  crime  have  been  abolished,  with  an  unfortunate 
exception  in  one  small  State.  The  lash  as  a  disciplinary  punish- 


24  HISTORICAL  REVIEW  OF  PRISON  REFORM.  [BOOK  I. 

ment  is  very  generally  forbidden  by  law,  except  in  the  Southern 
States,  as  are  also  all  cruel,  unusual,  or  degrading  inflictions  ; 
and  if  any  such  are  used,  it  is  by  an  abuse  of  power.  Imprison- 
ment for  debt  is  everywhere  done  away.  Several  of  the  States 
have,  without  increasing  crime,  dispensed  with  capital  punish- 
ment ;  and  in  all,  I  think,  it  is  confined  to  the  crimes  of  murder 
and  high  treason.  Intoxicating  liquors  have  been  universally 
shut  out.  Penal  labor,  which  in  the  English  sense  never  had 
great  currency  among  us,  exists  in  none  of  our  prisons  to-day ; 
but  everywhere  industrial,  or  at  least  productive,  labor  has  been 
substituted.  Commutation  laws,  by  which  prisoners  by  good 
conduct  and  industry  may  earn  some  abbreviation  of  sentence, 
are  very  extensively  found  on  the  statute  books  of  the  States 
and  the  effect  is  universally  reported  as  excellent.  In  a  few  of 
our  prisons  the  convicts  are  allowed  some  small  share  of  their 
earnings  ;  and  the  influence  of  this  is  admirable,  indeed  almost 
magical.  There  is  no  longer  any  mingling  of  sexes,  except  it 
may  be  in  a  few  extremely  rare  cases  in  small  county  jails. 
Two  State-prisons  for  women  only,  and  managed  by  women  only, 
in  Indiana  and  Massachusetts,  are  now  in  full  operation.  The 
former,  which  is  the  older,  has  already  wrought  marvels  of 
reformation,  and  the  latter  is  full  of  promise.  The  tendency  sets 
strongly  in  the  same  direction  in  other  States.  Schools  more 
or  less  effective  exist  in  many  prisons,  and  are  accomplishing 
a  great  deal  of  good  ;  but  there  is  here  still  a  wide  margin  for 
improvement.  Libraries  very  generally  exist  in  the  Northern 
and  Western  prisons,  and  are  much  prized  and  much  used  by  the 
prisoners.  They  are  found  highly  beneficial.  The  establishment 
of  this  class  of  moral  and  reformatory  agencies  in  prisons  was 
largely  due  to  the  wise  liberality  of  the  late  William  H.  Seward, 
when  he  was  Governor  of  New  York.  It  has  been  seen  that  the 
first  sermon  preached  in  an  American  prison  was  under  the  pro- 
tection of  a  loaded  cannon,  with  a  fuse  in  readiness  to  be  touched 
off  at  any  moment.  Chaplaincies  now  exist  in  nearly  all  our 
prisons  above  the  detention  house,  and  Bibles  are  very  generally 
found  in  every  cell.  Flourishing  Sunday-schools  are  also  now 
quite  common  ;  prisoners'  prayer-meetings  have  been  established 
and  are  well  attended  in  several  of  our  prisons.  Judicious  volun- 
teer workers  are  quite  generally  ad.mitted  into  the  prisons  to  labor 
for  the  moral  and  spiritual  improvement  of  their  inmates.  This 
is  especially  the  case  where  Sunday-schools  exist.  In  a  number 
of  our  State-prisons  an  absolutely  clean  record,  ipso  facto,  reha- 
bilitates the  criminal  on  his  liberation,  restoring  him  to  all  the 
rights  and  franchises  of  citizenship. 


PART  I.]  PENNSYLVANIA  AND  AUBURN  SYSTEMS.  2$ 


CHAPTER  XIII.  —  STRUGGLE  BETWEEN  THE  PENNSYLVANIA 
AND  AUBURN  SYSTEMS. 

A  NOTICE  of  the  progress  of  prison  reform  in  the  United 
States  would  be  incomplete  without  some  reference  to  a 
controversy  which  half  a  century  ago  was  carried  on  among  us 
with  much  warmth,  and  it  must  be  confessed  with  an  occasional 
touch  of  bitterness  :  I  refer  to  the  contest  relating  to  the  respec- 
tive merits  of  the  cellular  and  associated  systems  of  imprisonment. 
The  first  suggestion  of  cellular  separation  did  not  come  from 
Pennsylvania,  nor  was  it  even  first  applied  there ;  but  it  was  so 
warmly  espoused  by  that  commonwealth,  and  especially  by  its 
chief  city  Philadelphia,  and  had  so  early  and  earnest  an  applica- 
tion therein,  that  it  has  received  the  name  of  the  Pennsylvania  or 
Philadelphia  system,  and  is  even  to-day  known  and  recognized 
under  that  title  throughout  the  whole  world.  Early  in  the  pres- 
ent century  were  founded,  on  the  system  of  cellular  separation, 
the  eastern  and  western  penitentiaries  of  Pennsylvania,  situated 
respectively  in  the  cities  of  Philadelphia  and  Pittsburg;  and  at 
a  somewhat  later  period  the  great  city  prison  of  Philadelphia, 
district  of  Moyamensing,  and  a  dozen  or  so  of  the  county  jails 
were  organized  upon  the  same  plan. 

The  State-prison  of  New  Jersey  was  established,  and  for  many 
years  conducted,  on  the  Philadelphia  plan  ;  but  it  has  long  since 
been  replaced  by  the  Auburn  system.  The  change  was  made 
chiefly,  not  wholly,  on  financial  considerations.  As  early  as 
1840  the  board  of  inspectors  expressed  their  doubts  as  to  the  re- 
formatory power  of  the  system,  though  at  the  same  time  they  ac- 
knowledged a  still  greater  distrust  of  that  to  which  it  is  opposed. 
The  same  year  Dr.  Coleman,  medical  officer  of  the  prison,  attacked 
the  system  with  much  vigor  as  prejudicial  to  the  health  of  both 
body  and  mind  ;  and  he  renewed  the  attack  from  year  to  year,  till 
in  1846  he  assailed  it  as  deficient  in  the  reformatory  power  claimed 
for  it.  From  time  to  time  during  the  following  years  the  finan- 
cial aspect  of  the  question  was  recalled,  and  the  scanty  returns 
from  convict  labor  referred  to  as  demanding  the  earnest  considera- 
tion of  the  legislature.  Under  these  successive  blows,  —  these 
arguments  drawn  from  the  non-reformatory  character  of  the  sys- 
tem, its  injurious  effect  on  the  physical  and  mental  health  of  the 
prisoners,  and  its  detriment  to  the  material  interests  of  the  State, 
—  it  was  gradually  relaxed,  until  in  1859  ^  was  ^Y  tne  acti°n  °f 
the  legislature  formally  abandoned,  and  the  congregate  or  associ- 
ated system,  on  the  Auburn  plan,  thenceforth  substituted  in  its 
place. 

The  State-prison  of  Rhode  Island  has  had  a  similar  history. 


26  HISTORICAL  REVIEW  OF  PRISON  REFORM.  [BOOK  I. 

It  was  opened  in  1838.  Four  years  subsequently,  on  the  rec- 
ommendation of  the  inspectors,  a  change  from  the  Pennsylva- 
nia to  the  Auburn  system  was  begun,  and  was  carried  into  full 
effect  in  the  year  next  ensuing.  In  1844  Dr.  Cleaveland,  the 
intelligent  and  able  warden, — who  was  also  an  eminent  physi- 
cian,—  in  a  paper  addressed  to  the  legislature,  describes  the 
cellular  system  as  "a  slow,  corroding  process,  carrying  its  sub- 
jects to  the  derangement  or  destruction  of  both  body  and  mind." 
He  says  that  of  forty  prisoners  committed  ten  manifested  de- 
cided symptoms  of  insanity.  He  further  observes :  "  Without 
dwelling  on  the  greater  expensiveness  of  the  plan,  its  effects 
on  general  health,  bodily  and  mental,  and  its  failure  to  deter 
from  crime,  I  would  remark  that  the  advantage  claimed  for  it 
_  of  greater  calmness  of  spirit  and  readier  submission  to  the  rules 
has  not  been  realized.  On  the  contrary,  solitude  has  been  found 
to  produce  restless  irritability  and  peevishness,  —  impatient  of 
the  unnatural  restraint  imposed  on  the  reluctant  body  and  mind, 
and  difficult  to  be  dealt  with  ;  while,  in  the  performance  of  social 
labor  in  silence,  the  men  have  been  more  easily  subject  to  con- 
trol, and  have  required  less  frequent  exertions  of  authority  than 
before.  When  shut  up  in  the  cells  they  exercised,  under  the 
cravings  of  the  social  instinct,  —  which  walls  and  chains  can- 
not repress,  —  every  contrivance  that  ingenuity  could  suggest, 
by  means  of  the  window  and  of  the  pipes  passing  through  the 
cells,  to  hold  some  communication  with  each  other ;  and  they 
were  more  successful  than  would  have  been  thought  possible. 
But  on  the  other  hand,  when  the  strict  seclusion  of  the  cell 
was  done  away,  and  the  senses  of  the  prisoners  were  once  more 
opened  to  a  portion  of  their  accustomed  impressions,  and  the 
social  nature  had  been  partially  relieved  by  permitting  company 
without  conversation,  a  marked  change  came  over  the  pris- 
oners ;  and  they  showed  by  their  greater  cheerfulness  of  spirit 
and  alacrity  in  labor  that  they  were  sensible  of  their  improved 
condition." 

-Within  the  last  ten  years,  after  a  hard  struggle  between  the 
advocates  and  adversaries  of  the  cellular  system,  it  has  been 
abolished  in  the  western  penitentiary  at  Pittsburg.  From  1826 
—  when  the  prison  was  opened  —  till  1869,  all  work  was  done  in 
the  cells.  In  this  last-named  year  an  Act  was  passed  authorizing 
the  inspectors  of  the  western  penitentiary  to  have  their  con- 
victs, or  any  portion  of  them,  congregated  for  purposes  of  labor, 
learning,  and  religious  services.  In  conformity  with  this  Act  the 
labor  has  been  gradually  transferred  into  common  workshops, 
with  satisfactory  financial,  moral,  and  physical  results.  The 
whole  western  portion  of  the  State  is  said  to  be  convinced  that 
the  present  system  is  worthy  of  confidence,  and  that  credit  is 
due  to  the  inspectors  for  their  successful  efforts  to  effect  the 


PART  i.]  FURTHER  PROGRESS  OF,  IN  ENGLAND.  27 

change.  The  authorities  claim  that  the  change  has  been  a  bene- 
fit to  the  prison  and  its  discipline  in  all  respects. 

Trial  was  made  in  the  State-prison  of  Maine  at  Thomaston, 
and  in  that  of  New  York  at  Auburn,  of  the  system  of  absolute 
solitude  without  labor ;  but  in  both  cases  it  was  short-lived.  It 
was  found  that  such  a  system  would  either  depopulate  the  prison 
by  death,  or  turn  it  into  a  bedlam  through  insanity ;  and  the 
experiment  was  in  both  cases  speedily  abandoned. 

Everywhere,  then,  beyond  the  limits  of  eastern  Pennsylvania, 
the  system  of  imprisonment  in  the  United  States  is  that  which 
is  called,  indifferently,  the  Auburn,  congregate,  associated,  or  si- 
lent system.  This  last  designation,  however,  has  become,  in  some 
prisons,  quite  inapplicable.  Some  do  not  even  claim  to  conduct 
their  discipline  upon  the  strictly  silent  system ;  in  others,  where 
the  claim  is  made,  the  rule  of  silence  has  but  a  partial  enforce- 
ment, while  in  comparatively  few  is  the  rigidity  of  the  old  dis- 
cipline of  absolute  non-intercourse  maintained  in  full  force. 

The  separate  and  silent  systems  have,  notwithstanding  their 
diversity,  a  common  basis.  Isolation  and  labor  lie  at  the  founda- 
tion of  both.  They  are  fundamental  principles  of  both,  accord- 
ing to  the  ideal  on  which  they  were  formed.  The  difference  is 
one  of  application,  not  of  essence,  —  of  mode,  not  of  principle. 
In  one,  the  isolation  is  effected  by  an  absolute  bodily  separation 
by  day  as  well  as  by  night,  and  the  labor  is  performed  in  the  cell 
of  each  individual  convict ;  in  the  other,  the  labor  is  done  in 
common  workshops,  and  the  isolation  at  night  is  secured  by 
confinement  in  separate  cells,  but  during  the  day  is  of  a  moral 
species,  —  being  effected  by  the  enforcement,  so  far  as  such  a 
thing  is  possible,  of  an  absolute  silence.  The  bodies  of  the  pris- 
oners are  together,  but  their  souls  are  apart ;  and  thus,  while 
there  is  a  material  society,  there  is  a  mental  solitude.  Such  is 
the  theory  on  which  the  respective  systems  are  founded;  but 
in  neither  do  the  facts  ever  fully  correspond  to  'the  ideal. 


CHAPTER   XIV.  —  FURTHER   PROGRESS  OF  PRISON  REFORM  IN 

ENGLAND. 

WE  must  now  go  back  to  the  Old  World.  After  the  return 
of  the  English  commissioner,  Mr.  Crawford,  who  had 
been  appointed  by  Lord  Melbourne  to  visit  and  examine  Ameri- 
can prisons,  —  the  great  merits  of  which  he  freely  acknowledged, 
but  whose  defects  he  laid  bare  with  bold  and  unsparing  criticism, 
—  the  Duke  of  Richmond,  in  whose  family  prison  reform*  had 


28  HISTORICAL  REVIEW  OF  PRISON  REFORM.  [BOOK  r. 

become  a  sort  of  hereditary  task,  took  the  matter  up,  and  pro- 
cured the  appointment  of  a  parliamentary  committee  to  inquire 
into  the  state  of  jails.  The  labors  of  this  committee  were  of  the 
highest  importance.  Their  immediate  result  was  the  passage  of 
an  Act,  containing  little  more  than  two  provisions.  The  first, 
intended  to  secure  greater  uniformity  in  prison  management,  re- 
quired magistrates  to  lay  all  proposed  new  regulations  before  the 
secretary  of  state  for  the  home  department,  who  was  empowered 
to  alter,  add  to,  or  reject  them,  and  in  this  latter  case  to  substi- 
tute others  in  their  stead  ;  the  second  gave  the  minister  the  still 
more  important  power  of  appointing  five  inspectors  of  prisons  in 
Great  Britain. 

The  gentleman  selected  for  Scotland  —  where  the  prisons  were 
in  an  execrable  state  —  was  Mr.  Frederic  Hill.  A  more  fortu- 
nate choice  could  hardly  have  been  made.  In  ten  years,  under 
his  energetic  administration,  a  clean  sweep  was  made  of  all  the 
old  prison  abominations  of  Scotland,  and  a  new  and  improved 
system  organized  and  put  into  good  working  order.  He  it  was 
who  first  suggested  the  idea  of  indeterminate  sentences ;  though 
the  name  of  his  brother  Matthew  Davenport  Hill,  late  recorder 
of  Birmingham,  by  reason  of  the  vigorous  and  persistent  sup- 
port of  that  principle  by  his  pen,  became  more  intimately  asso- 
ciated with  it  in  the  public  mind. 

For  inspection,  England  was  divided  into  three  districts,  —  the 
northern,  south-western,  and  home.  For  the  home  district  two 
inspectors  were  appointed,  —  Messrs.  Crawford  and  Russell,  the 
latter  of  whom  had  been  chaplain  of  the  Millbank  penitentiary. 
Their  first  three  annual  reports  were  able  and  exhaustive  docu- 
ments. With  merciless  severity  they  laid  bare  in  their  first  re- 
port all  the  abominations  of  the  prisons  within  their  jurisdiction, 
especially  Newgate;  not  sparing  even  Mrs.  Fry's  committee, 
though  at  the  sajne  time  heartily  praising  the  ladies  who  com- 
posed it,  for  their  self-denial  and  assiduity.  In  their  second  they 
drew  an  elaborate  comparison  between  the  silent,  congregate,  and 
separate  cellular  system  of  prison  discipline.  But  it  was  their 
third  report  that  secured  the  triumph  of  their  favorite  theory,  — 
imprisonment  on  the  principle  of  separation.  They  had  strongly 
urged  the  building  of  a  model  prison,  and  in  1838  Lord  John  Rus- 
sell, the  home  secretary,  asked  parliament  for  the  requisite  grant 
and  authority.  Both  were  readily  yielded  ;  and  the  Pentonville 
prison,  constructed  under  the  direction  of  Captain  (afterwards 
Major  General  Sir  Joshua)  Jebb,  who  had  been  associated  with 
the  inspectors  as  surveyor-general  of  prisons,  was  the  outcome. 
This  was  opened  for  the  reception  of  convicts  in  1842.  In  Octo- 
ber of  the  following  year  a  wing  or  corridor  of  separate  cells  was 
added  to  the  prison  at  Preston,  in  Lancashire  county,  and  a  large 
new  'prison,  built  on  the  model  of  Pentonville,  was  opened  at 


PART  I.]  REFORMATION,   OR  PROTECTION?  29 

Reading  in  1844.  ^  was  in  these  three  prisons,  mainly,  that  the 
problem  how  to  combine  reformation  with  punishment,  so  far  as 
England  was  concerned,  was  worked  out.  The  mode  of  treatment 
adopted  in  them  was  essentially  different;  and  the  history  of  pris- 
on reform  in  England  for  the  next  few  years  is  bound  up  with  the 
history  of  these  three  institutions.  All  had  chaplains  every  way 
suited  to  their  positions,  —  able,  zealous,  and  enthusiastically  de- 
voted to  the  work :  Mr.  Kingsmill  at  Pentonville,  Mr.  Clay  at 
Preston,  and  Mr.  Field  at  Reading.  Perhaps  the  prison  at  Glouces- 
ter ought  to  be  added  to  this  trio,  for  there  also  problems  of  the 
highest  order  and  interest  were  worked  out,  —  first  under  the  guid- 
ance of  Sir  George  O.  Paul,  and  afterwards  under  that  of  Mr. 
Barwick  Baker ;  neither  of  them  prison  officials,  but  both  magis- 
trates of  extraordinary  ability,  zeal,  discretion,  and  diligence.  It 
would  be  extremely  interesting  to  trace  these  four  experiments  in 
detail ;  but  that  is  quite  impossible  in  a  mere  sketch  such  as  that 
now  in  hand. 


CHAPTER  XV.  —  REFORMATION  OF  THE  CRIMINAL,  OR  PROTEC- 
TION OF  SOCIETY  ? 

THE  question  was  warmly  debated  about  this  time  whether 
reformation  of  the  criminal  or  the  protection  of  society  is  the 
primary  end  of  imprisonment.  Archbishop  Whately  entered  the 
lists  as  champion  of  the  latter  view.  "  We  cannot  admit,"  he  said, 
"  that  the  reformation  of  the  convict  is  an  essential  part  of  the 
punishment ;  it  may  be  joined  to  it  incidentally,  but  cannot  belong 
essentially  and  necessarily  to  a  penal  system."  Abstractly,  this 
may  be  true ;  but  prison  discipline  is  a  very  concrete  thing.  The 
real  question  is,  What  class  of  agencies  —  the  reformatory  or  the 
deterrent  —  will  be  found  most  effective  in  preventing  crime,  and 
so  in  protecting  society  ?  Mr.  Clay,  of  the  Preston  jail,  maintained 
with  earnestness  that  reformation  is  a  more  essential  element 
than  even  punishment,  in  any  system  directed  to  these  ends.  He 
looked  upon  the  mass  of  prisoners  as  (to  use  his  own  phrase)  "in- 
cidental offenders,"  men  who  broke  the  law  on  sudden  impulse,  and 
generally  as  the  effect  of  drink.  These  incipient  criminals  he  con- 
sidered the  very  men  whom  it  was  most  possible  to  reform  through 
a  firm  but  kindly  discipline,  and  especially  through  the  regenera- 
tive and  purifying  influences  of  religion.  The  real  problem  (he 
contended)  was  to  devise  some  method  of  treatment  which  would 
combine  deterrence  and  moral  amendment,  punishment  and  re- 
formation ;  always,  however,  in  view  of  the  protection  of  society 
through  the  prevention  of  crime.  This  is  the  view  now  generally 
held  by  the  soundest  students  of  penitentiary  science. 


30  HISTORICAL  REVIEW  OF  PRISON  REFORM.  [BOOK  i. 


CHAPTER  XVI. — THE  QUESTION  OF  TRANSPORTATION  IN 

ENGLAND. 

ANY  notice  of  the  penitentiary  question  in  England  would  be 
incomplete  without  at  least  abrief  mention  of  transportation 
as  one  of  the  forms  of  public  punishment.  The  first  transport 
fleet,  laden  with  convicts,  sailed  for  Australia,  as  we  have  seen,  in 
1 787.  The  scheme  when  first  adopted  had  met  with  general  favor. 
Howard  and  his  friends  were  at  that  time  the  only  strenuous 
opponents.  However,  twenty  years  after  his  death  Bentham  and 
Romilly  renewed  the  cry  against  transportation  ;  and  from  that 
time  it  became  the  object  of  increasingly  vehement  attack.  Still 
it  continued  to  thrive  and  flourish  till  Archbishop  Whately,  with 
clear  and  incisive  logic,  convinced  all  who  were  not  officially  or 
from  prejudice  incapable  of  conviction  of  the  enormous  evils  of 
the  system, — "a  system,"  so  he  expresses  himself,  "begun  in 
defiance  of  all  reason,  and  continued  in  defiance  of  all  experience." 
In  1837  Sir  William  Molesworth,  in  concert  with  Dr.  Whately, 
obtained  a  parliamentary  committee  on  transportation.  The  rev- 
elations elicited  were  appalling.  The  committee  recommended 
the  instant  abolition  of  the  system  of  transportation  and  the 
substitution  of  that  of  confinement  in  penitentiaries.  But  this 
proposition,  notwithstanding  all  that  its  friends  could  do,  was 
defeated  by  a  rider  engrafted  on  the  bill  providing  that  the  peni- 
tentiaries should  be  erected,  not  in  England,  but  in  Australia. 
Twenty  years  more  of  war  were  required  to  complete  the  aboli- 
tion of  the  system. 


CHAPTER  XVII.  —  PRISON  REFORM  IN  SPAIN  BY  MONTESINOS. 

LET  us  now  cross  the  channel  again,  and  glance  rapidly  at  the 
progress  of  prison  reform  on  the  Continent.  The  movement 
in  Italy  under  Pope  Clement  XL  in  1704,  and  that  in  Belgium 
(Austrian  Netherlands)  in  1771-75  under  Viscount  Vilain  XIV, 
both  of  which  won  such  high  eulogiums  from  Howard,  have  been 
already  noticed.  Other  movements  in  the  same  direction  no  less 
interesting,  no  less  instructive,  no  less  inspiring,  have  taken  place 
in  other  continental  countries  within  the  present  century. 

Among  the  most  remarkable  of  the  early  experiments  in  prison 
discipline  was  that  of  Colonel  Montesinos  in  the  prison  of  Va- 
lencia, Spain,  containing  a  population  of  from  one  thousand  to 
fifteeen  hundred  prisoners.  This  covered  a  period  of  fifteen 


PART  i.j  EARLY  EXPERIMENT  IN  SPAIN.  31 

years;  namely,  from  1835  to  1850.     Previously  the  recommittals 
had  run  up  to  forty,  fifty,  sixty,  and  even  seventy  per  cent.     For 
the  first  two  years  no  impression  was  made  upon  these  figures ; 
but  after  that  they  fell  rapidly,  coming  down  in  the  end  to  nearly 
or  quite  zero.     To  what  was  this  extraordinary  decrease  owing  ? 
Mainly  to  the   use  of  moral   forces   instead  of   physical  in  the 
government   of  the   prison.     Colonel    Montesinos   introduced   a 
great  variety  of  trades,  —  above  forty  in  all,  —  and  allowed  the 
prisoner  to  choose  the  one  he  would  learn.    He  waged  an  unceas- 
ing warfare  against  idleness,  and  sought  by  every  possible  means 
at  once  to  inspire  the  prisoners  with  a  love  of  labor  and  to  form 
in  them  industrious  habits.    The  author  of  "  Notes  of  an  Attache 
in  Spain  in  1850,"  a  member  of  the  British  Embassy,  thus  states 
his  impressions  of  this  prison  :  "The  penitentiary  gave  us  more 
satisfaction   than   any   other   institution    we   visited.     Here   we 
beheld  one  thousand  prisoners  under  the  most  admirable  system 
of   discipline,  engaged  in  every  branch  of  human  industry.     I 
could  scarcely  realize  that  I  was  in  a  prison,  so  like  an  immense 
and  enterprising  factory  was  the  general  aspect  of  the  interior, 
and  so  happy  and  contented  seemed  the  busy  operatives  in  their 
various  employments."     Mr.  Hoskins,  an  intelligent  and  respect- 
able English  traveller,  after  giving  an  extended  account  of  the 
prison,  adds  this  statement  in  conclusion  :  "  The  success  attend- 
ing the  reformation  of  the  prisoners  in  this  establishment  seems 
really  a  miracle."     But  it  was  no  miracle  ;  it  was  but  the  fruit  of 
a  natural  system  of  penitentiary  training.     Colonel  Montesinos 
did  not  attempt  to  repeal  the  laws  of  Nature.     He  seized  those 
great   principles   which   the   Creator    has    impressed    upon    the 
human  soul,  and  moulded  them  to  his  purpose.     He  aimed  to 
develop  manhood,  not  to  crush  it ;  to  gain  the  will,  not  simply 
to  coerce  the  body.     He  employed  the  law  of  love,  and  found  it 
the  most  powerful  of  all  laws.     He  acted  upon  his  men  by  urging 
them,  not  alone  by  exhortations,  but  by  a  system  of  organized 
persuasion,  to  self-discipline,  self-help,  and  self-reformation.     He 
excited  them  to  diligence  by  allowing  them  a  by  no  means  incon- 
siderable portion  of  their  earnings.     He  enabled  them  to  raise 
their  position,  step  by  step,  by  their  own  industry  and  good  con- 
duct.    These   were   the   agencies    employed  to  effect  those  as- 
tonishing results  recorded  by  Mr.  Hoskins  and  the  Attach^  as 
cited  above. 


32  HISTORICAL  REVIEW  OF  PRISON  REFORM.  [BOOK  I. 


CHAPTER    XVIII.  —  PRISON    REFORM   BY   OBERMAIER  IN  GER- 
MANY AND  DESPINE  IN  SAVOY. 

AN  experiment  of  like  character  was  about  the  same  time 
carried  forward  by  Councilor  Von  Obermaier  in  the  State- 
prison  of  Bavaria,  at  Munich.  The  results  were  no  less  signal 
here  than  at  Valencia,  and  effected  by  agencies  altogether  analo- 
gous. I  will  not  therefore  stay  to  repeat  them,  but  will  content 
myself  with  the  statement  that  their  reality  is  attested  from 
personal  observation  by  Sir  John  Milbanke,  British  envoy  to  the 
court  of  Bavaria,  and  by  George  Combe,  of  Scotland,  both  of 
whom  speak  of  this  prison,  under  Von  Obermaier's  administration, 
as  an  illustration  of  the  power  of  the  moral  sentiments  to  govern 
and  reform  the  worst  of  criminals  without  the  lash  or  any  severe 
disciplinary  punishments. 

At  a  somewhat  though  not  much  later  date  another  advance 
was  made  in  Italy,  at  Albertville,  Savoy,  under  the  administration 
of  the  prison  by  Mr.  F.  Despine.  This  experiment  was  of  much 
shorter  duration,  but  no  less  successful.  Mr.  Despine's  adminis- 
tration was  full  of  mingled  firmness  and  gentleness.  He  gov- 
erned his  prisoners  by  awakening  in  them  virtuous  sentiments. 
In  this  manner  he  so  held  them  to  duty  by  the  bond  of  gratitude 
and  love,  that  he  was  rarely  compromised  by  an  escape,  or  even 
an  attempt  to  escape.  At  length  however,  compelled  by  the 
supreme  administration  to  carry  out  in  their  rigor  mere  routine 
regulations,  —  and  that,  too,  despite  the  exceptional  morality  and 
the  habit  of  willing,  cheerful  work  to  which  he  had  formed  the 
prisoners,  —  this  model  director  chose  rather  to  resign  his  po- 
sition than  to  hold  it  at  the  cost  of  yielding  his  personal  convic- 
tions, and  of  putting  in  practice  a  discipline  which  he  felt  to  be 
detestable  and  knew  to  be  injurious. 


CHAPTER   XIX.  —  MACONOCHIE'S  WORK  AT  NORFOLK   ISLAND, 
AND  CROFTON'S  IN  IRELAND. 

THE  bolder,  more  scientific  systems  of  Alexander  Maconochie 
at  Norfolk  Island,  and  of  Sir  Walter  Crofton  in  Ireland, 
are  too  complex  in  their  arrangements  to  allow  a  detailed  expla- 
nation in  this  review,  and  too  well  known,  perhaps,  to  require  it. 
The  two  systems  are  substantially  one,  the  underlying  principle 
of  both  —  progressive  classification  —  being  the  same,  though  the 


PART  I.]  EXPERIMENT  IN  RUSSIA.  33 

details  of  its  application  are  marked  by  more  or  less  diversity. 
Sir  Walter's  is  undoubtedly  the  more  exact,  simple,  and  easy  of 
execution  ;  while  Maconochie's,  according  to  my  conception,  is  to 
be  preferred  in  this,  that  its  sentences  are  in  good  marks  to  be 
earned,  and  not  in  fixed  durations  of  time.  The  explanation  of 
this  may  be,  and  probably  is,  that  the  former  was  obliged  to 
adapt  his  system  to  actually  existing  law,  while  the  latter,  so  far 
as  this  feature  was  concerned,  wrote  purely  as  a  philosopher, 
laying  down  principles  to  guide  the  legislator.  The  true  definition 
of  this  system,  as  I  think,  is  that  of  an  adult  reformatory,  in 
which  the  will  of  the  prison  inmate  is  brought  into  accord  with 
the  will  of  the  prison  keeper,  and  held  there  for  so  long  a  time 
that  virtue  becomes  a  habit.  It  is  a  system  whose  supreme  aim 
—  of  course  neither  ignoring  nor  making  light  of  the  punitive 
element  —  is  so  to  teach  and  train  the  prisoner  during  his  incar- 
ceration, that  on  his  liberation  he  will  be  able  to  resist  temptation 
and  inclined  to  lead  an  upright,  worthy  life.  Such  reformation 
is  effected  —  at  least  the  aim  is  to  effect  it,  so  far  as  such  a  result 
may  be  attainable  —  by  placing  the  prisoner's  fate  measurably  in 
his  own  hands,  and  thereby  enabling  him,  through  industry  and 
obedience,  to  raise  himself  step  by  step  to  positions  of  increased 
freedom,  privilege,  and  comfort,  while  on  the  other  hand  idleness 
and  bad  conduct  keep  him  in  a  state  of  coercion  and  restraint. 


CHAPTER  XX.  —  COUNT  SOLLOHUB'S  EXPERIMENT   IN  RUSSIA. 

ONE  more  of  these  special  instances  of  remarkable  progress 
may  be  cited.  It  is  of  a  considerably  later  date,  having 
occurred  within  the  last  twenty  years,  and  in  a  country  from 
which  it  would  hardly  have  been  expected,  —  the  great  empire  of 
northern  Europe,  Russia.  Count  Sollohub,  a  man  of  vigorous 
intellect  and  broad  sympathies,  within  the  period  named  inau- 
gurated a  prison  system  at  Moscow,  which  has  yielded  fruits  that 
are  very  striking.  In  his  house  of  correction  and  industry  in  that 
city  he  has  shown  what  may  be  done  by  a  humane  and  Christian 
treatment,  in  the  way  of  reforming  criminals.  The  distinguished 
count  devised  a  new  scheme  of  penitentiary  labor,  which  I  can 
state  only  in  a  very  general  way.  Not  only  was  every  prisoner 
not  in  possession  of  a  trade  at  the  time  of  his  committal  required 
to  learn  one,  but  he  was  permitted,  within  certain  limits,  to  use 
his  own  choice  in  the  selection  of  it.  So  long  as  the  convict 
remained  an  apprentice  he  got  no  part  of  the  product  of  his 
labor;  but  as  soon  as  he  was  adjudged  to  be  a  master-workman 

3 


34  HISTORICAL  REVIEW  OF  PRISON  REFORM.  [BOOK  I. 

(and  the  tests  applied  as  the  ground  of  such  judgment  were 
severe)  he  received  a  proportion  equal  to  two-thirds  of  his  entire 
earnings,  the  greater  part  of  which  was  reserved  for  him  as  a 
little  capital  to  again  begin  life  with  after  his  liberation.  So 
effectual  was  the  power  of  hope  thus  applied,  that  instances  were 
not  rare  in  which  the  convict  apprentices  learned  their  trades, 
and  were  pronounced  master-workmen,  in  two  months.  The 
first  general  result  of  this  system  was  that  nine-tenths  of  the 
prisoners  mastered  a  trade  so  completely,  that,  on  their  discharge, 
they  were  capable  of  taking  the  position  of  foremen  in  a  work- 
shop ;  and  the  second  was  that  there  were  scarcely  any  relapses. 
On  the  contrary,  criminals  who  had  been  subjected  to  its  disci- 
pline, and  had  been  discharged,  were  almost  to  a  man  earning 
an  honest  living  at  the  trades  which  they  had  learned  while  in 
prison.  Of  two  thousand  one  hundred  and  twenty-eight  prisoners 
released  from  the  establishment  within  the  first  six  years  after 
it  was  opened,  only  nine  —  less  than  half  of  one  per  cent  —  had 
been  returned  to  it. 


CHAPTER   XXI.  —  PRISON  REFORM  IN  SWEDEN  UNDER  ROYAL 

LEADERSHIP. 

X 

~D  ETRACING  our  steps  now  for  a  half  century,  we  introduce 
-I-V.  upon  the  scene  a  royal  prison-reformer  in  the  person  of 
Oscar  I.,  King  of  Sweden  and  Norway.  While  still  Crown 
Prince  he  had  made  a  profound  study  of  convict  treatment,  and 
had  published  a  book  on  "  Punishments  and  Prisons."  His  opin- 
ions, which  were  far  in  advance  of  his  times,  were  in  brief  these  : 
That  criminal  legislation  and  prison  discipline  play  an  important 
part  in  the  moral  existence  of  States  ;  that  the  penitentiary  ques- 
tion belongs  not  simply  to  the  domain  of  philanthropy,  but  as  well 
to  those  of  religion,  statesmanship,  and  jurisprudence;  that  the 
progress  of  science  and  the  development  of  industry  have  begot- 
ten a  greater  respect  than  heretofore  for  man,  a  stronger  interest 
in  his  education,  and  an  increased  regard  for  the  well-being  of  the 
poorer  classes  ;  that  this  noble  solicitude  has  gone  down  even 
to  the  vicious  and  the  criminal  ;  that  we  no  longer  see  in  pris- 
oners beings  proscribed  by  society,  and  for  ever  to  be  treated  as 
outcasts,  but  rather  brothers  who  have  gone  astray,  and  for 
whose  moral  regeneration  it  is  our  duty  to  labor,  to  hope,  and  to 
watch  ;  that  it  is  the  duty  of  the  State  not  only  to  punish  crimes, 
but  also  to  inquire  into  their  causes,  to  the  end  that  the  effect 
may  be  prevented  by  the  destruction  of  the  occasion  ;  that  the 
public  security  must  be  assured  by  a  good  education  of  the  people, 


PART  i.]         IN  SWEDEN  UNDER  ROYAL  LEADERSHIP.  35 

intellectual  and  moral ;  that  poverty,  the  never-ceasing  source 
of  crime,  must  be  combated  by  the  resources  of  industry,  and 
the  means  of  employment  brought  within  reach  of  those  to 
whom  they  are  wanting  ;  that  the  penitentiary  question  is  no 
longer  confined  to  punishment,  but  embraces  reformation  and 
rehabilitation  ;  that  such  pious  efforts  to  apply  the  precepts  of 
Christianity  to  the  administration  of  prisons  will  form  the  fairest 
page  in  the  history  of  our  age  ;  that  what  has  been  made  the  re- 
proach of  the  new  penitentiary  system  —  namely,  that  it  busies 
itself  with  the  criminal  to  the  neglect  of  the  innocent  poor  —  is  in 
truth  its  honor,  since  it  gives  to  the  laws  a  greater  reformatory 
force,  and  renders  punishment  more  efficacious  ;  that  hence  we 
must  guard  against  confounding  it  with  that  false  philosophy  which 
sometimes  appears  to  assume  the  task  of  apologizing  for  crime, 
and  even  of  protecting  it  ;  that  it  is  the  duty  of  an  enlightened 
and  well-organized  State  to  bring  its  penal  laws  into  harmony  with 
the  claims  of  humanity  and  reason,  to  apply  them  with  justice  and 
impartiality,  and  to  execute  them  with  rigor,  but  at  the  same 
time  in  a  spirit  of  benevolence  and  mercy ;  that  criminal  legis- 
lation and  prison  discipline  are  closely  connected  the  one  with 
the  other,  that  they  mutually  respond  to  and  support  each 
other,  that  the  one  should  be  considered  as  the  complement 
of  the  other,  and  that  the  reform  of  the  penal  code  will  be  well- 
nigh  a  useless  labor  so  long  as  it  does  not  extend  to  the  penal 
institutions  ;  that  this  important  reform  ought  to  be  made  in  a 
systematic  and  comprehensive  manner,  embracing  all  branches  of 
the  legislation  properly  belonging  to  it ;  that  these  branches  may 
be  divided  into  two  principal  classes:  (i)  Those  which  aim  to 
prevent  crimes  by  removing  their  causes  and  occasions,  which 
category  comprehends  all  laws  that  are  intended  to  develop  the 
religious  sentiment  of  the  people,  to  enlarge  their  moral  and  intel- 
lectual culture,  to  form  and  strengthen  in  them  the  love  of  labor, 
and  to  promote  the  general  well-being  of  the  State  ;  (2)  Those 
which  have  for  their  object  the  punishment  of  the  crime  and  the 
reformation  of  the  criminal,  to  which  latter  category  belong  the 
penal  code  and  the  penitentiary  system. 

Four  years  after  the  publication  of  his  book  Prince  Oscar  as- 
cended  the  throne.     He  at  once  obeyed  the  apostolic  injunction 
:  to  "  prove  his  faith  by  his  works."    This  he  did,  first,  by  improving 
;  the  prisons  and  prison  administration  of  his  country,  and,  sec- 
ondly, by  establishing  a  system  of  agencies  intended  to  diminish 
y  crime  by  destroying  its  causes.     To  this  end  a  new  penal  code 
was   adopted ;    compulsory  education  was   decreed ;    a  law  was 
enacted  requiring  each  parish  to  provide  all  needed  school  ac- 
commodation ;  funds  were  voted  to  aid  in  the  support  of   the 
school-masters ;  normal  schools  were  founded  ;  scholarships  were 
created  for  those  who  sought  instruction  in  them;    schools  of 


36  HISTORICAL  REVIEW  OF  PRISON  REFORM.  [BOOK  I. 

art  and  trades  were  established  ;  annual  subsidies  were  voted  to 
enable  young  artisans  of  rare  promise  to  visit  foreign  countries, 
and  perfect  themselves  in  their  several  professions ;  each  parish 
was  required  to  support  its  own  poor,  and  particularly  to  furnish 
food,  clothing,  and  all  necessary  care  to  the  young  children,  to 
the  aged,  the  sick,  and  the  insane,  who  were  without  resources 
of  their  own  ;  all  able-bodied  men  were  compelled  to  work  for 
their  own  and  their  families'  support,  and  if  their  labor  was 
not  sufficient,  it  was  left  to  the  commune  to  fix  the  amount  of 
assistance  to  be  given ;  to  insure  an  effective  application  of  this 
law,  the  parishes  purchased  lands  to  furnish  occupation  and 
maintenance  to  their  poor ;  absolute  freedom  was  accorded  to  all 
the  different  industries ;  agriculture  and  some  others  were  stim- 
ulated by  special  encouragements  ;  railways  were  constructed, 
steamboats  were  built,  manufactures  were  multiplied ;  and  in 
this  manner  an  industrial  activity  was  set  on  foot  and  a  general 
prosperity  insured,  whose  result  was  a  marked  diminution  of 
crime. 

Such  was  the  theory,  such  the  practice,  of  this  enlightened  and 
able  monarch.  If  we  go  down  to  the  essence  and  heart  of  things, 
what  better  have  we  to  offer  to-day?  Happy  the  country  which 
in  the  dawn  of  penitentiary  science  had  such  a  ruler  !  Happy 
the  country  which  has  for  its  present  sovereign  a  son  worthy  of 
such  a  sire,  and  who,  both  by  inheritance  and  conviction,  marches 
firmly  and  steadily  in  the  footsteps  of  his  illustrious  father  !  By 
the  use  of  the  agencies  above  described,  accompanied  by  the 
gradual  introduction  of  improved  prisons  and  an  improved  disci- 
pline, the  diminution  of  crime  in  Sweden  since  1840  has  been 
most  extraordinary. 


CHAPTER  XXII.  — PRISON  REFORM  IN  FRANCE.  —  ROYAL  PRISON 

SOCIETY  OF  1819. 

IT  would  be  an  injustice  and  a  wrong  to  France  quite  unpar- 
donable to  omit  her  name  from  an  historical  review  of  the 
kind  now  in  hand,  —  a  sort  of  repetition  of  the  "  Play  of  Ham- 
let with  the  Prince  of  Denmark  left  out."  France,  though  not 
the  first  to  move  in  this  work,  entered  early  upon  the  path  of 
prison  reform,  and  has  pursued  it  with  unceasing  zeal  to  the 
present  time,  —  her  activity  being  more  intense  to-day  than  at 
any  previous  date.  As  far  back  as  1819  she  founded  a  Royal 
Prison  Society,  in  which  the  king  took  an  active  interest.  It 
was  an  organization  that  won  immense  renown,  —  first,  that 
which  it  borrowed  from  the  great  names  and  the  great  tal- 


PART  i.]  THE  CAUSE  IN  FRANCE.  37 

ents  of  its  members  ;  then,  that  which  sprang  from  their  sin- 
cere and  earnest  devotion  to  the  work  of  prison  reform.  But 
its  chief  labor  was  to  pull  down  rather  than  to  build  up,  to  search 
out  and  to  root  out  abuses,  to  destroy  the  darnel  and  other  nox- 
ious grasses  before  casting  the  good  seed  into  the  soil.  But 
insuperable  obstacles  forbade  at  that  time  the  attainment  of  posi- 
tive results.  The  Society  offered  a  prize  for  the  best  work  on  the 
improvement  of  prisons  and  prison  administration,  which  was 
awarded  to  one  Danjon,  a  lawyer.  His  book  (which  I  have  never 
seen)  is  said  not  to  have  been  without  merit ;  but  it  was  a  re- 
production of  all  the  penal  theories  of  that  age,  —  a  real  laby- 
rinth, like  that  of  Crete,  in  which  when  one  entered  he  was  lost 
beyond  recovery.  Not  a  single  principle  to-day  accredited  among 
criminalists  who  unite  to  the  study  of  penal  law  that  of  peniten- 
tiary reform  was  found  in  his  treatise. 


CHAPTER  XXIII.  —  PRISON  REFORM  IN  FRANCE  (continued}.  — 
M.  CHARLES  LUCAS,  HIS  WRITINGS  AND  LABORS. 

BUT  at  that  time  there  was  just  coming  on  to  the  stage  of 
action  a  young  giant, —  a  man  who  for  nearly  two  genera- 
tions has  been  the  Hercules  of  prison  reform,  and  who  is  now 
the  doyen,  the  veteran  of  the  veterans,  in  the  great  army  devoted 
to  these  studies  and  this  work.  I  refer  to  M.  Charles  Lucas,  a 
member  of  the  Institute  of  France,  —  a  literary  distinction  of 
all  others  most  coveted  by  men  of  genius  and  learning ;  yet  he 
reflects  far  more  honor  upon  the  Institute  than  it  does  upon  him. 
It  is  not  as  a  member  of  the  French  Academy  that  he  will  be 
remembered  by  posterity,  but  as  the  file-leader  in  his  day  of  a 
moral  reform  among  the  greatest,  most  beneficent,  and  most  use- 
ful of  all  time. 

M.  Lucas  published  his  "  Penitentiary  System  of  Europe  and 
America"  in  1828,  and  his  "Theory  of  Imprisonment"  in  1836; 
each  in  three  volumes,  and  both  monumental.  They  were 
marked  by  all  the  qualities  of  his  intellect  and  heart,  —  broad 
research,  profound  learning,  keen  analysis,  lofty  sentiment,  and, 
to  crown  all,  good  sense  and  practical  judgment.  They  have 
entered  deeply  into  the  thought  and  action  of  mankind,  and 
their  influence  has  been  for  good,  and  good  alone. 

Prison  reform,  says  M.  Lucas,1  before  it  is  entitled  to  enter 
the  domain  of  science,  must  have  both  a  frame  (cadre)  and  a 

1  Not  in  the  books  before  mentioned,  but  in  his  Address  as  Chairman  at  the  re- 
cent organization  of  the  General  Prison  Society  of  France. 


38  HISTORICAL  REVIEW  OF  PRISON  REFORM.  [BOOK  i. 

programme.  Its  frame  is  simple.  It  has  to  do  first  with  young 
prisoners,  —  that  is  to  say,  the  first  question  is  that  of  age. 
Afterwards  comes  imprisonment  before  judgment,  —  the  ques- 
tion of  preliminary  detention  (question  du  regime  pre'ventif).  As 
to  imprisonment  after  judgment,  it  has  two  degrees:  condemna- 
tion to  a  short  term  and  condemnation  to  a  long  term. 

Prison  reform  has  also  a  programme,  consisting  of  five  prin- 
ciples. Of  these,  the  first  three  are  :  safe-keeping,  repression,  and 
correction,  —  the  first  to  detain,  the  second  to  intimidate,  the  third 
to  reform.  The  first  kind  of  imprisonment  admits  but  one  prin- 
ciple, detention :  it  excludes  deterrence  and  reformation.  From 
the  detention  prison  an  acquittal  may  to-morrow  restore  the  pris- 
oner to  society;  therefore  his  imprisonment  must  be  in  cellular 
separation,  so  that  he  may  not  carry  with  him  under  the  domestic 
roof  the  pollution  which  comes  from  contact  with  malefactors. 
The  second — condemnation  to  a  short  term  —  has  two  principles, 
detention  and  repression,  without  wholly  excluding  but  not  strongly 
embodying  the  third.  The  last — condemnation  to  a  long  term  — 
unites  all  three  of  the  principles,  —  detention,  repression,  and 
reformation.  Of  the  five  principles  which  make  up  the  pro- 
gramme of  prison  reform  three  have  been  stated  and  explained  ; 
there  remain  two  others.  The  first  (that  is,  the  fourth  in  the 
complete  enumeration)  is  the  principle  of  duration,  suggested 
by  the  division  of  imprisonment  after  judgment  into  repressive 
imprisonment  and  imprisonment  at  once  repressive  and  peni- 
tentiary,—  that  is,  reformatory.  The  maximum  of  repressive  im- 
prisonment should,  as  a  general  rule,  not  exceed  one  year,  but 
may  be  much  less  ;  for  the  principle  of  intimidation  does  not  of 
necessity  require  the  aid  of  time  :  an  intimidating  punishment 
may  be  inflicted  in  a  month,  in  a  day  even.  But,  on  the  other 
hand,  the  minimum  of  penitentiary  or  reformatory  punishment 
should  not  be  less  than  two  years  ;  because  time  is  an  essential 
element  in  reformation,  whose  agencies  are  moral  and  do  not  act 
instantaneously.  The  fifth  and  fundamental  principle  of  peni- 
tentiary reform  is  that  which  imposes  a  rational  and  normal  limit 
to  the  population  of  penitentiary  establishments  ;  for  this  re- 
form has  no  greater  enemy  than  the  excessive  agglomeration  of 
prisoners  :  it  is  the  gravest  obstacle  which  it  has  to  encounter. 
Indeed,  wherever  it  is  a  question  of  education,  even  in  the  uni- 
versity, we  shall  fail  of  the  best  results  if  we  proceed  on  the 
principle  of  agglomeration. 

The  theory  of  imprisonment  according  to  M.  Lucas  has  for 
its  aim  the  prevention  of  three  things,  —  escape,  mutual  corrup- 
tion, and  relapse.  In  all  the  three  degrees  of  imprisonment  — 
preliminary,  repressive,  and  reformatory  —  society  is  interested 
in  preventing  escape  and  corruption  ;  but  as  regards  the  last 
two  it  has  an  additional  interest  and  duty,  —  to  prevent  relapse. 


PART  i.]  THE   CAUSE  IN  FRANCE,  39 

Imprisonment  before  judgment  has  to  do  only  with  persons 
awaiting  trial,  and  here  safe-keeping  and  non-contamination  are 
the  main  things.  Imprisonment  after  judgment  aims  either  at 
repression  or  reformation.  In  this  last  or  penitentiary  degree 
the  habit  of  vice  and  crime  is  to  be  extirpated,  and  the  habit  of 
virtue  created.  Time  and  the  human  will  are  essential  elements, 
or  forces,  in  effecting  this  change  ;  for  it  can  be  accomplished 
only  through  the  repetition  of  voluntary  acts,  a  necessary  condi- 
tion of  which  is  duration.  Two  years  are  the  minimum  of  time 
needed  here.  But  there  is  a  condition  of  criminality  which  does 
not  require  reformation,  because  there  is  no  inveterate  perversity 
to  be  destroyed  ;  consequently  another  principle  than  habit  must 
be  brought  into  play.  This  principle  is  intimidation,  which,  so 
far  from  requiring  long  imprisonment,  repels  it.  Its  brevity  is  a 
condition  of  its  efficiency,  for  a  repressive  imprisonment  by  being 
continued  too  long  would  defeat  its  own  end ;  instead  of  intimi- 
dating the  convict  it  would  end  by  exasperating  him,  and  so  would 
compromise  in  his  mind  the  true  principles  and  in  his  heart 
the  genuine  sentiments  of  social  justice.  These  two  classes  of 
condemnation  make  necessary  two  different  systems  of  impris- 
onment, one  of  which  replaces  the  action  of  time,  the  other 
utilizes  it.  The  first  is  repressive,  and  acts  through  intimida- 
tion ;  the  second  is  penitentiary,  and  consists  in  changing  bad 
habits  into  good  ones,  —  a  result  which  a  longer  imprisonment 
makes  possible,  and  a  greater  perversity  makes  necessary.  There- 
fore, the  true  theory  of  imprisonment  is-  very  far  from  consisting 
exclusively  in  a  penitentiary  system,  as  has  been  too  generally 
believed  both  in  Europe  and  the  United  States.  Nowhere,  until 
the  appearance  of  M.  Lucas's  "  Theory  of  Imprisonment,"  had 
the  penitentiary  system  been  apprehended  and  characterized, — 
first,  as  a  distinct  and  special  degree  of  the  theory  of  impris- 
onment, and  then  as  but  a  single  element  in  a  totality  of  agen- 
cies, acting  effectively  only  in  combination  with  the  other  two 
degrees  of  the  same  theory. 

M.  Lucas  has  not  published  any  great  work  since  1836,  but 
from  his  chair  in  the  Academy  of  Moral  and  Political  Sciences  in 
the  Institute,  which  has  been  made  by  him  virtually  the  Tribune 
for  the  cause  of  penitentiary  reform,  he  has  issued  addresses  and 
papers  sufficient  in  number  to  form  several  octavo  volumes.  Nor 
has  he  been  alone  in  this  work,  but  has  had  in  it  many  illustrious 
compeers,  among  whom  may  be  named  MM.  de  Tocqueville, 
Demetz,  Berenger  (father  and  son),  Faustin-Helie,  de  Lamarque, 
de  Marsangy,  and  d'Haussonville. 


40  HISTORICAL   REVIEW  OF  PRISOA7  REFORM.  [BOOK  i. 


CHAPTER  XXIV.  —  PRISON  REFORM   IN   FRANCE  (concluded).— 
MORE  RECENT  MOVEMENTS. 

OF  late  there  has  been  a  remarkable  revival  of  both  the  spirit 
and  the  work  of  prison  reform  in  France.  In  the  winter 
of  1871-72,  after  the  first  movement  had  been  made  in  favor  of  the 
international  prison  congress  of  London,  on  the  initiative  of  the 
Viscount  d'Haussonville  a  parliamentary  commission  was  created 
of  nineteen  members,  with  an  equal  number  of  adjuncts  called  in 
from  outside  because  of  their  special  knowledge  of  the  question. 

This  great  penitentiary  inquest  —  for  such  it  was,  in  effect  — 
held  its  first  session  in  April,  1872,  and  its  last  in  July,  1875  ;  and 
during  the  intervening  three  years,  whenever  the  National  Assem- 
bly was  in  session,  the  commission  met  three  times  a  week,  and 
ordinarily  continued  in  session  not  less  than  three  hours,  often 
more.  The  commission  summoned  before  it  for  examination,  not 
only  all  the  most  eminent  specialists  on  this  subject  in  France, 
but  also  gentlemen  from  different  countries  in  Europe  and  even 
from  America,  to  spread  before  it  the  varied  results  of  their  obser- 
vation, study,  and  thought  on  all  the  manifold  phases  of  the  peni- 
tentiary question.  It  interrogated  all  the  higher  courts  of  France, 
from  which  it  obtained  opinions  of  the  greatest  value.  Not  con- 
tent with  this  extraordinary  breadth  of  inquiry,  the  commissioners 
parcelled  out  among  themselves  the  various  European  States  for 
examination  of  their  prisons  and  prison  systems,  and,  having 
severally  fulfilled  the  missions  with  which  they  had  thus  been 
charged,  they  reported  to  their  colleagues  the  result  of  their 
respective  observations,  which  were  recorded  in  the  archives  of 
the  body. 

To  different  members  of  the  commission  were  assigned  the 
several  general  topics  embraced  in  the  inquiry  for  the  preparation 
of  special  reports  thereupon.  This  duty  was  performed  by  the 
gentlemen  charged  with  it  in  an  extremely  able,  lucid,  and  satis- 
factory manner.  The  labors  of  the  commission,  in  the  form  of 
minutes  of  evidence  and  special  reports,  are  embodied  in  nearly 
a  dozen  quarto  volumes.  No  such  extended  inquiry,  national  or 
international,  touching  the  penitentiary  question,  has  ever  to  my 
knowledge  been  elsewhere  set  on  foot  and  carried  to  a  successful 
issue  ;  and  no  other  collection  of  materials  relating  to  that  question 
in  the  shape  of  information  and  discussion,  so  precious  as  this, 
has  ever  before  been  presented  to  the  public  in  one  body.  The 
gratitude  of  the  world  is  due  to  France  for  this  great  service  to 
the  cause  of  penitentiary  science,  rendered  under  circumstances 
of  extreme  national  affliction  and  difficulty,  and  while  the  country 
was  still  bleeding  profusely  from  the  wounds  of  war. 


PART  i.j  THE  CAUSE  IN  FRANCE.  41 

The  practical  issue  of  these  labors  has  been  :  I.  A  project  of 
law  relating  to  prisoners  under  preliminary  detention  and  criminals 
sentenced  to  an  imprisonment  not  exceeding  a  year  and  a  day, 
which  was  enacted  into  a  statute  by  the  National  Assembly  June 
5,  1875.  This  Act  subjects  these  two  classes  of  prisoners  to  cel- 
lular imprisonment  by  statutory  obligation,  while  it  leaves  the 
option  of  such  imprisonment  to  those  sentenced  for  longer  terms. 
An  imprisonment  of  more  than  three  months  under  this  Act  is 
reduced  one-fourth  by  a  provision  of  the  Act  itself,  three-fourths 
of  the  sentence  served  out  in  isolation  being  the  legal  equivalent 
of  the  full  term  in  association ;  but  no  notice  is  to  be  taken  of 
this  distinction  when  the  sentence  does  not  exceed  three  months. 
2.  A  similar  project  of  law  relating  to  the  detention  of  juvenile 
delinquents,  which  modifies  and  improves  in  important  particulars 
existing  legislation  on  that  question.  This  project  still  awaits 
the  action  of  the  parliament  to  receive  the  form  and  force  of  law, 
which  action  will  no  doubt  be  had  sooner  or  later.  3.  The  crea- 
tion of  a  national  commission,  under  the  name  of  Superior  Council 
of  Prisons.  This  council  forms  a  permanent  institution  of  state 
charged  with  the  perpetual  study  of  the  penitentiary  question,  and 
with  the  initiation,  as  occasion  may  require,  of  reforms  in  the 
penitentiary  regime. 

Other  tokens  of  a  freshened  interest  and  activity  in  France  are 
the  formation  of  a  National  Patronage  Society  in  aid  of  liberated 
prisoners,  with  its  seat  at  Paris,  and  with  branches  in  more  than 
half  the  departments  of  the  republic,  —  all  full  of  vitality  and  work. 
The  creation  in  so  short  a  space  of  so  many  and  such  active  or- 
ganizations of  this  sort  seems  more  like  a  work  of  magic  than  of 
human  enterprise.  Then  there  is  the  National  Prison  Association 
(socitte  generate  des  prisons),  created  just  two  years  ago,  but  already 
known  and  felt  as  a  power  for  good  to  the  ends  of  the  earth.  It 
collects  information  from  all  countries,  by  means  of  circular  letters 
addressed  to  the  specialists  of  those  countries,  on  all  points  em- 
braced in  the  penitentiary  question.  It  holds  monthly  meetings, 
at  which  papers  are  read  either  prepared  by  members  at  home  or 
communicated  by  correspondents  abroad,  which  are  ably  and  ex- 
haustively discussed.  It  publishes  a  monthly  journal,  in  which 
these  papers  and  discussions  appear  together  with  other  articles, 
and  especially  the  freshest  intelligence  from  all  parts  of  the  world 
on  the  penitentiary  question.  This  society  is  free  from  all  politi- 
cal and  sectarian  bias.  Catholic  and  Protestant,  imperialist,  mon- 
archist, and  republican  here  sit  side  by  side  at  the  same  council 
board.  An  illustration  of  the  total  obliteration  of  party  lines  is 
seen  in  the  fact  that  the  two  late  prime  ministers,  the  Duke  de 
Broglie  and  M.  Dufaure,  however  widely  they  may  differ  on  the 
floor  of  the  senate,  work  harmoniously  together  in  la  Societe  Gen- 
trale  des  Prisons,  for  the  good  of  humanity  and  the  progress  of 
French  civilization. 


42  HISTORICAL  REVIEW  OF  PRISON  REFORM.  [BOOK  I. 


CHAPTER  XXV.  —  RECENT  PROGRESS  IN  BELGIUM. 

BELGIUM,  as  we  have  seen,  in  the  labors  of  Viscount  Vilain 
XIV.  in  connection  with  the  prison  of  Ghent,  was  one  of 
the  "  morning  stars  "  of  prison  reform  ;  nor  has  she  lost  her  pres- 
tige and  pre-eminence  since  his  day.  This  has  been  well  sustained 
by  the  long-continued  and  useful  labors  of  her  illustrious  Duc- 
petiaux  and  those  of  his  no  less  able  and  honored  successor  in 
the  inspectorship-general,  M.  Stevens.  She  has  the  most  com- 
plete and  homogeneous  penitentiary  system  of  any  country  in  the 
world.  It  is  cellular  throughout,  except  as  regards  a  part  of  the 
prison  of  Ghent  for  life-sentenced  convicts.  The  system  exists  in 
that  country  under  the  best  possible  conditions,  and  has  the  best 
possible  chance  to  work  out  whatever  results  it  is  capable  of  ac- 
complishing. The  penitentiary  at  Louvain,  planned  by  the  genius 
and  constructed  under  the  supervision  of  M.  Stevens,  who  was  for 
ten  years  its  director,  is  the  model  of  the  model  prisons  of  the 
world,  so  far  as  they  have  come  under  my  observation  or  knowl- 
edge. I  had  never  conceived  of  any  thing  in  the  form  of  a  peni- 
tentiary establishment  so  admirable  in  organization,  so  perfect 
in  administration.  Nothing  seems  to  have  been  forgotten  in  its 
construction,  nothing  overlooked  in  its  rules,  nothing  omitted  in 
its  arrangements  ;  and  the  results  obtained  are  reported  as  highly 
satisfactory. 

It  is  fortunate  for  the  cellular  system  of  imprisonment  that  it 
has  the  opportunity  of  being  worked  out  to  its  normal  results  on 
so  broad  a  scale,  in  so  thorough  a  manner,  and  under  such  favor- 
able auspices  in  all  respects.  Its  adherents  and  friends  could 
desire  for  it  nothing  more  or  better. 


CHAPTER  XXVI. —  INTERNATIONAL  PRISON  CONGRESSES. 

WE  pass  now  to  another  and  broader  department  of  this 
historical  review;  namely,  from  the  action  of  individual 
States  and  communities  to  the  combined  action  of  the  family  of 
States  and  communities,  —  in  other  words,  to  the  international 
prison  congresses.  International  congresses,  whatever  the  sub- 
ject of  their  study,  show  the  comparative  condition  of  nations  as 
regards  intellectual  and  social  development,  in  the  same  manner 
as  international  industrial  exhibitions  show  the  comparative  results 
of  their  material  and  economic  development.  Hence  the  necessity 


PART  i.]  THE   CONGRESS  OF  FRANKFORT.  43 

for  their  existence.  Hence  their  great  and  acknowledged  utility. 
Hence  their  wide  and  growing  popularity,  —  very  nearly  one 
hundred  of  them  having  been  held  last  year. 


CHAPTER  XXVII.  —  CONGRESS  OF  FRANKFORT,  1845. 

THE  first  International  Congress  for  the  study  of  prison 
reform,  held  at  Frankfort-on-the-Main,  in  1845,  was  due  to 
the  initiative  of  two  eminent  men,  —  Messrs.  Ducpetiaux  and 
Russell ;  the  former  being  inspector-general  of  prisons  in  Bel- 
gium, and  the  latter  holding  a  similar  position  in  England.  The 
penitentiary  question  had  been  earnestly  studied  for  more  than 
half  a  century,  and  the  efficiency  of  the  different  penitentiary 
systems  had  been  warmly  debated.  In  1835  the  Swiss  Society 
of  Public  Utility  had  joined  the  prison  question  to  that  of 
pauperism,  and  thereby  occasioned  an  important  and  animated 
discussion  on  prison  reform.  The  same  year  the  illustrious  Be- 
renger  (de  la  Drome),  in  a  paper  read  to  the  French  Academy, 
gave  valuable  hints  touching  the  best  method  for  a  penitentiary 
system.  At  the  two  Italian  conferences,  held  at  Florence  and 
Lucca,  in  1842-43,  the  question  was  considered  and  debated 
mainly  from  a  sanitary  point  of  view.  About  the  same  time,  in 
the  Academy  of  Moral  and  Political  Sciences  of  the  Institute  of 
France,  three  men  of  genius  and  of  heart,  —  MM.  de  Tocque- 
ville,  Charles  Lucas,  and  de  Chateauneuf,  besides  M.  Berenger,  — 
were  discussing  the  subject  with  great  learning  and  in  an  earnest 
spirit,  and  the  French  Government  itself  had  its  attention  strongly 
bent  in  the  same  direction.  Decided  progress,  of  a  certain  kind, 
had  been  made.  Chains  had  been  broken,  corporal  punishment 
had  been  checked,  the  prisoner  received  a  better  treatment,  and 
humanity  had  largely  —  not  wholly  —  superseded  the  intense 
severity  of  punishment  so  widely  prevalent  before.  Still  the 
current  of  criminality  rushed  ever  onward,  rather  increasing  than 
diminishing. 

Such  being  the  state  of  things,  the  two  gentlemen  named 
above  said :  "  Why  is  the  progress  of  prison  reform  so  slow  ? 
Why  such  diversity  of  systems  ?  Certainly,  greater  unity  of 
views  is  desirable,  and,  if  arrived  at,  might  secure  a  better  suc- 
cess." It  was  reflections  like  these  that  led  to  the  International 
Congress  of  Frankfort,  in  1845.  The  conclusions  reached  by 
that  body,  after  three  days'  debate,  were :  "  That  the  system  of 
separate  confinement  ought  to  be  applied  to  prisoners  sentenced 
to  short  terms  ;  that  such  aggravation  of  punishment  ought  to 


44  HISTORICAL  REVIEW  OF  PRISON  REFORM.  [BOOK  i. 

diminish  the  term  of  imprisonment ;  that  the  penal  codes  should 
be  revised,  and  as  far  as  possible  made  to  harmonize  ;  that  prison 
inspectors  and  commissioners  of  surveillance  should  have  their 
duties  extended  to  a  wider  application ;  and  that  patronage  or  aid 
societies  ought  to  be  so  organized  and  conducted  as  to  become 
an  effective  instrumentality  in  the  reformation  of  criminals." 


CHAPTER  XXVIII.  —  CONGRESS  OF  BRUSSELS,  1846. 

A  SECOND  congress,  composed  of  more  than  two  hundred 
members,  was  held  the  next  year  (1846)  at  Brussels,  when 
the  following  resolutions  were  adopted  :  "  That  it  is  essential 
that  houses  of  correctional  education  for  young  delinquents,  on 
the  system  of  temporary  individual  confinement,  should  be  estab- 
lished, having  the  privilege  of  placing  the  said  young  culprits  in 
agricultural  colonies,  or  authority  to  bind  them  as  apprentices  to 
honest  farmers  and  mechanics  through  aid  societies  ;  that  the 
interior  service  of  the  prisons  should  be  intrusted  to  agents,  well 
prepared  for  their  duties  by  special  training  therefor ;  and  that 
religious  or  philanthropic  patronage  societies  should  also  give 
their  help  to  reform  the  prison  system." 


CHAPTER  XXIX. — CONGRESS  OF  FRANKFORT,  1857. 

THE  third  International  Prison  Congress  convened  at  Brussels 
in  1856,  but  without  coming  to  any  results,  adjourned  to 
meet  in  Frankfort  the  next  year.  There  gathered  in  that  superb 
city,  at  the  time  named,  a  large  body  of  delegates  from  many  dif- 
ferent countries.  Its  transactions  were  printed  in  two  volumes, 
containing  numerous  propositions  and  discussions  of  high  inter- 
est and  value  from  their  ability,  breadth,  elevation,  and  practical 
as  well  as  philanthropic  bearings.  The  application  of  continu- 
ous separation,  even  to  prisoners  having  long  terms  to  serve ;  re- 
duction of  one-third  of  the  imprisonment  on  account  of  serving 
the  term  in  separate  confinement ;  application  of  solitary  deten- 
tion even  to  juvenile  delinquents,  but  only  to  prepare  them  for 
the  ordinary  regime  in  houses  of  correctional  education  ;  the 
institution  of  agricultural  colonies  for  old  and  invalid  culprits  and 
for  those  to  whom  cellular  imprisonment  cannot  be  applied 


PART  i.]  THE  CONGRESS  OF  LONDON.  45 

without  inconvenience ;  abolishment  of  corporal  punishment  and 
public  labor ;  amendment  of  the  law  of  surveillance  so  as  not  to 
hinder  the  action  of  patronage  societies ;  the  special  education 
and  training  of  prison  officers  ;  the  establishment  of  intermediate 
institutions  between  strict  imprisonment  and  full  liberty,  both  for 
habitual  criminals  and  for  those  who  after  their  discharge  have 
no  employment  and  consequently  no  means  of  honest  support ; 
the  publication  at  stated  intervals  of  prison  reports  on  a  uniform 
basis,  so  that  an  intelligent  and  reliable  comparison  may  be  made 
of  the  work  done  and  the  results  attained  in  different  countries, 
—  such  were  the  conclusions  reached,  after  extended  discussion, 
by  this  congress. 

This  was  the  last  of  that  series  of  international  prison  con- 
gresses. No  further  effort  appears  ever  to  have  been  made  for 
another  gathering  of  the  sort  by  those  who  had  been  active  in  the 
movement.  A  depressing  influence  would  seem  to  have  fallen 
upon  the  men  and  the  work,  probably  from  an  observation  made 
in  this  congress  by  the  German  professor  Mittermaier,  the  high- 
priest  of  legal  and  juridical  science  in  his  day, — who  said  that 
while  he  ardently  desired  to  come  to  an  understanding  he  had 
little  hope  of  such  a  result  being  speedily  reached,  but  thought, 
from  the  wide  differences  of  opinion  which  existed,  that  they  were 
far  distant  from  the  object  at  which  they  aimed. 


CHAPTER  XXX. —  CONGRESS  OF  LONDON,  1872. 

AS  the  present  work  was  originally  prepared  for  the  press,  it 
contained  only  the  following  brief  notice  of  the  two  con- 
gresses of  London  and  Stockholm  :  "  The  next  general  impulse  to 
the  cause  of  prison  reform  came,  as  a  prior  one  had  more  than  a 
half  century  before,  from  the  United  States.  Ten  years  ago  steps 
were  successfully  taken  to  form  a  National  Prison  Association  in 
America,  under  whose  auspices  five  national  prison  congresses  have 
been  held  in  the  United  States,  —  namely,  in  Cincinnati,  Baltimore, 
St.  Louis,  New  York,  and  Newport ;  and  two  international  ones 
in  Europe,  those  of  London  in  1872  and  of  Stockholm  in  1878. 
But  these  several  reunions  are  too  recent,  and  their  labors  and  re- 
sults too  well  and  widely  known,  to  need  to  be  chronicled  here." 

An  instinctive  aversion  was  felt  by  the  author  to  any  extended 
treatment  of  a  movement  in  which  he  had  personally  borne  so 
prominent  a  part.  But  friends  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic,  for 
whose  judgment  he  feels  great  respect,  becoming  partially  aware 
through  a  printed  syllabus  of  the  work  of  the  restricted  reference 


46  HISTORICAL  REVIEW  OF  PRISON  REFORM.  [BOOK  i. 

therein  contained  to  the  said  movement,  have  made  earnest  re- 
monstrance against  such  restriction,  on  the  ground  that  it  would 
be  a  dereliction  of  what  is  due  in  such  a  work  to  the  truth  of 
history.  He  has  surrendered  partly  to  friendship  and  partly  to 
argument,  and  the  result  is  seen  below  in  a  larger  exposition  of 
the  origin,  progress,  and  fruit  of  the  movement  in  question.  And 
since  it  is  unavoidable  in  such  an  historical  summary  that  the 
author  speak  not  a  little  of  himself,  he  will  do  it  in  the  first  person 
instead  of  the  third,  to  avoid  at  once  pedantic  stiffness  and  clumsy 
circumlocution. 

Count  Sollohub,  the  originator,  organizer,  and  successful  con- 
ductor of  a  remarkable  experiment  in  prison  discipline  at  Moscow, 
in  replying  in  1868  to  a  request  for  information  on  the  state  of 
the  prison  question  in  Russia,  closed  a  very  able  report  on  that 
subject  with  the  suggestion  that  an  international  congress  be  con- 
voked for  a  broader  study  of  the  question.  The  thought  struck 
me  as  both  timely  and  practicable.  I  was  at  that  time,  and  had 
been  for  a  number  of  years,  secretary  of  the  Prison  Association  of 
New  York,  which  was  then  largely  national  and  to  a  certain  extent 
international,  in  the  sense  that  it  published  and  circulated  infor- 
mation gathered  at  home  and  abroad  in  relation  to  penitentiary  mat- 
ters, so  that  its  reports  were  sought  from  all  parts  of  the  world  by 
governments  as  well  as  by  individuals.  Accordingly,  at  the  stated 
monthly  meeting  in  May,  1869,  of  the  executive  committee  of  the 
Association,  which  constitutes  in  fact  its  board  of  managers,  I 
submitted  a  proposition  to  the  effect  that  the  Association  should 
undertake  the  convocation  and  organization  of  a  congress  of  na- 
tions, as  suggested  by  Count  Sollohub,  for  the  study  and  promotion 
of  penitentiary  reform.  This  proposition  was  held  under  advise- 
ment for  six  months,  and  finally  negatived.  But  the  project  had 
received  so  much  sympathy  and  encouragement  from  distinguished 
friends  of  the  cause  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic,  that  I  was  un- 
willing to  let  it  drop  without  a  further  effort.  Consequently  a  call 
was  drawn  up  and  issued  for  the  convocation  of  a  national  prison 
reform  convention,  to  meet  in  October,  1870,  at  Cincinnati,  Ohio ; 
which  call  was  signed  by  over  one  hundred  persons,  including  a 
large  proportion  of  the  governors  of  States  and  the  heads  of  nearly 
all  the  principal  prisons  and  reformatories  in  the  country.  The 
result  was  a  congress  at  the  date  and  place  named,  composed  of 
some  hundreds  of  members  drawn  from  nearly  all  the  States  of 
the  Union. 

The  president  of  the  congress  was  Rutherford  B.  Hayes,  then 
Governor  of  Ohio,  now  President  of  the  United  States.  And  let 
it  be  stated  here,  parenthetically,  that  Mr.  Hayes  had  determined 
to  attend  and  take  part  in  the  prison  congress  of  Stockholm,  which 
intention  was  defeated  only  by  his  election  to  the  chief  magistracy 
of  the  nation.  This  statement  will  explain  the  warmth  with  which 


PART  i.]  THE   CONGRESS  OF  LONDON.  47 

he  referred  to  the  Stockholm  gathering  in  his  first  message  to  the 
Congress  of  the  United  States. 

The  sessions  of  the  Congress  of  Cincinnati  continued  for  six 
days  with  unabated  interest  from  the  beginning  to  the  end. 
It  was  a  hard-working  body.  Nearly  forty  papers  were  read  and 
discussed.  Eleven  of  these  were  communicated  from  foreign 
countries,  —  namely,  six  from  England,  two  from  France,  one  from 
Italy,  one  from  Denmark,  and  one  from  British  East  India.  The 
project  of  organizing  a  National  Prison  Association  was  consid- 
ered and  adopted,  and  the  preliminary  steps  to  that  end  taken. 
A  vote  was  passed  to  the  effect  that  the  time  had  come  when 
an  international  prison  congress  might  be  summoned  with  good 
hopes  of  success,  and  I  was  honored  with  an  invitation  to  take 
charge  of  the  work.  Finally,  a  declaration  of  principles,  thirty- 
seven  in  number,  was  considered,  debated,  and  adopted  with,  I 
think,  absolute  unanimity.  So  far  preliminarily. 

In  studying  the  problem  how  best  to  set  about  the  task 
assigned  me,  this  thought  had  great  force  :  If  ever  true  and  solid 
penitentiary  reform  is  had,  it  must  in  the  end  be  through  the 
action  of  governments  ;  therefore  it  would  be  desirable  to  enlist 
the  interest  and  co-operation  of  governments  in  this  international 
study,  that  so  their  delegates  might  keep  them  au  courant  of  both 
experiment  and  opinion.  This  idea  was  the  key-note  of  my 
work.  My  first  endeavor  was  to  gain  my  own  Government,  which 
was  done  without  difficulty.  An  Act  was  promptly  passed  auth- 
orizing the  president  to  appoint  a  commissioner  to  the  proposed 
congress,  which  appointment  was  placed  in  my  hands,  together 
with  a  circular  letter  from  the  secretary  of  state  addressed  to  all 
the  diplomatic  and  consular  officers  of  the  Government  abroad, 
requesting  them  to  lend  their  aid  in  my  negotiations  with  the 
several  Governments  to  which  they  were  accredited,  with  a  view 
to  the  organization  of  the  congress.  My  next  step  was  to  call 
upon  the  foreign  ministers  resident  in  Washington  and  lay  the 
matter  before  them,  all  of  whom  readily  yielded  their  adhesion, 
and  gave  me  letters  to  their  respective  Governments.  Thus 
armed  I  visited  Europe,  and  spent  the  summer  and  autumn  of 
1871  in  negotiating  with  the  European  Governments,  most  of 
them  in  person  and  the  remainder  by  correspondence  through  our 
American  ministers.  The  success  of  this  mission  was  beyond 
what  could  have  been  anticipated  ;  and  when  the  congress  con- 
vened in  London  in  the  summer  of  1872,  it  was  found  that  all 
but  one  of  the  States  of  Europe  were  officially  represented  in  it, 
the  greater  part  by  several  delegates.  A  considerable  number  of 
the  Governments  of  both  North  and  South  America  also  sent 
commissioners  to  take  part  in  the  proceedings,  as  well  as  many  of 
the  individual  States  of  the  German  Empire  and  of  the  American 
Union.  Altogether,  the  number  of  official  delegates  must  have 
reached  nearly  one  hundred. 


48  HISTORICAL  REVIEW  OF  PRISON  REFORM.  [BOOK  i. 

But  it  seemed  equally  clear  that  a  congress  composed  wholly 
of  representatives  of  Governments  would  have  a  character  too 
exclusively  official,  and  therefore  it  was  determined  to  combine  a 
non-official  with  the  official  element,  so  as  to  give  greater  freedom 
and  breadth  to  the  discussions. 

The  union  of  these  two  elements  in  the  same  body  stamped  a 
character  of  originality  on  the  Congress  of  London.  There  had 
been  international  congresses  of  Governments  and  international 
congresses  of  private  citizens,  the  one  wholly  official,  the  other 
wholly  non-official ;  but  the  London  Congress  was  unique,  in  that 
it  combined  both  these  elements.  It  was  an  illustrious  body. 
Lord  Carnarvon  was  its  president.  The  Prince  of  Wales  hon- 
ored it  with  his  presence.  The  British  Secretary  of  State  for  the 
Home  Department  gave  official  welcome  to  the  foreign  delegates 
in  a  speech  at  once  cordial  and  eloquent.  Nearly  a  hundred 
official  delegates  as  above  stated  took  their  seat  in  the  congress. 
Eminent  jurists  from  the  United  States  and  other  countries  as- 
sisted. Directors  of  the  penitentiary  administration  and  inspec- 
tors of  prisons  in  many  European  States  lent  their  aid.  Heads  of 
prisons  and  reformatories  were  present  from  all  quarters  to  impart 
the  light  of  their  experience  and  of  that  practical  wisdom  which 
experience  alone  can  give.  Life-long  students  of  penitentiary 
science,  distinguished  alike  by  their  talents  and  their  writings, 
made  the  pilgrimage  to  London  on  that  occasion  to  give  dignity 
and  depth  to  discussions  on  which  they  poured  the  light  of  their 
knowledge  and  wisdom.  Juridical  associations  and  criminal-law 
departments  of  universities  took  part  in  its  deliberations.  The 
Institute  of  France  sent  one  of  its  members  to  impart  a  portion 
of  the  stores  of  thought  and  knowledge  which  it  had  accumulated 
by  a  study  of  the  penitentiary  question,  prolonged  through  half  a 
century.  The  discussions  of  the  congress  continued  ten  days. 
The  questions  considered  were  many  and  weighty;  the  discus- 
sions able  and  earnest.  The  official  report  of  the  proceedings,  a 
volume  of  eight  hundred  pages,  is  everywhere  recognized  as  one 
of  the  most  precious  contributions  to  the  literature  of  pcenology 
which  the  world  has  ever  seen. 

It  has  been  said  that  the  Congress  of  London  reached  no 
conclusions,  formulated  no  propositions,  adopted  no  statement  of 
principles.  This  is  partly  true,  and  partly  not.  It  did  not  make 
any  such  declaration  eo  nomine,  and  yet  it  gave  expression  to  its 
thought. 

The  American  delegation  submitted  to  the  congress  a  series 
of  propositions  embodying  substantially  the  declaration  of  prin- 
ciples put  forth  by  the  Congress  of  Cincinnati.  It  was  not 
judged  expedient  to  adopt  these  propositions  seriatim;  but  the 
most  essential  of  them  were  reproduced  in  a  condensed  form  in 
the  final  report  of  the  executive  committee,  which  was  adopted 


PART  i.]  THE   CONGRESS  OF  LONDON.  49 

as  expressing  the  general  sense  of  the  congress  touching  the  mat- 
ters which  it  had  been  called  together  to  consider.  These  two 
papers  are  given  below :  — 

/.  American  Propositions. 

"  i.  The  treatment  of  criminals  by  society  is  for  the  protection  of 
society.  But,  since  such  treatment  is  directed  rather  to  the  criminal  than 
to  the  crime,  its  great  object  should  be  his  moral  regeneration.  Hence  it 
should  be  made  a  primary  aim  of  prison  discipline  to  reform  the  criminal, 
and  not  simply  to  inflict  upon  him  a  certain  amount  of  vindictive  suffer- 
ing. The  best  guarantee  of  the  public  security  against  a  repetition  of  his 
crime  is  the  re-establishment  of  moral  harmony  in  the  soul  of  the  crim- 
inal himself,  —  his  new  birth  to  a  respect  for  the  laws. 

"2.  In  the  moral  regeneration  of  the  criminal  hope  is  a  more  powerful 
agent  than  fear ;  it  should  therefore  be  made  an  ever-present  force  in  the 
minds  of  prisoners  by  a  well-devised  and  skilfully-applied  system  of  re- 
wards for  good  conduct,  industry,  and  attention  to  learning.  Such  rewards 
may  be  a  diminution  of  sentence,  a  participation  in  earnings,  a  gradual 
withdrawal  of  restraint,  and  a  constant  enlargement  of  privilege,  as  these 
shall  be  severally  earned  by  meritorious  conduct.  Rewards  more  than 
punishments  are  essential  to  every  good  penitentiary  system. 

"  3.  The  progressive  classification  of  prisoners  based  on  merit,  and  not 
on  any  mere  arbitrary  principle  —  as  crime,  age,  etc. — should  be  established 
in  all  prisons  designed  for  the  treatment  of  convicted  criminals.  In  this 
way  the  prisoner's  destiny  during  his  incarceration  should  be  placed 
measurably  in  his  own  hands ;  he  must  be  put  into  circumstances  where 
he  will  be  able,  through  'his  own  exertions,  continually  to  better  his 
condition.  A  regulated  self-interest  must  be  brought  into  play.  In  the 
prison,  as  in  free  society,  there  must  be  the  stimulus  of  some  personal 
advantage  accruing  from  the  prisoner's  efforts.  Giving  prisoners  an  inter- 
est in  their  industry  and  good  conduct  tends  to  give  them  beneficial 
thoughts  and  habits,  and  what  no  severity  of  punishment  can  enforce  a 
moderate  personal  interest  will  readily  obtain. 

"  4.  In  criminal  treatment  moral  forces  should  be  relied  on  with  as 
little  admixture  of  physical  force  as  may  be  ;  organized  persuasion,  to  the 
utmost  extent  possible,  should  be  made  to  take  the  place  of  coercive 
restraint,  —  the  object  being  to  make  upright  and  industrious  freemen, 
rather  than  orderly  and  obedient  prisoners.  Brute  force  may  make  good 
prisoners,  moral  training  alone  will  make  good  citizens.  To  the  latter  of 
these  ends  the  living  soul  must  be  won,  to  the  former  only  the  inert  and 
obedient  body.  To  compass  the  reformation  of  criminals  the  military 
type  in  prison  management  must  be  abandoned,  and  a  discipline  by  moral 
forces  substituted  in  its  place.  The  objects  of  military  discipline  and 
prison  discipline,  being  directly  opposed  to  each  other,  cannot  be  pur- 
sued by  the  same  road.  The  one  is  meant  to  train  men  to  act  together, 
the  other  to  prepare  them  to  act  separately.  The  one  relies  upon  force, 
which  never  yet  created  virtue  ;  the  other  on  motives,  which  are  the  sole 
agency  for  attaining  moral  ends.  The  special  object  of  the  one  is  to  sup- 
press individual  character,  and  reduce  all  to  component  parts  of  a  com- 
pact machine ;  that  of  the  other  is  to  develop  and  strengthen  individual 

4 


5O  HISTORICAL  REVIEW  OF  PRISON  REFORM.  [BooK  i. 

character,  and  by  instilling  right  principles  to  encourage  and  enable  it  to 
act  on  these  independently. 

"  5.  Nevertheless,  unsuitable  indulgence  is  as  pernicious  as  unsuitable 
severity,  the  true  principle  being  to  place  the  prisoner  in  a  position  of 
stern  adversity,  from  which  he  must  work  his  way  out  by  his  own  exer- 
tions, —  that  is,  by  diligent  labor  and  a  constant  course  of  voluntary  self- 
command  and  self-denial.  As  a  rule,  reformation  can  be  attained  only 
through  a  stern  and  severe  training.  It  is  in  a  benevolent  adversity, 
whether  in  the  freedom  of  ordinary  life  or  the  servitude  of  the  prison, 
that  all  the  manly  virtues  are  born  and  nurtured.  It  is  easy  enough  for 
a  bad  man  to  put  up  with  a  little  more  degradation,  a  little  more  con- 
tumely, a  few  more  blows  or  harsh  restrictions  ;  but  to  set  his  shoulder  to 
the  wheel,  to  command  his  temper,  his  appetites,  his  self-indulgent  pro- 
pensities, to  struggle  steadily  out  of  his  position,  and  all  voluntarily,  all 
from  an  inward  impulse,  stimulated  by  a  moral  necessity,  —  this  is  a 
harder  task,  a  far  heavier  imposition.  Yet  it  is  just  this  training  that  a 
right  prison  discipline  must  exact,  and  only  through  such  training  that  it 
can  succeed. 

"  6.  It  is  essential  to  a  reformatory  prison  treatment  that  the  self-respect 
of  the  prisoner  should  be  cultivated  to  the  utmost,  and  that  every  effort 
be  made  to  give  back  to  him  his  manhood.  Hence,  all  disciplinary  pun- 
ishments that  inflict  unnecessary  pain  or  humiliation  should  be  abolished 
as  of  evil  influence ;  and,  instead,  the  penalty  of  prison  offences  should 
be  the  forfeiture  of  some  privilege,  or  of  a  part  of  the  progress  already 
made  toward  liberation,  with  or  without  diminished  food,  or  a  period  of 
stricter  confinement.  There  is  no  greater  mistake  in  the  whole  compass 
of  penal  discipline  than  its  studied  imposition  of  degradation  as  a  part  of 
punishment.  Such  imposition  destroys  every  better  impulse  and  aspira- 
tion. It  crushes  the  weak,  irritates  the  strong,  and  indisposes  all  to  sub- 
mission and  reform.  It  is  trampling  where  we  ought  to  raise,  and  is 
therefore  as  unchristian  in  principle  as  it  is  unwise  in  policy.  On  the 
other  hand,  no  imposition  would  be  so  improving,  none  so  favorable  to 
the  cultivation  of  the  prisoner's  self-respect,  self-command,  and  recovery 
of  manhood,  as  the  making  of  every  deviation  from  the  line  of  right  bear 
on  present  privilege  or  ultimate  release.  Such  punishments  would  be  as 
the  drop  of  water  that  wears  away  the  granite  rock,  and  would  without 
needless  pain  or  wanton  cruelty,  and  especially  without  further  injury  to 
their  manhood,  subdue  at  length  even  the  most  refractory. 

"  7.  A  system  of  prison  discipline  to  be  truly  reformatory  must  gain 
the  will  of  the  convict.  He  is  to  be  amended,  but  this  is  impossible  with 
his  mind  in  a  state  of  hostility.  No  system  can  hope  to  succeed  which 
does  not  secure  this  harmony  of  wills,  so  that  the  prisoner  shall  choose 
for  himself  what  his  officer  chooses  for  him.  But  to  this  end  the  officer 
must  really  choose  the  good  of  the  prisoner,  and  the  prisoner  must  re- 
main in  his  choice  long  enough  for  virtue  to  become  a  habit.  This 
consent  of  wills  is  an  essential  condition  of  reformation,  for  a  bad  man 
can  never  be  made  good  against  his  consent.  Nowhere  can  reformation 
become  the  rule  instead  of  the  exception  where  this  choice  of  the  same 
thing  by  prison  keepers  and  prison  inmates  has  not  been  attained. 

"  8.  No  prison  can  become  a  school  of  reform  till  there  is  on  the  part 
of  the  officers  a  hearty  desire  and  intention  to  accomplish  this  object. 


PART  i.]  THE  CONGRESS  OF  LONDON.  5 1 

Where  there  is  no  prevalent  aim  to  this  effect,  there  can  be  no  general 
results  in  this  direction.  Such  a  purpose,  however,  universally  entertained 
by  prison  officers  would  revolutionize  prison  discipline  by  changing  its 
whole  spirit,  and  fit  reformatory  processes  would  follow  such  change  as 
naturally  as  the  harvest  follows  the  sowing.  It  is  not  so  much  any  specific 
apparatus  that  is  needed,  as  it  is  the  introduction  of  a  really  benevolent 
spirit  into  our  prison  management.  Once  let  it  become  the  heartfelt 
desire  and  purpose  of  prison  officers  to  reform  the  criminals  under  their 
care,  and  they  will  speedily  become  inventive  of  the  methods  adapted  to 
the  work. 

"  9.  In  order  to  the  reformation  of  imprisoned  criminals,  there  must 
also  be  in  the  minds  of  prison  officers  a  serious  conviction  that  they  are 
capable  of  being  reformed,  since  no  man  can  heartily  pursue  an  object 
at  war  with  his  inward  beliefs,  no  man  can  earnestly  strive  to  accomplish 
what  in  his  heart  he  despairs  of  accomplishing.  Doubt  is  the  prelude  of 
failure,  confidence  a  guarantee  of  success.  Nothing  so  weakens  moral 
forces  as  unbelief,  nothing  imparts  to  them  such  vigor  as  faith.  "  Be  it 
unto  thee  according  to  thy  faith  "  is  the  statement  of  a  fundamental  prin- 
ciple of  success  in  all  human  enterprises,  especially  when  our  work  lies 
within  the  realm  of  mind  and  morals. 

"  10.  The  task  of  changing  bad  men  into  good  ones  is  not  one  to  be 
confided  to  the  first-comers.  It  is  a  serious  charge,  demanding  thorough 
preparation,  entire  self-devotion,  a  calm  and  cautious  judgment,  great 
firmness  of  purpose  and  steadiness  of  action,  a  keen  insight  into  the 
springs  of  human  conduct,  large  experience,  a  true  sympathy,  and  morality 
above  suspicion.  Prison  officers,  therefore,  need  a  special  education  for 
their  work,  as  men  do  for-  the  other  great  callings  of  society.  Prison 
administration  should  be  raised  to  the  dignity  of  a  profession.  Prison 
officers  should  be  organized  in  a  gradation  of  rank,  responsibility,  and 
emolument ;  so  that  persons  entering  the  prison  service  in  early  life,  and 
forming  a  class  or  profession  by  themselves,  may  be  thoroughly  trained  in 
all  their  duties,  —  serving  in  successive  positions  till,  according  to  their 
merits  tested  chiefly  by  the  small  proportion  of  re-convictions,  they  reach 
the  position  of  governors  of  the  largest  prisons.  Thus  alone  can  the 
multiplied  details  of  prison  discipline  be  perfected  and  uniformity  in  its 
application  be  attained.  For  only  when  the  administration  of  public  pun- 
ishment is  made  a  profession  will  it  become  scientific,  uniform,  and  suc- 
cessful in  the  highest  degree. 

"n.  Work,  education,  and  religion  (including  in  this  latter  moral 
instruction)  are  the  three  great  forces  to  be  employed  in  the  reformation 
of  criminals,  (a)  Industrial  training  should  have  a  broader  and  higher 
development  in  prisons  than  is  now  commonly  the  case..  Work  is  no  less 
an  auxiliary  to  virtue  than  it  is  a  means  of  support.  Steady,  active,  use- 
ful labor  is  the  basis  of  all  reformatory  discipline,  (b)  Education  is  a 
vital  force  in  the  reformation  of  the  fallen.  Its  tendency  is  to  quicken 
thought,  inspire  self-respect,  incite  to  higher  aims,  open  new  fields  of 
exertion,  and  supply  a  healthful  substitute  for  low  and  vicious  amusements. 
(c}  Of  all  reformatory  agencies  religion  is  first  in  importance,  because 
most  powerful  in  its  action  upon  the  human  heart  and  life.  In  vain  are 
all  devices  of  coercion  and  repression  if  the  heart  and  conscience,  which 
are  beyond  all  power  of  external  control,  are  left  untouched. 


52  HISTORICAL  REVIEW  OF  PRISON  REFORM.  [BOOK  i. 

"  12.  Individualization  is  an  essential  principle  of  a  reformatory  prison 
discipline.  To  insure  their  highest  improvement,  prisoners  must  to  a  cer- 
tain extent  be  treated  personally.  While  they  are  all  placed  under  a  gen- 
eral law,  the  conduct  of  each  should  be  specially  noted.  The  improving 
effect  of  such  a  verification  to  each  of  his  progress  in  virtue  would  be  great. 
It  would  be  a  first  step  toward  restoring  to  him  that  feeling  of  self-respect 
without  which  no  recovery  will  ever  be  found  permanent.  Each  should 
be  enabled  to  know  the  light  in  which  his  conduct  is  viewed  by  those 
placed  over  him  ;  for  thus  alone,  as  his  good  resolutions  strengthen,  will  he 
be  enabled  to  correct  that  wherein  he  may  be  found  deficient.  The  state- 
ment of  this  principle  affords  an  indication  as  to  the  maximum  number  of 
prisoners  proper  to  be  detained  in  a  penitentiary  establishment,  but  it  by 
no  means  settles  that  question ;  nor  indeed  can  such  definite  and  positive 
settlement  ever  be  arrived  at,  since  the  question  is  one  which  must  neces- 
sarily be  left  to  the  judgment  and  convenience  of  each  individual  State  or 
community. 

"  13.  Repeated  short  sentences  are  believed  to  be  worse  than  useless, 
their-  tendency  being  rather  to  stimulate  than  to  repress  transgression  in 
petty  offenders.  The  object  here  is  less  to  punish  than  to  save.  But 
reformation  is  a  work  of  time ;  and  a  benevolent  regard  to  the  criminal 
himself,  as  well  as  the  protection  of  society,  requires  that  his  sentence  be 
long  enough  for  reformatory  processes  to  take  effect.  It  is  the  judgment 
of  this  Congress  that  every  penal  detention  should  have  in  view,  above 
all,  the  time  of  the  prisoner's  liberation,  and  that  the  entire  discipline  of 
a  prison  should  be  organized  mainly  with  a  view  to  prevent  relapses.  If 
by  a  short  and  sharp  first  imprisonment  it  is  important  to  give  an  ener- 
getic notice  so  as  to  prevent  the  propagation  of  evil,  it  is  no  less  impor- 
tant afterward,  by  means  of  sentences  of  a  longer  duration,  to  prepare,  in  a 
manner  more  sustained  and  efficacious,  the  habitual  petty  transgressor  for 
his  re-entrance  into  society  as  a  reformed,  industrious,  and  useful  citizen. 

"14.  Preventive  agencies  —  such  as  general  education,  truant-homes, 
industrial  schools,  children's  aid  societies,  orphan  asylums,  and  the  like, 
designed  for  children  not  yet  criminal  but  in  danger  of  becoming  so  — 
constitute  the  true  field  of  promise  in  which  to  labor  for  the  prevention 
and  diminution  of  crime.  Here  the  brood  may  be  killed  in  the  egg,  the 
stream  cut  off  at  the  fountain ;  and  whatever  the  cost  of  such  agencies 
may  be,  it  will  be  less  than  the  spoliations  resulting  from  neglect  and  the 
expense  involved  in  arrests,  trials,  and  imprisonments. 

"15.  The  successful  prosecution  of  crime  requires  the  combined  action 
of  capital  and  labor,  just  as  other  crafts  do.  There  are  two  well-defined 
classes  engaged  in  criminal  operations,  who  may  be  called  the  capitalists 
of  crime  and  its  operatives.  It  is  worthy  of  inquiry  whether  society  has 
not  made  a  mistake  in  its  warfare  upon  crime,  and  whether  it  would  not  be 
better  and  more  effective  to  strike  at  the  few  capitalists  as  a  class  than  at 
the  many  operative  plunderers,  one  by  one.  Let  it  direct  its  blows  against 
the  connection  between  criminal  capital  and  criminal  labor,  nor  forbear  its 
assaults  till  it  has  wholly  broken  and  dissolved  that  union.  We  may  rest 
assured  that  when  this  baleful  combination  shall  be  pierced  to  its  vital 
part  it  will  perish,  —  that  when  the  corner-stone  of  the  leprous  fabric 
shall  be  removed,  the  building  itself  will  tumble  into  ruins. 

"  1 6.  More  systematic  and  comprehensive  methods  should  be  adopted 


PART  i.]  THE  CONGRESS  OF  LONDON.  53 

to  save  discharged  prisoners  by  providing  them  with  work  and  encouraging 
them  to  redeem  their  character  and  regain  their  lost  position  in  society. 
The  State  has  not  discharged  its  whole  duty  to  the  criminal  when  it  has 
punished  him,  nor  even  when  it  has  reformed  him.  Having  lifted  him  up, 
it  has  the  further  duty  to  aid  in  holding  him  up.  In  vain  shall  we  have 
given  the  convict  an  improved  mind  and  heart,  in  vain  shall  we  have 
imparted  to  him  the  capacity  for  industrial  labor  and  the  will  to  advance 
himself  by  worthy  means,  if  on  his  discharge  he  finds  the  world  in  arms 
against  him,  with  none  to  trust  him,  none  to  meet  him  kindly,  none  to 
give  him  the  opportunity  of  earning  honest  bread. 

"17.  Since  personal  liberty  is  a  right  as  respectable  as  the  right  of  prop- 
erty, it  is  the  duty  of  society  to  indemnify  the  citizen  who  has  been  unjustly 
imprisoned,  on  proof  of  his  innocence  whether  at  the  time  of  his  trial  or 
after  his  sentence,  as  it  indemnifies  the  citizen  from  whom  it  has  taken  his 
field  or  his  house  for  some  public  use. 

"  1 8.  It  is  the  conviction  of  this  Congress  that  one  of  the  most  effective 
agencies  in  the  repression  of  crime  would  be  the  enactment  of  laws  for 
the  education  of  all  the  children  of  the  State.  Better  to  force  education 
upon  the  people  than  to  force  them  into  prison  to  expiate  crimes  of  which 
the  neglect  of  education  and  consequent  ignorance  have  been  the  occasion, 
if  not  the  cause. 

"  19.  This  Congress  defends  as  just  and  reasonable  the  principle  of  the 
responsibility  of  parents  for  the  full  or  partial  support  of  their  children  in 
reformatory  institutions.  The  expense  of  such  maintenance  must  fall  on 
somebody,  and  on  whom  can  it  fall  more  fitly  than  on  the  child's  parent, 
whose  neglect  or  vices  have  probably  been  the  occasion  of  its  lapse  into 
crime  ? 

"  20.  This  Congress  arraigns  society  itself  as  in  no  slight  degree  account- 
able for  the  invasion  of  its  rights  and  the  warfare  upon  its  interests  practised 
by  the  criminal  classes.  Does  society  take  all  the  steps  which  it  easily 
might  to  change  the  circumstances  in  our  social  state  that  lead  to  crime, 
or,  when  crime  has  been  committed,  to  cure  the  proclivity  to  it  generated 
by  these  circumstances  ?  It  cannot  be  pretended.  Let  society,  then,  lay 
the  case  earnestly  to  its  conscience,  and  strive  to  amend  in  both  directions. 
Offences,  we  are  told  by  a  high  authority,  must  come,  but  a  special  woe  is 
denounced  against  those  through  whom  they  come.  Let  States  and  com- 
munities take  heed  that  that  woe  fall  not  upon  their  head. 

"21.  The  systems  of  criminal  statistics  stand  in  urgent  need  of  revision 
and  amendment.  The  Congress  judges  it  expedient  and  desirable  that 
greater  uniformity  should  be  secured  in  making  up  the  statistics  in  this 
department  of  the  public  service  in  different  countries,  to  the  end  that 
comparisons  may  be  the  more  readily  made,  that  conclusions  may  be  the 
more  accurately  drawn,  and  that  criminal  legislation  may  with  greater  safety 
be  based  upon  the  conclusions  so  reached. 

"22.  Prison  architecture  is  a  matter  of  grave  importance.  Prisons  of 
every  class  should  be  substantial  structures,  affording  gratification  by  their 
design  and  material  to  a  pure  taste,  bnt  not  costly  or  highly  ornate.  The 
chief  points  to  be  aimed  at  in  prison  construction  are  security,  perfect 
ventilation,  an  unfailing  supply  of  pure  water,  the  best  facilities  for  industrial 
labor,  convenience  of  markets,  ease  of  supervision,  adaptation  to  reforma- 
tory aims,  and  a  rigid,  though  not  parsimonious,  economy. 


54  HISTORICAL  REVIEW  OF  PRISON  REFORM.  [BooK  i. 

"23.  A  right  application  of  the  principles  of  sanitary  science  in  the 
construction  and  arrangement  of  prisons  is  a  point  of  vital  moment.  The 
apparatus  for  heating  and  ventilation  should  be  the  best  that  is  known ; 
sunlight,  air,  and  water  should  be  afforded  according  to  the  abundance 
with  which  Nature  has  provided  them  ;  the  dietary  and  clothing  should  be 
plain  but  wholesome,  comfortable,  and  in  sufficient  but  not  extravagant 
quantity ;  the  bedsteads,  beds,  and  beddings  not  costly,  but  decent,  well- 
aired,  and  free  from  vermin  ;  the  hospital  accommodations,  medical  stores, 
and  surgical  instruments  should  be  all  that  humanity  requires  or  science 
can  supply  ;  and  all  needed  means  for  personal  cleanliness  should  be  with- 
out stint. 

"  24.  As  a  principle  that  crowns  all  and  is  essential  to  all,  it  is  our  con- 
viction that  no  prison  system  can  be  perfect,  or  successful  to  the  most 
desirable  extent,  without  some  central  and  supreme  authority  to  sit  at  the 
helm,  guiding,  controlling,  unifying,  and  vitalizing  the  whole.  All  the  de- 
partments of  the  preventive,  reformatory,  and  penal  institutions  of  a  State 
should  be  moulded  into  one  homogeneous  and  effective  system,  its  parts 
mutually  answering  to  and  supporting  one  another,  and  the  whole  animated 
by  the  same  spirit,  aiming  at  the  same  objects,  and  subject  to  the  same 
control,  yet  without  loss  of  the  advantages  of  concurring  local  organizations 
and  of  voluntary  aid,  wherever  such  aid  is  attainable  and  may  be  judiciously 
and  wisely  admitted. 

"25.  This  Congress  is  of  the  opinion  that,  both  in  the  official  adminis- 
tration of  such  a  system  and  in  the  voluntary  co-operation  of  citizens 
therein,  the  agency  of  women  may  be  employed  with  good  effect." 

II.  Propositions  of  the  Executive  Committee. 

After  briefly  reciting  the  history  of  the  congress  and  its  work, 
the  committee  thus  epitomized  the  longer  paper  of  the  American 
delegation,  and  submitted  to  the  congress  what  in  the  United 
States  would  be  called  the  draft  of  its  platform :  — 

"  The  Committee  did  not  think  it  advisable  that  votes  should  be  taken 
on  the  matters  of  opinion  which  were  discussed  in  the  sections.  Such 
votes  could  have  represented  nothing  but  the  personal  views  of  those  who 
happened  to  be  present  at  any  given  moment  in  a  fluctuating  assembly 
largely  composed  of  irresponsible  persons,  who  might  or  might  not  have 
had  any  real  knowledge  of  the  question  under  discussion.  But  it  had  from 
the  first  resolved  that  it  would  endeavor  to  formulate  in  this  report  the 
prevalent  views  enunciated  in  the  congress,  to  express  the  spirit  of  the 
meeting,  not  on  matters  of  detail  but  as  to  some  of  those  leading  principles 
which  lie  at  the  root  of  a  sound  prison  discipline,  and  which  must  animate 
any  system  whatever  its  nature,  which  is  effective  for  the  reformation  of 
the  prisoner  and  the  consequent  repression  of  crime. 

"  Recognizing  as  the  fundamental  fact  that  the  protection  of  society  is 
the  object  for  which  penal  codes  exist  and  the  treatment  of  criminals  is 
devised,  the  Committee  believes  that  this  protection  is  not  only  consistent 
with,  but  absolutely  demands,  the  enunciation  of  the  principle  that  the 
moral  regeneration  of  the  prisoner  should  be  a  primary  aim  of  prison  dis- 
cipline. To  attain  this  aim,  hope  must  always  be  a  more  powerful  agent 


PART  i.]  THE   CONGRESS  OF  LONDON.  55 

than  fear  ;  and  hope  should  therefore  be  constantly  sustained  in  the  minds 
of  prisoners  by  a  system  of  rewards  for  good  conduct  and  industry,  whether 
in  the  shape  of  a  diminution  of  sentence,  a  participation  in  earnings,  a 
gradual  withdrawal  of  restraint,  or  an  enlargement  of  privilege.  A  pro- 
gressive classification  of  prisoners  should,  in  the  opinion  of  the  Committee, 
be  adopted  in  all  prisons. 

"  In  the  treatment  of  criminals,  all  disciplinary  punishments  that  inflict 
unnecessary  pain  or  humiliation  should  be  abolished ;  and  the  penalties 
for  prison  offences  should,  so  far  as  possible,  be  the  diminution  of  ordinary 
comforts,  the  forfeiture  of  some  privilege,  or  of  a  part  of  the  progress  made 
towards  liberation.  Moral  forces  and  motives  should  in  fact  be  relied  on, 
so  far  as  is  consistent  with  the  due  maintenance  of  discipline ;  and  phy- 
sical force  should  be  employed  only  in  the  last  extremity.  But  in  saying 
this,  the  Committee  is  not  advocating  unsuitable  indulgence,  which  it  be- 
lieves to  be  as  pernicious  as  undue  severity.  The  true  principle  is  to  place 
the  prisoner  —  who  must  be  taught  that  he  has  sinned  against  society,  and 
owes  reparation  —  in  a  position  of  stern  adversity,  from  which  he  must 
work  his  own  way  out  by  his  own  exertions.  To  impel  a  prisoner  to  this 
self-exertion  should  be  the  aim  of  a  system  of  prison  discipline,  which  can 
never  be  truly  reformatory  unless  it  succeeds  in  gaining  the  will  of  the 
convict.  Prisoners  do  not  cease  to  be  men  when  they  enter  the  prison 
walls,  and  they  are  still  swayed  by  human  motives  and  interests.  They 
must  therefore  be  dealt  with  as  men,  —  that  is,  as  beings  who  possess 
moral  and  spiritual  impulses  as  well  as  bodily  wants. 

"  Of  all  reformatory  agencies  religion  is  first  in  importance,  because  it 
is  the  most  powerful  in  its  action  upon  the  human  heart  and  life.  Educa- 
tion has  also  a  vital  effect  on  moral  improvement,  and  should  constitute 
an  integral  part  of  any  prison  system.  Steady,  active,  and  useful  labor  is 
the  basis  of  a  sound  discipline,  and  at  once  the  means  and  test  of  reform- 
ation. Work,  education,  and  religion  are  consequently  the  three  great 
forces  on  which  prison  administrators  should  rely.  But  to  carry  out  these 
principles  individualization  becomes  essential ;  prisoners,  like  other  men, 
must  be  treated  personally,  and  with  a  view  to  the  peculiar  circumstances 
and  mental  organization  of  each.  The  Committee  need  not  say  that  to 
carry  out  such  views  prison  officers  are  required  who  believe  in  the  capa- 
city of  prisoners  for  reformation,  and  enter  heartily  into  that  work.  They 
should,  so  far  as  possible,  receive  a  special  training  for  their  duties,  and 
should  be  organized  in  such  a  gradation  of  rank,  responsibility,  and  emol- 
ument as  may  retain  experience  and  efficiency  in  the  service  and  lead  to 
the  promotion  of  the  most  deserving. 

"  But  if  a  sound  system  of  prison  discipline  be  desirable,  it  is  no  less 
expedient  that  the  prisoner  on  his  discharge  should  be  systematically  aided 
to  obtain  employment,  and  to  return  permanently  to  the  ranks  of  honest 
and  productive  industry.  For  this  purpose  a  more  comprehensive  system 
than  has  yet  been  brought  to  bear  seems  to  be  desirable. 

"  Nor  can  the  Committee  omit  to  say  that  it  is  in  the  field  of  preventive 
agencies,  —  such  as  general  education,  the  establishment  of  industrial  and 
ragged  schools,  and  of  other  institutions  designed  to  save  children  not  yet 
criminal  but  in  danger  of  becoming  so,  —  that  the  battle  against  crime  is  in 
a  great  degree  to  be  won.  In  this,  as  in  the  general  question  of  the  rec- 
lamation of  the  guilty  and  erring,  the  influence  of  women  devoted  to  such 


56  HISTORICAL  REVIEW  OF  PRISON  REFORM.  [BOOK  I. 

work  is  of  the  highest  importance ;  and  the  Committee  rejoices  that  this 
congress  has  had  the  advantage  of  the  presence  and  counsel  of  many  ladies 
whose  practical  acquaintance  with  prisons  and  reformatories  has  given 
weight  to  their  words,  and  whose  example  furnishes  hope  for  the  future. 

"  Lastly,  the  Committee  is  convinced  that  the  systems  of  criminal  sta- 
tistics now  in  force  stand  in  urgent  need  of  revision.  Greater  uniform- 
ity should  be  secured,  and  means  taken  to  insure  a  higher  standard  of 
accuracy  and  trustworthiness  in  this  branch  of  the  statistics  of  different 
countries." 

The  president  for  the  day,  Sir  John  Pakington  (now  Lord 
Hampton),  before  putting  the  question  on  the  adoption  of  the 
report,  reminded  the  congress  that  it  was  the  unanimous  report 
of  an  essentially  representative  committee,  which  consisted  of 
one  delegate  from  each  of  the  many  nations  represented ;  and  that 
such  a  committee,  after  several  days'  discussion  of  subjects  of  the 
deepest  interest  as  well  as  complicated  and  difficult,  had  adopted 
a  unanimous  report,  distinguished  by  breadth  and  comprehensive- 
ness, was  a  fact  on  which  the  congress  might  be  congratulated  as 
a  satisfactory  termination  of  its  proceedings.  Such  a  unanimous 
agreement  fairly  justified  the  conclusion  that  the  discussions  had 
not  been  in  vain.  Great  principles  of  conduct  had  been  unani- 
mously adopted  by  those  who  had  the  best  means  of  considering 
the  discussions  that  had  taken  place  ;  and  it  was  therefore  a  mat- 
ter of  satisfaction  and  thankfulness  that  the  interesting  debates 
had  not  been  unproductive  of  good  result. 

The  report,  on  the  motion  being  put,  was  adopted  by  a  unani- 
mous vote.  But  no  obscurity  should  be  left  resting  on  the  sig- 
nificance of  this  vote.  It  did  not  mean  that  every  one  voting  in 
the  affirmative  gave  his  assent  to  every  proposition  contained  in 
the  report  ;  still  less  that  the  official  delegates  thereby  intended 
to  bind  their  Governments  to  any  opinions  or  any  action  whatso- 
ever. It  was  intended  simply  to  convey  the  idea  that  the  voters 
believed  that  the  report  of  the  committee  embodied  the  general 
sentiment  of  the  congress,  as  gathered  from  the  debates. 

Before  the  congress  adjourned  without  day,  it  appointed  a  per- 
manent international  penitentiary  commission  to  replace  the  con- 
gress during  its  recess  ;  to  collect  and  publish  international  prison 
statistics  ;  to  fix  upon  the  time  and  place  for  convoking  another 
congress,  and  to  make  all  needful  preparations  for  the  same. 


PART  I.]  THE  CONGRESS  OF  STOCKHOLM.  57 


CHAPTER  XXXI.  —  CONGRESS  OF  STOCKHOLM,  1878. 

AFTER  years  of  active  preparation,  —  the  most  thorough,  I 
think,  ever  made  for  any  international  reunion  on  what- 
ever subject  and  of  whatever  kind,  —  this  congress  on  the  invi- 
tation of  the  king  and  government  of  Sweden  met  at  Stockholm, 
the  beautiful  capital  of  a  noble  and  progressive  country,  on  the 
20th  day  of  August,  1878.  It  was  literally  as  it  proposed  to  be, 
and  as  its  name  imports,  a  congress  of  the  whole  civilized  world. 
No  oecumenical  ecclesiastical  council  summoned  by  papal  author- 
ity was  ever  drawn  from  regions  more  broad  or  points  more  dis- 
tant than  this  oecumenical  penitentiary  council  of  Stockholm. 
Vast  indeed  were  the  territories  from  which  its  members  or 
its  governmental  reports  came.  Their  limits  on  the  north  were 
Russia,  Iceland,  and  Newfoundland  ;  on  the  south,  Cape  Horn 
and  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope ;  on  the  east,  China,  Japan,  and  New 
Zealand  ;  on  the  west,  the  Sandwich  or  Hawaiian  Islands. 

The  number  of  members  in  attendance  was  within  a  fraction 
of  three  hundred,  of  whom  a  very  considerable  proportion  were 
official,  commissioned  by  some  thirty  different  Governments, 
States,  and  colonies.  Most  of  these  were  represented  not  by  one 
but  by  several  delegates.  Fourteen  of  the  European  Governments 
appeared  in  the  congress  by  the  chiefs  of  their  respective  peniten- 
tiary administrations.  Among  other  delegates  were  a  number  of 
justices  and  even  chief-justices  of  supreme  courts  and  other  high 
courts  of  criminal  jurisdiction  in  the  several  European  countries 
and  British  colonies  ;  many  English  and  Continental  magistrates ; 
not  a  few  distinguished  professors  in  the  criminal-law  departments 
of  universities ;  several  members  of  parliaments,  English  and  Con- 
tinental ;  numerous  heads  and  other  officers  of  prison  and  reform- 
atories ;  many  representatives  of  prison  societies  ;  and  a  large 
number  of  eminent  specialists  from  all  the  different  countries,  who 
came  in  response  to  personal  invitations  issued  by  the  international 
penitentiary  commission.  More  than  three-fourths  of  all  the 
prisons  in  Europe  are  in  the  hands  or  under  the  control  of  the 
members  of  the  Stockholm  Congress.  This  is  a  great  fact,  and,  as 
it  seems  to  me,  full  of  hope  for  the  future  of  prison  reform. 

All  the  foreign  ministers  accredited  to  the  court  of  Sweden 
were  constituted  honorary  members  of  the  congress,  which  they 
honored  and  gave  dignity  to  by  their  presence,  —  some  of  them 
not  once  only,  but  several  times. 

Sweden's  interest  in  the  congress  was  warm  and  earnest  Her 
parliament  appropriated  twenty-one  thousand  francs  to  meet  its 
expenses.  The  acting  prime  minister  of  the  country  was  its  pres- 
ident. The  governor  of  Stockholm  was  assiduous  in  his  atten- 


58  HISTORICAL  REVIEW  OF  PRISON  REFORM.  [BOOK  i. 

tions.  The  governor  of  the  province  of  Uplands  planned  and 
executed  an  excursion  for  the  congress  to  the  old  and  renowned 
city  of  Upsala.  The  king  came  from  his  other  capital  in  Norway 
expressly  to  do  honor  to  it ;  he  attended  one  of  its  sessions  ;  he 
eloquently  expressed  his  sympathy  for  its  objects  ;  he  entertained 
it  with  a  magnificent  banquet ;  in  short,  he  showed  himself  not 
simply  the  monarch  and  the  statesman,  but  the  gentleman,  the 
scholar,  and  the  philanthropist.  Indeed,  the  hospitality  of  Sweden 
knew  no  limits  except  the  duration  of  the  congress.  King,  gov- 
ernment, and  people  vied  with  each  other  in  the  cordiality  and 
profuseness  of  their  reception. 

In  illustration  and  confirmation  of  this  statement  I  cite  a  re- 
mark of  Signer  Canonico,  a  member  of  the  Italian  court  of  cas- 
sation and  an  official  delegate  from  the  Italian  Government,  made 
at  the  king's  banquet :  — 

"  The  city  of  Stockholm  has  given  us  not  only  the  hospitality  of  her 
palaces  but  also  the  hospitality  of  her  heart,  since  whatever  she  has  done 
for  us  has  come  from  the  soul-depths  of  the  whole  population.  For  this 
reason  we  feel  ourselves  united  to  her  by  ties  which  neither  space  nor 
time  can  ever  sunder.  The  principal  divinities  of  the  ancient  Scandina- 
vians were  Freya  and  Odin,  —  Love  and  War.  Well,  gentlemen,  these  two 
powers,  of  which  those  divinities  were  the  symbol,  and  which  amid  the 
pensive  and  profound  smile  of  your  beautiful  nature  have  inspired  the  im- 
mortal songs  of  your  ancient  bards,  —  these  two  powers,  I  say,  purified  and 
elevated  by  the  breath  of  a  higher  religion,  should  not  cease  to  stir  our 
soul  and  control  our  action.  And  this  because  they  have  to-day  become 
a  love  infinitely  higher  and  a  war  unspeakably  more  holy,  —  the  love  of 
truth  and  goodness,  the  war  against  falsehood  and  vice. 

The  industry  of  the  congress  was  one  of  its  conspicuous  fea- 
tures. It  was  pre-eminently  a  working  body.  Not  only  did  its 
members  have  "  a  mind  to  work,"  but  they  knew  how  to  work. 
Quick  in  execution  and  skilled  in  time-saving,  they  gained  upon 
their  work  at  both  ends.  The  body  continued  in  session  but  six 
days.  In  a  life  of  more  than  three-score  years  and  ten,  I  have 
never  known  so  much  good  work  done  in  so  short  a  time. 

The  ability  of  the  congress  was  equal  to  its  industry.  This 
appeared  in  all  the  debates,  but  was  especially  noticeable  in  the 
readiness  and  skill  shown  by  the  gentlemen  appointed  to  report 
to  the  general  assembly  of  the  congress  on  the  questions  dis- 
cussed by  the  sections.  The  clearness  and  force  with  which  each 
epitomized  the  discussion,  elucidated  its  points,  and  formulated 
its  conclusions,  added  to  the  extreme  rapidity  with  which  the 
work  was  done,  were  truly  remarkable. 

If  the  Congress  of  Stockholm  is  weighed  by  the  diligence,  zeal, 
and  energy  with  which  it  worked,  it  must  be  pronounced  the  peer 
of  any  that  ever  assembled  ;  if  by  the  dignity  of  its  proceedings 


PART  i.]  THE   CONGRESS  OF  STOCKHOLM.  59 

and  the  eminent  ability  of  its  debates  and  papers,  it  may  claim  to 
have  stood  squarely  abreast  of  any  senate  in  the  world. 

The  good  fellowship  of  the  congress,  the  friendliness  and  cor- 
diality of  its  members,  was  another  of  its  marked  and  gratifying 
characteristics.  No  doubt  differences  of  opinion  were  developed, 
and  the  orators  maintained  their  respective  views  with  the  ear- 
nestness which  belongs  to  conviction.  But  no  ripple  of  ill-feeling, 
no  intemperance  of  speech,  no  personal  irritations  disturbed  for 
a  moment  the  tranquil  flow  of  its  proceedings. 

One  of  the  leading  aims  of  the  Congress  of  Stockholm  was  the 
collection  from  wide  regions,  and  the  diffusion  no  less  widely,  of 
authentic  information  on  the  penitentiary  question.  To  this  end 
a  circular  letter  was  addressed  in  1876,  by  the  international  com- 
mission, to  all  the  Governments  of  the  civilized  world,  including 
States,  colonies,  and  cantons,  asking  such  information  on  some 
twenty  different  points  embraced  in  the  general  question  of 
prison  reform.  Fifty  reports,  or  thereabout,  were  transmitted 
to  the  congress  by  as  many  Governments  in  reply  to  the  ques- 
tions addressed  to  them  by  the  commission.  These  reports,  a 
few  of  which  however  were  not  official,  came  from  all  quarters 
of  the  globe,  including  India,  China,  Japan,  Persia,  Morocco,  Aus- 
tralia, New  Zealand,  the  Hawaiian  Islands,  Liberia,  Cape  Town, 
and  all  the  more  important  of  the  English  colonies,  which  are 
found  in  all  the  latitudes  and  longitudes  of  the  earth. 

It  is  proper  that  brief  mention  be  made  of  the  opening  session 
and  organization  of  the  congress. 

The  session  was  opened  at  10  o'clock  A.M.  in  the  Swedish 
senate  chamber,  or  grand  hall  of  the  palace  of  nobles.  His 
excellency  M.  Bjornstjerna,  minister  of  foreign  affairs  for  Sweden 
and  Norway,  and  acting  president  of  the  council  of  ministers, 
pronounced  the  following  address  :  — 

"  GENTLEMEN,  —  In  the  name  of  the  King  and  the  Government  —  I 
may  add  also  in  the  name  of  my  countrymen  —  I  have  the  pleasure  of 
welcoming  you  to  our  country,  which  you  have  honored  by  choosing  as 
the  place  for  the  meeting  of  your  congress. 

"  I  cannot  be  mistaken  when  I  see  in  this  choice  a  mark  of  sympathy 
for  our  country  and,  at  the  same  time,  a  token  of  respect  both  to  our 
present  enlightened  and  beloved  sovereign  and  to  the  memory  of  his 
august  father,  the  crowned  author,  who  was  a  constant  and  zealous  pro- 
moter of  penitentiary  reform. 

"  The  promptness  with  which  nearly  all  the  Governments  have  responded 
to  the  invitation  to  send  delegates  to  the  congress  is  a  gratifying  proof  of 
the  interest  which  they  take  in  your  labors,  at  the  same  time  that  the 
choice  of  their  delegates  offers  the  best  guarantee  that  these  labors  will 
not  remain  unfruitful. 

"  We  had  feared  that  the  distance  of  Stockholm  might  prove  a  serious 
obstacle  to  the  success  of  the  congress,  but  the  numerous  and  distin- 


60  HISTORICAL  REVIEW  OF  PRISON  REFORM.  [BOOK  i. 

guished  assemblage  which  has  responded  to  the  appeal  proves  that  our 
fears  were  groundless,  and  that  difficulties  could  not  arrest  you  in  the 
pursuit  of  a  work  useful  to  the  cause  of  progress  and  of  humanity. 

"  A  wise  limitation  in  your  rules  has  prevented  the  inconvenience  of  too 
great  an  affluence  of  members,  by  requiring  special  qualifications  for  ad- 
mission. Thus  constituted,  and  with  the  lights  of  experience  which  you 
bring  to  the  work,  the  second  international  penitentiary  congress  is  des- 
tined, without  doubt,  to  produce  practical  and  beneficent  results. 

"  Unfortunately,  despite  all  our  efforts,  crime  will  always  exist  so  long  as 
human  nature  remains  unchanged.  If  you  can  but  instruct  us  as  to  the 
means  of  combating  it  and  diminishing  its  frequency,  the  means  of  direct- 
ing exposed  and  neglected  youth  into  the  good  and  right  way,  and  of 
restoring  to  society  as  useful  members  some  portion  at  least  of  the  crim- 
inals who  now  relapse  into  vice  after  having  been  -inmates  of  our  prisons, 
you  will  have  accomplished  a  noble  work. 

"  It  is  in  the  expression  of  these  wishes  that  I  have  the  honor  to  declare 
the  second  international  penitentiary  congress  now  open." 

Mr.  de  Grot,  of  Russia,  proposed  his  excellency  M.  Bjornstjerna 
for  president  of  the  congress,  and  Dr.  Wines  as  honorary  presi- 
dent These  two  propositions  were  adopted  by  acclamation. 

Messrs,  de  Grot  of  Russia,  Almquist  of  Sweden,  and  Thonis- 
sen  of  Belgium  were  then,  in  like  manner,  chosen  as  vice-presi- 
dents, and  Dr.  Guillaume  of  Switzerland  as  secretary. 

For  the  better  prosecution  of  its  labors  the  congress  divided 
itself  into  three  sections,  —  one  on  penal  legislation,  another  on 
penitentiary  establishments,  and  a  third  on  preventive  institu- 
tions. 

The  conclusions  adopted  by  the  congress,  as  a  matter  of 
course,  form  the  gravamen  of  its  work.  By  them  it  must  stand 
or  fall.  But  it  is  precisely  here,  as  I  conceive,  that  the  congress 
was  strong. 

Sixteen  questions  —  four  in  the  first  section,  six  in  the  second, 
and  six  in  the  third  —  were  considered  and  discussed.  Formal 
answers  were  given  to  these  questions  by  the  congress,  in  the 
shape  of  conclusions,  resolutions,  propositions,  or  by  whatever 
name  one  chooses  to  call  them.  In  any  case,  they  embody  the 
thought  of  the  convention  on  the  subject-matter  to  which  they 
severally  relate.  My  method  of  reporting  here  will  be  to  give 
first  the  question  and  then  the  response  made  to  it  by  the 
congress  :  — 

Section  first :   Penal  Legislation. 

Question.  How  far  ought  the  mode  of  executing  sentences  to 
be  fixed  by  law  ?  Should  any  discretionary  power  in  regard  to 
such  execution  be  intrusted  to  the  prison  administration  in  the 
case  of  prisoners  to  whom  the  general  regime  might  prove  in- 
applicable ? 


PART  i.]  THE   CONGRESS  OF  STOCKHOLM.  6 1 

Response.  While  maintaining  uniformity  in  the  mode  of  apply- 
ing the  punishment,  the  Congress  is  of  the  opinion  that  the 
administration  of  the  prison  should  possess  a  discretionary  power 
within  limits  determined  by  the  law,  to  the  end  that  it  may,  as 
far  as  possible,  apply  the  spirit  of  the  general  regime  to  the 
moral  condition  of  each  prisoner. 

Q.  Would  it  be  desirable  to  continue  the  several  designations 
of  the  penalties  privative  of  liberty,  or,  instead,  to  adopt  the  legal 
assimilation  of  all  penalties,  without  other  distinction  than  that 
of  their  duration,  and  such  accessory  consequences  as  their  im- 
prisonment may  involve  after  their  liberation  ? 

R.  While  reserving  the  lighter  and  special  penalties  for  cer- 
tain offences  neither  grave  in  themselves  nor  denoting  a  deep 
corruption  on  the  part  of  their  author,  the  Congress  holds  it  de- 
sirable, whatever  the  penitentiary  system  may  be,  to  adopt  as  far 
as  may  be  the  legal  assimilation  of  punishments  privative  of 
liberty,  without  other  difference  between  them  than  their  dura- 
tion and  the  accessory  consequences  which  they  may  involve 
after  liberation. 

Q.  Under  what  conditions,  if  any,  may  transportation  be  made 
to  subserve  a  useful  purpose  in  the  administration  of  penal 
justice? 

R.  The  Congress  thinks  that  the  penalty  of  transportation  pre- 
sents difficulties  in  the  execution  which  neither  permit  its  adop- 
tion in  all  countries,  nor  allow  the  hope  that  it  can  everywhere 
realize  all  the  conditions  of  an  effective  penal  justice. 

Q.  What  ought  a  general  inspection  of  prisons  to  embrace  ? 
Is  such  general  inspection  necessary,  and  should  it  extend  to  all 
prisons,  and  also  to  private  institutions  for  the  detention  of  juve- 
nile delinquents  ? 

R.  We  hold  that  it  is  not  only  useful  but  essential  that  there 
be  in  the  State  a  central  power,  which  has  the  right  of  directing 
and  inspecting  all  prisons  without  exception,  and  equally  all  estab- 
lishments devoted  to  the  care  and  treatment  of  young  delinquents.. 

Section  Second:  Penitentiary  Establishments. 

Question.  What  formulas  should  be  adopted  for  recording  in- 
ternational penitentiary  statistics  ? 

Response,  i.  The  system  of  international  penitentiary  statistics 
ought  to  be  continued  according  to  the  method  adopted  for  the 
year  1872. 

2.  The  choice  of  the  formulas  and  the  details  of  execution 
should  be  left  to  the  judgment  of  the  international  penitentiary 
commission,  under  the  reserve  that  all  the  numerical  data  be  ac- 
companied by  explanations  of  such  a  nature  as  to  facilitate  the 
understanding  of  them. 


62  HISTORICAL   REVIEW  OF  PRISON  REFORM.  [BOOK  i. 

3.  The  preparation  of  the  annual  international  penitentiary  sta- 
tistics should  be  confided,  successively,  to  the  penitentiary  admin- 
istration of  each  of  the  countries  represented  in  the  commission. 

Q.  Would  the  creation  of  normal  schools  for  the  professional 
training  of  prison  officers  and  employes  be  likely  to  promote  the 
success  of  the  penitentiary  work  ? 

R.  The  Congress  is  of  the  opinion  that  prison  officers,  before 
being  definitively  admitted  to  the  service,  should  receive  a  theo- 
retical and  practical  education  suited  to  prepare  them  for  their 
profession.  It  is  further  of  the  opinion  that  the  essential  con- 
dition of  a  supply  of  qualified  officers  consists  in  the  payment  of 
such  salaries  as  will  attract  and  retain  competent  persons  in  the 
service,  and  in  such  guarantees  as  will  assure  to  them  perma- 
nence in  their  situation. 

Q.  What  disciplinary  punishments  may  be  fitly  employed  in 
prisons  ? 

R.  The  Congress  declares  its  approval  of  the  use  of  the  follow- 
ing disciplinary  punishments  in  penitentiaries  :  — 

1.  Admonition. 

2.  The  partial  or  absolute  privation  of  the  rewards  accorded. 

3.  A  more  strict  imprisonment. 

This  last  punishment  may  be  increased  in  severity,  so  far  as  the 
health  and  character  of  the  prisoner  will  permit,  by  withdrawing 
from  his  cell  the  table,  chair,  or  bed  ;  by  darkening  the  cell ;  or 
by  depriving  him  of  the  permission  to  read  and  work. 

If  the  above  mentioned  punishments  do  not  suffice,  the  follow- 
ing may  be  applied,  under  the  reserve  specified  in  the  foregoing 
paragraph  :  — 

4.  A  reduction  of  the  rations  of  each  day,  conjointly  with  the 
privation  of  work. 

5.  In  cases  of  great  violence  and  of  fury  on  the  part  of  the  con- 
vict, the  strait-jacket  or  some  similar  agency  may  be  used. 

As  regards  prisoners  awaiting  trial,  the  governor  should  be  re- 
stricted to  the  use  of  such  agencies  as  may  accomplish  the  end  in 
view,  and  that  all  disorder  or  excess  on  the  part  of  the  prisoner 
may  be  prevented  or  repressed. 

Q.  The  conditional  liberation  of  prisoners  ? 

R.  As  conditional  liberation  is  not  opposed  to  the  principles  of 
penal  law,  as  it  is  not  an  infringement  of  the  sentence,  and  as 
moreover  it  offers  advantages  to  society  as  well  as  to  the  convict, 
it  ought  to  be  recommended  to  the  careful  study  of  governments. 
Nevertheless,  it  is  an  institution  which  should  be  surrounded  by 
appropriate  guarantees. 

Q.  Ought  the  cellular  system  to  undergo  certain  modifications 
according  to  the  nationality,  social  position,  and  sex  of  the  pris- 
oners ? 

R.  In  countries  where  the  cellular  system  prevails,  it  should  be 


PART  i.]  THE   CONGRESS  OF  STOCKHOLM.  63 

applied  in  principle  without  distinction  of  race,  of  social  condition 
(peasants  or  citizens),  or  of  sex,  save  that  the  administration  may 
take  account  in  the  details  of  special  conditions  of  race  or  of  the 
social  state.  There  is  no  reserve  to  be  made,  except  as  to  that 
which  concerns  young  offenders ;  and  if  the  cellular  regime  is  ex- 
tended to  them,  it  should  be  in  such  manner  as  not  to  interfere 
with  their  physical  or  moral  development. 

Q.  Should  the  duration  of  cellular  separation  be  unalterably 
determined  by  law  ?  May  the  prison  administration  admit  excep- 
tions for  other  causes  than  disease  ? 

R.  The  Congress  is  of  opinion  that  exception  may  be  made  to 
the  rule  of  isolation  in  the  following  cases  :  — 

1.  When  the  prisoner  is  insane,  or  suffering  under  some  mental 
affection. 

2.  When  he  is  the  subject  of  some  chronic  malady  or  of  grave 
and  incurable  infirmities. 

3.  When,  after  a  sufficient  trial,  it  becomes  apparent  that  cellu- 
lar imprisonment  cannot  be  further  prolonged  without  exposing 
the  prisoner  to  serious  dangers. 

Section  Third:  Preventive  Institutions. 

Question.  How  ought  the  patronage  of  liberated  adult  prisoners 
to  be  organized  ?  Should  there  be  separate  societies  for  the  dif- 
ferent sexes  ? 

Ought  the  State  to  grant  subventions  to  patronage  societies, 
and  under  what  conditions  ? 

Response.  The  Congress,  convinced  that  aid  to  liberated  adult 
prisoners  is  the  essential  complement  of  a  reformatory  prison  dis- 
cipline, and  taking  account  of  the  results  obtained  since  the  last 
meeting,  is  of  the  opinion,  — 

1.  That  it  is  important  to  generalize  as  much  as  possible  this 
institution,  by  stimulating  private  initiative  to  found  aid  societies 
in  concurrence  with  the  government,  but  without  giving  to  such 
associations  an  official  character. 

2.  The  Congress  is  further  of  the  opinion  that  aid  should  be 
given  to  such  liberated  prisoners  as  during  their  imprisonment 
shall  have  given  proofs  of  reformation,  attested  either  by  the  pen- 
itentiary administration  or  by  visitors  delegated  by  aid  societies. 

3.  The  Congress  thinks  it  desirable  that  distinct  societies  should 
be  organized  for  liberated  females,  and  that  their  management  be 
confided  so  far  as  practicable  to  persons  of  their  own  sex. 

Q.  On  what  principles  ought  reformatory  institutions  for  ju- 
venile delinquents  to  be  organized  and  conducted  ? 

In  what  manner  should  institutions  be  organized  and  managed, 
which  are  designed  for  the  treatment  of  destitute,  vagrant,  neg- 
lected, exposed,  homeless,  and  vicious  children  ? 


64  HISTORICAL  REVIEW  OF  PRISON  REFORM.  [BOOK  i. 

R.  The  Congress  replies  to  these  two  questions  in  the  terms 
following,  to  wit :  — 

1.  In  the  treatment  of  minors  who  have  been  acquitted  as  hav- 
ing acted  without  knowledge,  or  of  vagrant,  mendicant,  and  vicious 
children  in  general,  the  principle  must  be  distinctly  recognized 
that  it  is  not  a  question  of  executing  a  penalty  or  a  chastisement, 
but  of  giving  an  education,  whose  aim  is  to  place  the  children  in 
a  condition  where  they  can  gain  an  honest  living  and  be  useful  to 
society  instead  of  injuring  it. 

2.  The  best  education  is  that  which  is  given  in  a  virtuous  family. 
In  default  of  families,  which  may  guarantee  a  virtuous  education 
and  be  disposed  to  undertake  this  duty,  recourse  may  be  had  to 
public  or  private  establishments. 

3.  Such  establishments  should  have  for  their  basis  religion  and 
work,  united  to  scholastic  instruction. 

4.  It  is  a  question  whether  in  these  establishments  the  system 
of  small  groups  of  children  formed  in  imitation  of  families,  or  large 
numbers  massed  together,  is  to  be  preferred.     This  question  can 
only  be  decided  by  circumstances.     In  any  case  the  number  of 
inmates  gathered  into  the  same  establishment  ought  to  be  so  lim- 
ited that  the  chief  of  the  establishment  may  personally  interest 
himself  in  each  one. 

5.  The  children  belonging  to  different  religions  should  be,  so  far 
as  possible,  placed  in  different  establishments.     The  separation 
of  the  sexes  and  of  the  different  ages  is  desirable  for  children  over 
ten  years.     If   circumstances  are  such  as  to  forbid  the  placing 
of  the  different  sexes  and  ages  in  different  establishments,  they 
should  at  least  be  separated  from  each  other  in  the  establishments 
into  which  they  are  received. 

6.  The  education  given  in  these  institutions  ought  to  correspond 
to  the  conditions  in  which  the  working  classes  live.     Hence,  a 
scholastic  instruction  on   a   level  with  that   of   the   elementary 
schools  ;  the  greatest  simplicity  in  the  food,  clothing,  and  lodging 
of  the  children  ;  and,  above  all,  labor. 

7.  The  labor  ought  to  be  so  organized  that  the  children  of  ru- 
ral origin  as  well  as  those  of  city  origin  should  find  the  means  of 
preparing  themselves  for  the  future  to  which  they  are  destined. 

8.  The  girls  ought  to  receive  in  these  establishments  an  educa- 
tion which  will  prepare  them,  above  all,  for  the  care  and  manage- 
ment of  a  household. 

9.  The  placing  of  vicious   children  in  families  or  institutions 
should  take  place,  as  far  as  possible,  without  the  intervention  of 
the  judiciary  ;  and  the  law  should  provide  that  the  child  so  placed 
be  not  withdrawn  before  his  education  shall  have  been  completed, 
or  against  the  will  of  the  direction.     The  Congress  applauds  the 
efforts  made  to  this  end  on  the  part  of  certain  governments,  by 
substituting  for  judicial  action  the  intervention  of  a  tutelary  au- 
thority created  for  this  purpose. 


PART  I.]  THE  CONGRESS  OF  STOCKHOLM.  65 

10.  Establishments  of  the  sort  here  intended  should  have  the 
power  to  retain  their  inmates  to  eighteen  years  completed.     Any 
prior  liberation  should  be  revocable  in  case  of  misconduct. 

11.  It  should  be  made  the  duty  of  the  managers  of  these  insti- 
tutions to  see  that  their  wards  on  their  liberation  be  provided 
with  suitable  places,  as  assistants  on  farms,  as  domestic  servants, 
as  apprentices,  or  that  they  be  employed  in  some  other  manner. 

12.  All  establishments  of   this  sort,  even   those  of  a  private 
character,  ought  to  be  subject  to  a  general  supervision  on  the 
part  of  the  public  authority. 

Q.  How  can  uniform  police  action  be  secured  by  the  different 
States,  with  a  view  to  the  prevention  as  well  as  the  repression  of 
crime  ? 

R.  With  a  view  to  the  prevention  and  repression  of  crime, 
the  Congress  thinks  it  desirable  that  an  understanding  be  had 
between  the  Governments  of  different  countries.  Such  under- 
standing ought,  in  the  first  place,  to  have  relation  to  treaties  of 
extradition,  which  it  would  be  useful  to  revise  and  make  more 
uniform,  and  then  to  the  agencies  recognized  as  most  practical 
in  carrying  into  effect  the  provisions  of  these  treaties,  and  for 
establishing  closer  relations  between'  the  police  administrations 
of  different  States. 

Q.  What  are  the  best  means  of  combating  relapse? 

R.  The  Congress  is  of  the  opinion  that  the  most  effectual  means 
of  combating  relapse  are :  a  reformatory  prison  discipline,  condi- 
tional liberation,  and  a  less  frequent  use  of  short  punishments  for 
habitual  criminals. 

The  Congress  is  further  of  the  opinion  that  if,  in  the  legisla- 
tion of  the  different  countries,  the  increased  penalties  to  be  in- 
curred in  case  of  relapse  were  indicated  with  sufficient  exactness, 
relapses  might  become  less  frequent. 

Moreover,  the  Congress  thinks  that  the  institutions  recognized 
as  complementary  to  a  prison  system  —  such  as  aid  societies, 
houses  of  industry,  agricultural  colonies,  and  other  means  of  as- 
sistance—  might  be  made  effectually  to  contribute  to  the  end 
indicated. 


CHAPTER  XXXII.  —  PROFESSIONAL  EDUCATION  OF  PRISON 

OFFICERS. 

THE   Congress  of  Brussels,  in  1846,  declared  in  favor  of  a 
"  special  training  for  the  inner  service  of  prisoners."     The 
Congress  of  Frankfort  in  like  manner,  in   1857,  adopted  a  resolu- 
tion favoring  a  "special  education  of  prison  officials."    The  more 


66  HISTORICAL  REVIEW  OF  PRISON  REFORM.  [BOOK  i. 

recent  congresses  at  London  and  Stockholm  both  made  similar 
declarations.  Here,  then,  we  have  the  highest  possible  authority 
in  support  of  a  given  principle  in  penitentiary  science ;  and  that 
in  repeated  declarations  of  successive  bodies  of  representative 
poenologists,  running  through  an  entire  generation.  On  this  I 
wish  to  say,  that  as  Italy,  in  1704,  first  inaugurated  a  genuine 
and  solid  advance  in  convict  treatment,  in  the  establishment  of 
Pope  Clement's  juvenile  prison  at  Rome,  so  the  same  Italy,  in 
1873,  was  again  the  first,  by  founding  her  normal  school  for  the 
training  of  prison  officers,  also  at  Rome,  to  inaugurate  the 
system  of  the  professional  education  of  prison  employes,  —  a  sys- 
tem destined,  I  am  profoundly  convinced,  more  than  any  other 
one  thing,  to  advance,  to  crown,  and  to  perpetuate  the  work  of 
prison  discipline  and  reform. 


PART  n.]  AMONG   THE  ANCIENT  HEBREWS.  67 


PART   SECOND. 

CHILD-SAVING    WORK. 

CHAPTER    XXXIII.  —  CHILD-SAVING  WORK  AMONG  THE 
ANCIENT  HEBREWS. 

CHILD-SAVING  work,  with  two  signal  exceptions,  is  of  later 
origin  than  prison  reform.  These  exceptions  are  found  in 
the  Hebrew  State  and  the  early  Christian  Church.  In  the 
whole  of  primitive  antiquity,  I  know  of  but  a  single  nation  in 
which  any  work  of  this  kind  was  done.  Thast  was  the  ancient 
people  of  Israel,  to  whom  God  himself  gave  a  code  of  civil  laws 
through  the  mouth  of  his  servant  Moses.  Any  one  who  reads 
attentively  that  code  or  system  of  laws  will  be  struck  with  the 
pains  and  care  bestowed  by  it  on  the  education  and  training  of 
the  young,  to  the  end  that  they  might  know  their  duties  and 
perform  them  ;  in  other  words,  that  the  Hebrews  might  become 
a  wise,  upright,  law-abiding,  and  non-criminal  people.  Many 
were  the  enactments  in  that  code  which  required  parents  to 
instruct  their  children  in  the  knowledge  of  the  laws,  and  train 
them  from  earliest  childhood  to  right  sentiments  and  habits. 
Thus  the  education  imparted  was  more  domestic  than  institu- 
tional, in  the  household  rather  than  in  the  industrial,  or  reforma- 
tory, or  even  general  school. 

The  "  Book  of  the  Law  "  was  a  remarkable  composition,  as  well 
in  structure  as  in  contents.  Two  distinct  elements  are  observ- 
able in  it,  —  one,  a  set  of  laws  forming  a  complete  ecclesiastical 
and  civil  code  ;  the  other,  an  historical  detail  of  the  principal 
events  connected  with  the  promulgation  of  the  laws.  The  two 
elements  are  combined  in  a  manner  quite  extraordinary  and 
unique.  The  laws  do  not  stand  insulated  by  themselves  ;  nei- 
ther are  they  embodied  in  a  systematic  form,  like  the  Institutes 
of  Lycurgus  or  the  Pandects  of  Justinian  :  but,  however  para- 
doxical the  assertion  may  seem,  they  are  both  separated  and 
connected  by  the  historical  narration.  It  is  a  code  of  laws  in 
a  frame  of  history.  There  are  continual  transitions  from  history 
to  law,  and  from  law  to  history.  They  are  everywhere  grafted 
the  one  into  the  other ;  and  there  is  between  them  such  a  mutual 
connection  and  dependence  that  the  two  parts  seem  to  grow 
together,  —  that  is,  simultaneously,  —  like  the  branches  of  a  tree. 


68  HISTORICAL  REVIEW  OF  CHILD-SAVING    WORK.    [BOOK  i. 

Now  this  history  and  these  laws  were  crowded  with  public 
monuments  and  public  actions,  with  commemorative  rites  and 
festivals.  But  what  has  this  to  do  with  the  education  of  chil- 
dren ?  "  Much,  every  way."  These  public  actions  and  solemn 
ceremonials  were  scattered  all  through  the  year,  in  festivals  con- 
stantly renewed.  The  children  of  those  times  were  like  the  chil- 
dren of  our  times  and  of  all  times,  —  fond  of  sight-seeing,  and 
curious  to  know  the  meaning  of  all  they  saw. 

Just  here,  then,  and  in  this  connection,  read  the  following 
statutes  of  Moses  :  — 

"  And  it  shall  be  when  thy  son  asketh  thee  in  time  to  come,  saying, 
What  is  this  ?  that  thou  shalt  say  unto  him,  By  strength  of  hand  the  Lord 
brought  us  out  from  Egypt,  from  the  house  of  bondage.  .  .  .  And  thou 
shalt  show  thy  son  in  that  day,  saying,  This  is  done  because  of  that 
which  the  Lord  did  unto  me  when  I  came  forth  out  of  Egypt.  (Ex. 
xiii.  8,  14.) 

"What  nation  is  there  so  great,  that  hath  statutes  and  judgments  so 
righteous  as  all  this  law  which  I  set  before  you  this  day?  Only  take  heed 
to  thyself  and  keep  thy  soul  diligently,  lest  thou  forget  the  things  which 
thine  eyes -have  seen,  and  lest  they  depart  from  thy  heart  all  the  days  of 
thy  life ;  but  teach  them  to  thy  sons,  and  thy  sons'  sons ;  specially  the 
day  that  thou  stoodest  before1  the  Lord  thy  God  in  Horeb,  when  the  Lord 
said  unto  me,  Gather  me  the  people  together,  and  I  will  make  them 
hear  my  words,  that  they  may  learn  to  fear  me  all  the  days  that  they  shall 
live  upon  the  earth,  and  that  they  may  teach  their  children.  (Deut. 
iv.  8-10.) 

"  These  words  which  I  command  thee  this  day  shall  be  in  thy  heart : 
and  thou  shalt  teach  them  diligently  unto  thy  children,  and  shalt  talk  of 
them  when  thou  sittest  in  thine  house,  and  when  thou  walkest  by  the  way, 
and  when  thou  liest  down,  and  when  thou  risest  up.  ...  When  thy  son 
asketh  thee,  saying,  What  mean  the  testimonies  and  the  statutes  and  the 
judgments  which  the  Lord  our  God  hath  commanded  you?  then  thou 
shalt  say  unto  thy  son,  We  were  Pharaoh's  bondmen  in  Egypt ;  and  the 
Lord  brought  us  out  of  Egypt  with  a  mighty  hand  .  .  .  that  he  might 
bring  us  in,  to  give  us  the  land  which  He  sware  unto  our  fathers.  And 
the  Lord  commanded  us  to  do  all  these  statutes,  to  fear  the  Lord  our 
God,  for  our  good  always,  that  he  might  preserve  us  alive  as  it  is  this 
day.  And  it  shall  be  our  righteousness  if  we  observe  to  do  all  these  com- 
mandments before  the  Lord  our  God,  as  he  hath  commanded  us.  (Deut. 
vi.  6,  7,  20-25.) 

"  Therefore  shall  ye  lay  up  these  my  words  in  your  heart  and  in  your 
soul,  and  bind  them  for  a  sign  upon  your  hand,  that  they  may  be  as 
frontlets  between  your  eyes.  And  ye  shall  teach  them  to  your  children, 
speaking  of  them  when  thou  sittest  in  thine  house  and  when  thou  walkest 
by  the  way,  when  thou  liest  down  and  when  thou  risest  up.  And  thou 
shalt  write  them  upon  the  door-posts  of  thine  house,  and  upon  thy  gates  : 
that  your  days  may  be  multiplied,  and  the  days  of  your  children,  in  the 
land  which  the  Lord  sware  unto  your  fathers  to  give  them,  as  the  days  of 
Heaven  upon  the  earth."  (Deut.  xi.  18-21.) 


PART  n.]  IN  THE  PRIMITIVE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH.  69 

The  passages  above  cited  from  the  "  Book  of  the  Law  "  are  but 
a  few  specimen  brick,  to  show  the  endless  iteration  therein  of 
the  duty  of  parents  to  imbue  their  children  with  a  knowledge 
and  love  of  the  laws  of  their  country,  to  the  express  end  that  they 
might  walk  in  the  "good  and  right  way/'  and  so  prolong  and 
perpetuate  their  national  life  and  prosperity. 

And  was  this  law  obeyed  ?  Turn  to  Psalms  Ixxviii.  4-6,  and 
we  shall  see.  There  it  is  written:  "We  will  not  hide  them  [the 
statutes  and  testimonies  of  the  Lord]  from  our  children,  show- 
ing to  the  generation  to  come  the  praises  of  the  Lord,  and  his 
strength,  and  his  wonderful  works  that  he  hath  done.  For  he 
established  a  testimony  in  Jacob,  and  appointed  a  law  in  Israel, 
which  he  commanded  our  fathers  that  they  should  make  them 
known  to  their  children  :  that  the  generation  to  come  might 
know  them,  even  the  children  which  should  be  born  ;  who  should 
arise  and  declare  them  unto  their  children."  Doubtless  it  was  in 
allusion  to  this  that  Solomon  (in  Proverbs)  laid  down  the  proposi- 
tion, "  Train  up  a  child  in  the  way  he  should  go  ;  and  when  he  is 
old,  he  will  not  depart  from  it."  And  St.  Paul  without  doubt  had 
the  same  in  mind  when  he  wrote  (Eph.  vi.  4),  "  Bring  them  up 
\i.  e.  your  children]  in  the  nurture  and  admonition  of  the  Lord." 
And  the  influence  of  this  teaching  is  prolonged  even  to  our  day. 
Who  does  not  know  how  rare  it  is  to  see  a  person  of  the  Jewish 
race  arraigned  before  the  courts  and  convicted  of  crime  ?  I  shall 
never  forget  the  impression  made  on  me  when  I  saw,  in  one  of  the 
largest  prisons  of  Paris,  the  little  box  which  served  as  chapel  for 
all  the  Israelitish  prisoners  confined  in  that  vast  establishment. 


CHAPTER   XXXIV.  —  CHILD-SAVING  WORK   IN  THE  PRIMITIVE 
CHRISTIAN  CHURCH. 

THE  Saviour  of  the  world  taught  us  in  what  light  he  regarded 
child-saving  work  when,  despite  the  rebuke  of  his  disciples, 
he  took  little  children  in  his  arms  and  said,  "  Suffer  the  little 
children  to  come  unto  me,  and  forbid  them  not."  Did  he  not,  in 
that  act  and  by  those  words,  lay  upon  us  a  command,  full  of  gentle 
and  persuasive  force,  to  "  go  and  do  likewise  "  ?  So  the  primitive 
Church  evidently  interpreted  it,  as  we  shall  see.  The  instances 
I  am  about  to  cite  are  all  culled  from  Chastel's  "  Charity  of  the 
Primitive  Churches,"  and  I  need  not  therefore  encumber  my 
pages  with  special  references.  The  Apostolic  Constitutions  ex- 
hort in  these  words :  "  Bishops,  take  care  of  the  orphans  ;  see 
that  they  want  nothing."  Deserted,  destitute,  exposed  children 


7<D  HISTORICAL  REVIEW  OF  CHILD-SAVING    WORK.      [BOOK   I. 

were  in  all  respects  to  be  cared  for  as  the  poor  orphans.  Ter- 
tullian  distinctly  includes  them  in  the  same  category.  They  were 
to  receive  their  primary  education  at  the  hands  of  the  widows 
and  consecrated  maidens  ;  they  were  to  be  taught  a  trade  ;  they 
were  to  be  gathered  into  the  fold  of  Christ.  Whereas,  paganism 
peopled  with  them  its  schools  of  gladiators  and  its  houses  of 
prostitution. 

At  a  later  period  orphan  asylums  (orphanotrophid)  and  infant 
nurseries  (brephotrophid)  were  established,  —  organized  charities, 
to  which  deserted,  destitute,  and  neglected  children  were  admitted 
equally  with  those  who  had  lost  one  or  both  parents.  A  passage 
in  St.  Augustine  indicates  that  often  for  abandoned  children  the 
Church  through  its  various  agents  —  the  sacristan,  the  conse- 
crated maidens,  the  ministers  — exerted  itself  to  find  persons  who 
would  be  willing  to  receive  them  into  their  families  and  "  bring 
them  up  in  the  faith,"  —  the  "  boarding-out  system  "  !  But  private 
charity,  untrammelled  by  organization,  was  still  active  in  child- 
saving  work ;  for,  says  Chastel :  "  The  foundation  of  St.  Galla, 
the  daughter  of  Symmachus,  who  assembled  at  her  house  the  poor 
little  children  whom  she  had  found  out,  appears  to  have  been  a 
work  of  charity  wholly  individual."  Of  the  same  nature,  as  re- 
gards the  personal  character  of  the  work,  was  the  house  founded 
by  Pammachius,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Tiber,  for  the  poor,  both  the 
aged  and  the  young,  especially  strangers.  This  illustrious  coun- 
cillor and  senator,  after  the  death  of  his  wife  Paulina,  found  con- 
solation only  in  works  of  charity,  of  which  she  had  given  him  the 
noblest  example.  Not  content  with  expending  on  the  poor  of 
Rome  the  immense  fortune  which  she  had  left  him,  he  created  at 
Ostia  the  foundation  mentioned  above.  St.  Jerome,  writing  to 
him,  said :  "  I  learn  that  you  have  planted  an  offshoot  of  the  hos- 
pitable oak  of  Abraham  upon  the  shores  of  Ausonia.  Like 
^Eneas,  you  encamp  on  the  banks  of  the  Tiber,  and  build  a  Beth- 
lehem upon  those  shores  long  since  made  desolate  by  famine. 
Paulina  has  given  us,  by  her  death,  the  children  whom  in  her  life- 
time she  so  ardently  desired."  And  then  he  bursts  out  into  this 
impassioned  apostrophe  to  the  dead,  whose  wealth  carried  balm 
and  gladness  and  salvation  to  such  multitudes  of  poor,  especially 
of  the  destitute  and  imperilled  children:  "Rejoice,  O  Paulina! 
leap  for  joy,  O  sterile  one  !  since  thou  hast  brought  forth  as  many 
children  as  there  are  poor  at  Rome !  "  with  much  more  to  the 
same  effect. 

The  monasteries,  so  long  as  they  remained  true  to  their  origi- 
nal purpose,  were  places  of  refuge  and  education  for  orphan  and 
neglected  children.  St.  Chrysostom  extols  the  services  which 
they  rendered  in  this  respect.  Basil  strongly  recommends  func- 
tions so  honorable,  prescribed  by  the  Saviour  himself  to  his  fol- 
lowers. He  advises  that  poor  children  of  every  age  should  be 


PART  11.]  IMPORTANCE  OF  THIS   WORK.  71 

received;  that  they  should  be  trained  to  a  life  of  virtue  and 
religion  ;  that  the  histories  and  maxims  of  the  Scriptures  should 
be  taught  to  them  ;  that  a  director,  at  once  mild  and  firm,  humane 
and  prudent,  should  watch  over  their  habits  and  form  them  to 
moral  rectitude  ;  and  finally  that,  while  still  remaining  under  the 
care  and  supervision  of  their  protectors,  they  should  frequent  the 
shops  of  workmen  skilful  in  those  mechanic  arts  and  professions 
for  which  they  showed  an  aptness.  Have  we  not  here,  in  all  its 
essential  features,  the  industrial  school  of  our  day  ?  The  Bene- 
dictines of  Mount  Cassino  rendered  the  same  service  to  the 
destitute  and  dependent  children  of  Italy. 

The  Emperor  Constantine  himself  began  this  work  of  child- 
saving  after  his  conversion  from  Paganism  to  Christianity.  He 
forbade,  under  the  severest  penalties,  the  kidnapping  of  free  chil- 
dren and  reducing  them  to  slavery,  —  a  crime  much  practised 
among  the  old  Romans.  He  declared  himself  the  patron  of 
orphans  and  other  defenceless  children,  so  imperfectly  protected 
—  one  might  almost  say  actually  outraged  —  by  the  ancient  Ro- 
man law.  Numerous  decrees  were  issued  by  him,  with  the  inten- 
tion of  assuring  to  them  a  paternal  and  protecting  tutelage. 


CHAPTER  XXXV.  —  SUPREME  IMPORTANCE  OF  THIS  WORK. 

THE  question  has  been  much  discussed,  Who  began  in  mod- 
ern times  the  work  of  child-saving  through  preventive  and 
reformatory  institutions,  and  thereby  sought  to  stop  the  streams 
of  crime  by  drying  up  their  fountain-head  ?  Germany  claims 
precedence ;  England  claims  it ;  the  United  States  claims  it  ; 
possibly  other  countries  claim  it.  It  would  perhaps  be  difficult 
either  to  prove  or  disprove  such  a  claim,  for  the  reason  that  in 
the  general  progress  of  humanity  inventions  and  discoveries, 
improvements  of  every  kind,  are  approached  from  different  points 
at  the  same  time,  —  are  often,  in  fact,  suggested  by  different  per- 
sons, often  even  in  different  countries.  The  discovery  of  the 
differential  calculus,  as  to  its  author,  is  still  a  question  in  dispute. 
Who  can  tell  whether  in  the  twilight  of  the  seventeenth  century 
the  spirit  of  the  age  first  whispered  the  secret  into  the  ear  of 
Newton  or  of  Leibnitz,  or,  more  probably,  into  that  of  each  at 
the  same  time  ? 

But  whoever  began  this  movement,  and  in  whatever  country 
it  had  its  origin,  it  is  one  of  the  most  important,  most  hopeful, 
most  blessed  in  all  the  annals  of  human  progress.  It  is  true,  — 
profoundly,  terribly  true,  —  what  Dr.  Channing  said,  in  1841,  in  a 


72  HISTORICAL  REVIEW  OF  CHILD-SAVING    WORK.      [BOOK  I. 

discourse  on  the  life  and  character  of  that  eminent  city  missionary 
of  Boston,  Joseph  Tuckerman.  "Society,"  he  declared,  "has 
hitherto  employed  its  energy  chiefly  to  punish  crime.  It  is  in- 
finitely more  important  to  prevent  it.  And  this  I  say,  not  for 
the  sake  of  those  alone  on  whom  the  criminal  preys.  I  do  not 
think  only  or  chiefly  of  those  who  suffer  from  crime.  I  plead 
also,  and  plead  more,  for  those  who  perpetrate  it.  In  moments 
of  clear,  calm  thought  I  feel  more  for  the  wrong-doer  than  for 
him  who  is  wronged.  In  a  case  of  theft,  incomparably  the  most 
wretched  man  is  he  who  steals,  not  he  who  is  robbed.  The  inno- 
cent are  not  undone  by  the  acts  of  violence  or  fraud  which  they 
suffer.  They  are  innocent,  though  injured.  They  do  not  bear 
the  brand  of  infamous  crime,  —  and  no  language  can  express  the 
import  of  this  distinction.  What  I  want  is,  not  merely  that 
society  shall  protect  itself  against  crime,  but  that  it  shall  do  all 
that  it  can  to  preserve  its  exposed  members  from  crime,  and  so 
to  do  for  the  sake  of  those  members  as  for  its  own.  It  ought 
not  to  breed  monsters  in  its  own  bosom.  If  it  will  not  use  its 
prosperity  to  save  the  ignorant  and  the  poor  from  the  blackest 
vice,  then  it  must  suffer,  and  deserves  to  suffer,  from  crime.  If 
the  child  be  left  to  grow  up  in  utter  ignorance  of  duty,  of  its 
Maker,  of  its  relations  to  society,  and  to  grow  up  in  an  atmosphere 
of  profaneness  and  intemperance  and  in  the  practice  of  falsehood 
and  fraud,  let  not  the  community  complain  of  its  crime.  It  has 
quietly  looked  on  and  seen  him,  year  after  year,  arming  himself 
against  its  order  and  peace  ;  and  who  is  most  to  blame  when  at 
last  he  deals  the  guilty  blow  ?  A  moral  care  over  the  tempted 
and  ignorant  portion  of  the  State  is  a  primary  duty  of  society." 

The  stinging  British  satire  of  "  Ginx's  Baby,"  published  only  a 
few  years  ago,  is  in  the  same  spirit  with  the  above,  but  it  bristles 
with  more  and  sharper  points.  "  Your  dirtiest  British  young- 
ster," says  this  caustic  satirist,  "  is  hedged  around  with  principles 
of  inviolable  liberty  and  rights  of  habeas  corptis.  You  let  his 
father  and  mother,  or  any  one  else  who  will,  save  you  the  trouble 
of  looking  after  him,  and  mould  him  in  his  years  of  tenderness  as 
they  please.  If  they  happen  to  leave  him  a  walking  invalid,  you 
take  him  into  the  poor-house ;  if  they  bring  him  up  a  thief,  you 
whip  him,  or  keep  him  at  high  cost  at  Millbank  or  Dartmoor ;  if 
his  passions,  never  controlled,  break  out  into  murder,  you  hang 
him,  —  unless  his  crime  has  been  so  atrocious  as  to  attract  the 
benevolent  interest  of  the  home-secretary ;  if  he  commit  suicide, 
you  hold  a  coroner's  inquest,  which  costs  money ;  and  however 
he  dies,  you  give-  him  a  deal  coffin  and  bury  him.  Yet  I  may 
prove  to  you  that  this  being  whom  you  treat  like  a  dog  at  a  fair 
never  had  a  day's,  no,  nor  an  hour's,  contact  with  goodness,  purity, 
truth,  or  even  human  kindness,  —  never  had  an  opportunity  of 
learning  any  thing  better.  What  right  have  you,  then,  to  hunt 


PART  11.]  IN  GERMANY.  73 

him  like  a  wild  beast,  and  kick  him,  and  whip  him,  and  fetter 
him,  and  hang  him,  by  expensive  and  complicated  machinery, 
when  you  have  done  nothing  to  teach  him  any  of  the  duties  of  a 
citizen  ? "  The  writer  answers  the  natural  response  to  his  ques- 
tion, that  there  are  endless  means  provided  for  improving  the  lad, 

—  industrial  schools,  reformatories,  asylums,  and  the  like,  —  by 
saying,  "  They  do  not  reach  one  in  ten  of  them."    And  he  contin- 
ues: "  I  do  not  say  that  it  can  be  done  ;  but  in  order  to  trans- 
form the  next  generation,  what  we  should  aim  at  is  to  provide 
substitutes  for  bad  homes,  evil  training,  unhealthy  air  and  food, 
stagnation,   and    terrible    ignorance,    in    happier    scenes,    better 
teaching,  proper  conditions  of   physical  life,  sane  amusements, 
and  a  higher  cultivation.     But  who  is  to  pay  for  all  this  ?     The 
State,  which  means  society,  the  whole  of  which,  to  its  last  mem- 
ber, is  directly  interested.     I  tell  you  that  a  million  of  children 
are  crying  to  us  to  set  them  free  from  the  despotism  of  igno- 
rance and  crime  protected  by  law." 

And  if  a  million  in  Great  Britain,  how  many  millions  in  all 
Christendom  !  The  mind  is  staggered  and  overwhelmed  by  the 
thought.  Every  movement  for  the  relief  of  society  from  its  fear- 
ful burdens  of  vice  and  criminality  has  forced  upon  thoughtful 
minds  the  conviction  that  the  only  solution  of  the  problem  is  to 
be  found  in  the  application  of  radical  remedies  in  the  period  of 
childhood.  While  prisons  and  criminal-laws  and  prison  disci- 
pline call  loudly  for  reforms,  and  appeal  strongly  to  benevolent 
hearts  and  wise  heads,  the  best  reform  that  can  be  secured  in 
reference  to  penitentiaries  is  to  deplete  them  of  their  inmates  by 
saving  the  young  from  vicious  and  criminal  courses.  The  real 
problem  is  not  so  much  to  improve  prisons  as  to  abolish  them, 

—  not  so  much  to  make  them  better  as  to  make  them  useless. 


CHAPTER  XXXVI.  —  CHILD-SAVING  WORK  IN  GERMANY. 

THE  earliest  movement  in  behalf  of  destitute,  neglected,  and 
exposed  children  in  Germany  was  made  at  the  close  of  the 
seventeenth  century  (1695)  by  August  Hermann  Francke,  in  the 
city  of  Halle.  It  was  opened  on  the  "  goodly  capital  "  of  three 
and  a  half  dollars,  and  on  receiving  it  he  exclaimed,  "  With  this 
I  must  do  a  great  work."  And  he  did  it.  He  founded  a  school 
for  the  poor,  and  through  benefactions  made  without  solicitation 
was  enabled  finally  to  pile  up  the  largest,  highest,  and  most 
imposing  series  of  buildings  in  Halle.  There  he  gathered  and 
instructed  in  trades  and  the  highest  branches  of  learning  thou- 


74  HISTORICAL   REVIEW  OF  CHILD-SAVING    WORK.      [BOOK  i. 

sands  of  orphans  and  street  beggars  ;  and  tens  of  thousands  have 
received  the  same  advantages  since  he  went  to  his  reward.  The 
establishment  still  remains,  a  quarter  of  a  mile  in  length  and  six 
stories  high,  built  around  an  oblong  court-yard.  Five  hundred 
children  are  still  gathered  within  its  walls,  while  numerous  other 
industrial  and  charitable  associations  find  shelter  under  its  many 
roofs. 

More  than  a  hundred  years  later,  John  Falk,  the  son  of  a  wig- 
maker  of  Dantzic,  —  himself  so  poor  in  his  youth  that  he  could 
never  forget  the  pangs  of  hunger  he  suffered  then,  —  became  a 
resident  of  Weimar,  where,  about  the  year  1820,  he  organized 
a  society  called  the  "  Friends  in  Need,"  and  began  .to  carry  into 
effect  his  original  purpose  of  simply  finding  homes  in  families 
("  the  boarding-out  system  "),  —  preferably  in  the  country,  —  for 
the  vagrant  children  who  sought  his  protection.  He  soon  be- 
came convinced  that  it  was  necessary  to  give  some  preliminary 
training  to  the  vicious  children  whom  he  sought  to  rescue  from 
ruin.  Therefore,  in  1823  he  laid  the  foundation  of  the  building 
which  still  stands,  —  the  worthiest  monument  that  could  be 
reared  to  his  memory. 

It  was  on  the  first  day  of  November,  1833,  that  Dr.  John 
Henry  Wichern,  aided  by  his  mother  (he  was  not  then  married), 
founded  the  Rauhe  Haus  at  Horn,  near  Hamburg,  for  the  re- 
ception and  treatment  (for  their  salvation)  of  poor  and  exposed 
children.  At  a  public  meeting  in  Hamburg,  held  a  short  time 
prior  to  its  opening,  it  is  thus  that  the  Syndic  Sieveking  devel- 
oped the  intended  character  of  the  new  establishment :  "  The 
children's  institution,"  he  said,  "  was  not  to  be  a  work-house,  nor 
an  orphanage,  nor  a  place  of  punishment,  nor  a  house  of  correc- 
tion ;  but  an  institution  that  allied  itself  to  the  family,  to  the 
gospel,  to  the  forgiveness  of  sins,  to  the  first  and  last  thought,  — 
that  is,  to  the  essential  nature  and  work  of  Christianity."  This 
idea  has  been  faithfully  adhered  to  throughout,  and  is  as  promi- 
nent and  living  to-day  as  at  the  beginning.  The  fundamental 
idea  of  the  Rauhe  Haus  is  that  of  the  family ;  and  it  is  the 
mother  of  all  those  child-saving  institutions,  of  which  the  number 
is  continually  increasing,  that  have  since  been  organized  on  the 
family  plan.  Not  through  the  aggregation  of  the  barrack  (such 
was  Wichern's  thought),  but  only  through  a  society  agreeable  to 
nature,  —  that  is,  the  family,  —  can  the  life  of  the  individual  be 
normally  developed.  The  realization  of  this  idea  is  what  he  had 
in  view  in  founding  his  institution  at  Horn.  He  opened  the 
establishment,  on  the  day  and  year  before  mentioned,  in  Rauhe's 
Haus  (so  called  from  the  original  proprietor  and  occupant)  with 
three  boys,  and  soon  gathered  nine  more,  making  a  family  of 
twelve  altogether  in  the  little  cottage.  Over  this  household  he 
and  his  mother  exercised  the  authority  of  parents,  while  they  felt 


PART  n.]  IN  ENGLAND.  75 

towards  its  members  all  the  affection  of  parents.  When  the  insti- 
tution increased,  and  the  space  became  too  narrow  for  the  growing 
band  of  children,  Wichern  still  desired  to  preserve  the  character 
of  the  family  and  of  individual  life  and  care  in  the  freshness  of 
its  original  strength.  He  did  not  therefore  enlarge  the  house 
already  in  use,  but  built  a  second  for  the  second  circle  of  boys  ; 
and,  as  petitions  for  admission  pressed,  he  took  immediate  steps 
for  the  erection  of  still  other  family  houses.  But  it  is  useless  to 
go  on  with  this  account,  for  the  Rauhe  Haus  has  a  world-wide 
reputation,  and  its  history  is  known  by  heart  by  all  who  take  an 
interest  in  these  questions. 

It  is  enough  to  add,  that,  following  in  the  footprints  of  Francke 
and  Falk  and  Wichern,  and  continually  acknowledging  indebted- 
ness to  them,  the  German-speaking  people  of  Europe  have  estab- 
lished many  hundreds  of  child-saving  institutions,  which  have 
within  their  custody  an  estimated  average  of  twelve  to  fifteen 
thousand  inmates. 


CHAPTER  XXXVII.  —  CHILD-SAVING  WORK  IN  ENGLAND. 

WHEN  we  turn  to  England,  we  must  be  struck  anew  with 
the  truth  of  a  suggestion  thrown  out  a  little  while  ago, 
that  it  is  not  always  easy  to  trace  the  absolute  beginning  of  any 
good  work,  since  the  citizens  of  London,  as  far  back  as  1552, 
petitioned  "  the  king  to  give  them  the  palace  of  Bridewell  to 
lodge  the  poor  and  to  breed  up  children  in  industrious  habits  ;" 
which  the  reader  will  note  was  a  century  and  a  half  prior  to 
the  commencement  of  Francke's  child-saving  work  in  Germany. 
Howard  himself,  amid  his  busy  study  of  prison  abominations  and 
prison  reform,  wrote  and  toiled  to  establish  a  better  method,  or 
rather  perhaps  to  find  some  method,  of  treatment  for  exposed  and 
delinquent  children,  whereby  the  perils  surrounding  the  former 
might  be  successfully  averted  and  the  criminal  proclivities  of  the 
latter  extirpated,  so  that  both  classes  might  be  saved  to  a  life  of 
honest  industry.  "Boys,"  he  said,  "confined  for  correction,  should 
always  be  separated  from  other  prisoners,  and  indeed  from  one 
another.  A  kind  and  tender  monitor  should  often  see  them,  and, 
without  tiring  their  attention,  converse  with  them  as  a  friend  or 
parent."  Nor  were  his  efforts  in  this  direction  wholly  without 
effect.  Inoculated  with  his  doctrine,  a  number  of  Christian  gen- 
tlemen in  1788,  three  years  before  his  death,  founded  the  Phil- 
anthropic Society  of  London,  of  which  no  doubt  he  was  himself 
a  member.  They  had  been  struck  by  the  growing  numbers  of 
vicious  and  vagrant  children  who  infested  the  metropolis  and  its 


76  HISTORICAL  REVIEW  OF  CHILD-SAVING    WORK.      [BOOK  L 

outlying  districts,  and  who  not  only  lived,  but  were  trained  to  live, 
by  begging  and  pilfering.  Beginning  with  a  single  child,  the  So- 
ciety gradually  increased  its  numbers  and  accommodations,  till 
in  the  second  year  of  its  existence  its  work  had  assumed  quite 
an  organized  form,  and  had  shown  a  vitality  and  a  wisdom  which 
were  at  once  a  prophecy  and  a  pledge  of  excellent  fruit.  Even  in 
that  early  day,  it  adopted  the  family  system  as  the  basis  of  its 
institutional  life,  and  agriculture  as  the  chief  occupation  of  its 
wards,  whom  it  lodged  in  three  small  and  rough  cottages,  thus 
avoiding  that  excessive  ornamentation  which  has  unfortunately 
become  so  common  of  late  in  buildings  devoted  to  charitable  and 
even  penal  purposes.  It  was,  as  one  readily  sees,  in  this  respect 
an  anticipation  of  the  Rauhe  Haus  at  Horn,  and  of  the  Colonie 
Agricole  Penitentiare  of  Mettray,  in  France.  It  distributed  the 
children  into  families  of  twelve  in  its  modest  dwellings,  placing  at 
the  head  of  the  whole  group  a  general  superintendent,  and  in  the 
three  families  severally  a  gardener,  a  tailor,  and  a  shoemaker,  with 
their  wives.  It  sought  in  this  way  to  realize  to  the  youthful  objects 
of  its  chanty  the  happiness  and  benefits  of  a  home.  No  better 
organization  to  this  end  can  be  shown  to-day.  One  rubs  his  eyes 
in  astonishment  as  he  reads  the  earlier  reports  of  the  Society,— 
those,  for  example,  issued  in  1788  and  1789,  —  and  can  scarcely 
resist  a  suspicion  that  the  date  is  wrong  by  half  a  century.  The 
latter  of  these  reports  declares  :  "Agriculture  is  the  grand  source 
to  which  the  Society  looks  for  employment  for  its  wards.  Agri- 
culture means  natural  life,  and  is  the  primary  spring  of  health  and 
happiness.  The  design  is  to  approach  as  nearly  as  possible  to 
common  life,  and  as  the  wards  are  forming  for  the  humble  station 
of  laborers,  it  is  thought  an  important  care  not  to  accustom  them 
to  conveniences  and  indulgences  of  which  afterwards  they  might 
severely  feel  the  want."  This  last  remark  shows  a  degree  of  com- 
mon sense  by  no  means  too  "common  "  in  our  day.  In  1806  the 
Society  was  incorporated  by  act  of  parliament,  and  the  asylum 
reorganized.  In  its  later  form  it  was  a  triple  institution.  One 
department  was  a  prison  school  for  young  convicts  ;  another  a 
manufactory  for  the  employment  of  destitute  boys  ;  and  the  third 
a  training  school  for  pauper  girls. 

It  would  be  unpardonable  to  omit  from  this  sketch  at  least  a 
brief  mention  of  the  labors  in  behalf  of  juveniles  of  the  "  Society 
for  the  Improvement  of  Prison  Discipline  and  for  the  Reformation 
of  Juvenile  Offenders"  instituted  in  London  in  1815.  The  Asso- 
ciation, in  what  it  did  in  this  important  branch  of  its  work,  pro- 
ceeded upon  the  just  idea  that  "youth  nurtured  in  guilt  would 
never  become  in  manhood  respectable  members  of  society,"  and 
that,  "if  no  means  for  either  correction  or  prevention  were  em- 
ployed, crimes  of  the  worst  growth  could  scarcely  ever  be  eradi- 
cated." Its  first  effort  was  directed  to  find  out  the  extent  and 


PART  n.]  IN  ENGLAND.  77 

character  of  juvenile  delinquency  in  London.  To  this  end,  begin- 
ning its  operations  the  first  year  of  its  existence,  it  formed  itself 
into  a  number  of  subdivisions.  These  visited  the  prisons  of 
London  and  its  neighborhood  ;  inspected  the  calendars  for  trial ; 
pursued  their  inquiries  among  the  boys  themselves,  their  parents, 
friends,  and  associates  ;  and  investigated  the  police  offices,  with 
their  examinations  and  commitments.  The  result  of  the  investi- 
gation formed  a  sad  testimony  to  juvenile  depravity  and  crime, 
showing  it  to  be  not  only  of  great  extent,  but  constantly  and 
rapidly  increasing.  Crimes  of  the  worst  description  were  com- 
mitted by  boys  ;  and,  what  was  worse,  their  commission  was  or- 
ganized into  a  system  and  stimulated  by  rewards.  The  Society 
reached  the  conclusion  that  not  less  than  eight  thousand  boys  in 
the  metropolis  gained  their  living  by  depredations  on  the  public, 
and  it  found  that  a  large  proportion  of  them  were  constantly 
passing  through  the  prisons,  ripening  into  atrocious  offenders,  and 
on  their  release  industriously  spreading  the  knowledge  and  prac- 
tice'of  crime. 

The  Society  next  sought  out  the  causes  of  this  enormous 
amount  of  juvenile  criminality.  These  it  found  to  be:  homeless- 
ness  ;  parental  neglect ;  abnormal  family  relations  ;  want  of  mental, 
moral,  and  religious  education ;  want  of  employment  and  dislike 
of  work ;  destitution ;  the  corrupting  influence  of  prisons,  from 
want  of  classification  and  consequent  defective  discipline  ;  flash- 
houses  of  drink,  debauchery,  and  all  manner  of  wickedness ;  and 
the  fairs  in  and  about  London,  which  in  seven  months  of  the  year 
afforded  eighty-two  days  of  license  and  idleness,  where  temptation 
seduced  young  lads  into  thefts,  for  which  their  subsequent  com- 
mitment to  prison  sealed  their  ruin. 

The  crowning  work  of  the  Society,  which  was  also  the  most 
difficult,  was  to  devise  and  apply  a  cure  to  this  great  and  sore  evil. 

To  this  end,  — 

1.  The  Society  established  a  temporary  refuge  or  asylum  for 
young  delinquents,  who  were  willing   to    abandon    their  vicious 
pursuits  and  learn  the  way  to  earn  an  honest  living.     The  success 
it  met  with  in  reforming  a  considerable  number  of  youthful  crim- 
inals was  highly  satisfactory.     It  was,  however,  hampered  in  this 
part  of  its  work  by  the  state  of  its  exchequer.     But  what  was  still 
more  encouraging  was  that  its  example  extended  itself  into  the 
other   principal  towns    of   the  United  Kingdom,  and  even   into 
foreign  countries,  where  precious  fruit  was  gathered  from  the  seed 
thus  sown. 

2.  The  Society  sought  to  promote,  and  did  promote,  practical 
improvements  in  the  construction,  classification,  and  discipline  of 
prisons  ;  and   more  especially  by  the  establishment  of  juvenile 
schools  in  them,  whereby  the  lack  of  early  instruction,  —  moral, 
literary,  and  religious,  —  was  largely  supplied. 


78  HISTORICAL  REVIEW  OF  CHILD-SAVING    WORK.     [BOOK  I. 

3.  What  the  Society  had  most  at  heart  in  this  department  of 
its  work,  and  what  it  labored  most  earnestly  to  secure,  was  the 
establishment  of  a  reformatory  prison  designed  expressly  for  the 
treatment  and  reformation  of  youthful  transgressors.  It  formed 
a  plan  for  such  a  reformatory,  which  was  believed  to  combine  the 
most  important  requisites  for  the  complete  classification,  inspec- 
tion, and  treatment  of  six  hundred  boys.  Each  class  was  to  have 
a  distinct  dining-room,  school-room,  workshop,  play-ground,  etc., 
and  each  inmate  was  to  have  a  separate  sleeping-room.  In 
this  the  Society  failed  ;  but  it  is  not  unlikely  that  its  labors,  put 
forth  in  this  direction,  contributed  something  towards  the  sub- 
sequent creation  of  the  juvenile  prison  at  Parkhurst,  in  the  Isle 
of  Wight. 

In  1817  the  magistrates  of  Warwickshire  established  at  Shel- 
ton-on-Dunsmore,  near  Birmingham,  an  asylum  for  the  reformation 
of  juvenile  offenders.  The  boys  were  employed  chiefly  in  shoe- 
making,  but  did  also  some  farm  work.  The  establishment  con- 
tinued to  do  a  quiet  but  useful  work  till  1853,  when  Mr.  Powell, 
its  manager  and  master-spirit,  who  had  given  to  it  all  the  best 
energies  of  his  life  during  a  period  of  thirty-six  years,  died,  and 
the  work  was  broken  up.  It  had  been,  in  some  respects  and  those 
not  unimportant,  the  forerunner  and  prototype  of  the  reformatory 
schools  of  England. 

A  little  later  (1830)  Captain  Edward  Pelham  Brenton,  a  retired 
officer  of  the  royal  navy,  in  conjunction  with  a  modest  association 
known  as  the  "  Children's  Friend  Society,"  opened  on  a  small 
scale  an  industrial  school  for  boy-vagrants  at  Hackney wicke, 
London.  Miss  Murray,  first  maid-of-honor  to  Queen  Victoria, 
well  known  in  America  through  her  travels  there,  heard  of  the 
institution,  and  at  once^nade  herself  acquainted  with  its  objects 
and  its  work.  Her  heart  and  her  head  were  instantly  won.  She 
joined  the  enterprise,  thereby  bringing  to  its  aid  not  only  a  sound 
judgment  and  a  noble  energy,  but  also,  what  was  no  less  needful, 
a  large  connection  among  the  wealthy  and  the  influential,  whom 
she  was  able  to  interest  in  its  success.  She  herself  established  a 
girls'  school  on  the  same  plan  at  Chiswick,  under  the  title  of  the 
Victoria  Asylum.  It  is  an  interesting  fact  that  the  first  institu- 
tion to  which  the  present  Queen  of  England  gave  her  name  and 
support  was  a  reformatory  for  girls,  and  no  less  interesting  that 
the  first  act  of  parliament  which  gave  the  sanction  of  law  to  the 
work  of  juvenile  reformation  was  passed  in  the  second  year  of 
her  reign,  and  so  was  among  the  earliest  that  received  her  royal 
signature. 

Brenton's  school  now  began  to  grow  and  thrive,  but  he  never 
departed  from  the  stern  simplicity  with  which  he  commenced. 
He  continued  on  conviction  what  he  began  from  necessity.  His 
dormitories  were  as  rough  as  could  well  be  conceived.  He 


PART  IL]  IN  ENGLAND.  79 

bought  a  quantity  of  brick  from  old  houses  that  were  being 
pulled  down,  and  taught  the  boys  to  use  them  in  building  a  long, 
rough  shed  filled  (sailor-like)  with  three  rows  of  hammocks  slung 
one  over  the  other ;  and  when  told,  as  he  often  was,  that  the 
boys  ought  to  have  more  space,  his  uniform  reply  was,  "  They 
have  more  room  than  the  gallant  fellows  in  her  Majesty's  navy." 
Captain  Brenton  had  predecessors,  as  we  have  seen  ;  but  he  was 
beyond  question  the  first  man  in  England  who  shed  a  clear  light 
on  the  dark  problem  of  juvenile  crime,  and  who  showed  how  to 
deal  successfully  with  its  unhappy  victims.  It  might  be  too  much 
to  say  that  he  solved  the  problem  of  juvenile  delinquency  for  that 
country ;  yet  it  may  be  safely  asserted  that  no  man  before  his 
time  did  so  much  toward  the  solution  of  that  question,  or  had 
such  singularly  clear  and  practical  views  on  the  evil  and  its 
remedy.  No  child,  he  was  accustomed  to  say,  should  be  commit- 
ted to  the  common  prisons  of  the  land,  but  should  be  educated 
and  trained  chiefly  by  the  Bible,  and  taught  to  labor  chiefly  with 
the  spade.  Religious  and  elementary  instruction,  moral  training, 
agricultural  employment,  and  removal  to  new  scenes  and  purer 
influences  were  the  leading  ideas  in  his  plan  of  treatment.  Has 
any  thing  better  been  discovered,  or  is  there  likely  to  be  ? 

About  these  days  a  still  bolder  philanthropist  —  one  Henry 
Wilson  —  created  and  managed,  single-handed,  a  schoolof  in- 
dustry for  young  thieves  at  Woolwich  ;  with  what  success  I  am 
unable  to  say. 

A  parliamentary  committee,  created  in  1835,  had  gathered  a  mass 
of  evidence  in  these  several  reformatory  institutions  for  young 
criminals,  and  on  it  had  founded  a  recommendation  for  making 
reformatories  an  integral  part  of  the  prison  system  of  England. 
The  result  was  the  founding  of  the  government  reformatory  for 
boys  at  Parkhurst,  in  the  Isle  of  Wight,  by  which  it  was  hoped 
that  the  problem  of  a  right  treatment  of  juvenile  transgressors 
would  be  satisfactorily  solved.  This  establishment,  organized  in 
1838,  was  at  once  a  prison  school,  a  manufactory,  and  a  farm. 
The  young  offender  began  his  term  as  a  solitary  prisoner,  and  grad- 
ually developed  into  an  artisan  or  a  farmer.  Some  good  work 
was  done  there,  but  it  is  many  years  since  the  establishment 
ceased  to  be  used  as  a  reformatory,  since  which  time  it  has 
served  as  a  place  of  confinement  for  invalid  convicts. 

I  will  not  proceed  further  in  this  early  history  of  preventive 
and  reformatory  work  in  England.  It  was  about  the  middle  of 
the  present  century  when  the  general  movement  in  this  direc- 
tion was  begun,  which  has  resulted  in  that  magnificent  system  of 
reformatory  and  industrial  schools  which,  in  my  opinion,  make 
England  the  leader  and  model  of  the  world  in  this  truly  godlike 
work.  The  whole  number  of  these  establishments,  certified  and 
not  certified,  cannot  be  less  than  three  hundred,  and  probably  ex- 


80  HISTORICAL  REVIEW  OF  CHILD-SAVING    WORK.      [BopK  i. 

ceeds  that  number.  This  great  body  of  institutions,  all  created 
in  the  interest  of  crime-prevention  by  saving  neglected  and 
exposed  children  from  a  criminal  career,  forms  one  of  the  truest 
and  noblest  glories  of  that  island  empire,  and  under  their  ubi- 
quitous and  potent  influence  crime  has  for  many  years  been 
slowly  but  surely  diminishing  within  the  United  Kingdom. 


CHAPTER  XXXVIII.  —  CHILD-SAVING  WORK  IN  THE  UNITED 

STATES. 

THE  earliest  of  the  reformatory  institutions  in  the  United 
States  was  the  House  of  Refuge,  in  the  city  of  New  York. 
In  1818  an  "Association  for  the  Prevention  of  Pauperism"  was 
formed  in  that  metropolis  by  such  men  as  John  Griscom,  Thomas 
Eddy,  Hugh  Maxwell,  James  W.  Gerard,  and  others  like  minded 
with  them.  They  had  not  gone  far  in  their  investigations  before 
they  were  convinced  that  little  could  be  accomplished  in  the 
field  on  which  they  had  entered,  except  through  the  agency  of 
vigorous  preventive  measures.  They  therefore  organized  them- 
selves into  a  "  Society  for  the  Reformation  of  Juvenile  Delin- 
quents," which  at  once  addressed  itself  to  the  establishment  of  a 
House  of  Refuge.  On  the  first  day  of  January,  1825,  on  what  is 
now  Madison  Square,  near  the  spot  on  which  stands  the  elegant 
Fifth  Avenue  Hotel,  in  a  building  which  was  erected  as  a  barrack 
for  soldiers,  the  institution  was  opened  with  appropriate  services. 
Nine  squalid  children  just  gathered  from  the  streets  were 
present,  and  formed  the  nucleus  of  the  new  establishment. 
More  than  fifteen  thousand  children,  it  is  estimated,  have  been 
inmates  of  the  refuge  from  its  establishment  to  the  present 
time,  of  whom  far  the  larger  portion  have  been  saved  to  virtue 
and  honor. 

For  a  quarter  of  a  century  few  similar  establishments  were 
opened  in  America.  Boston  followed  in  1826,  and  Philadelphia 
in  1828.  In  1835  a  farm-school  was  opened  for  orphans  and 
poor  children  on  Thompson's  Island  in  the  harbor  of  Boston. 
The  State  reform-school  was  established  at  Westborough,  Massa- 
chusetts, in  1847,  and  eight  years  subsequently  (1855)  the  first 
girls'  reformatory  was  founded  at  Lancaster  in  the  same  State. 
This  was  organized,  after  long  correspondence  and  study,  on  the 
family  plan,  breaking  up  the  institution  into  three  separate 
houses  of  thirty  girls  each,  with  their  three  matrons,  —  all  united 
under  the  general  supervision  of  a  male  superintendent.  Addi- 
tional houses  have  been  added  since,  and  the  whole  establishment 


FART  n.J  IN  FRANCE.  8 1 

now  forms  a  charming  village,  with  its  neat  homes,  its  white- 
spired  church,  and  its  merry  children  sporting  on  the  well-cut 
lawns. 

The  New  York  and  Boston  institutions,  in  the  earlier  years  of 
their  history,  attracted  much  attention  at  home  and  abroad,  and 
were  visited  by  numbers  of  persons  as  well  from  Europe  as  from 
America.  They  were  both  peculiarly  fortunate  in  their  superin- 
tendents, who  were  scholarly  men,  of  great  personal  magnetism, 
drawing  their  young  families  to  themselves  by  an  almost  irresist- 
ible force,  and  greatly  impressing  their  visitors  by  their  reform- 
atory power  over  the  rude  and  vicious  children  committed  to 
their  care. 

A  strong  impulse  was  given  to  the  work  of  child-saving  in  the 
United  States  by  two  conventions  of  the  managers  and  superin- 
tendents of  reformatory  institutions,  held  in  the  city  of  New 
York  in  1857  and  1859. 

Institutions  of  a  more  strictly  preventive  character  —  indus- 
trial schools  and  homes  for  neglected  children  —  have  greatly 
multiplied  within  the  last  quarter  of  a  century  in  all  the  great 
centres  of  population,  in  the  northern,  eastern,  and  western 
States.  Of  associations,  directing  their  labors  to  this  particular 
department  of  child-saving  work,  the  two  largest,  most  active, 
and  most  successful  are  the  Children's  Aid  Society  and  Female 
Guardian  Society,  both  in  the  city  of  New  York,  and  having 
under  their  care  between  thirty  and  forty  industrial  schools,  be- 
sides divers  other  branches  of  the  same  general  work.  Reform 
schools,  also,  have  largely  increased  in  number  within  the  last 
twenty  years,  those  of  more  recent  origin  having  been  generally 
organized  on  some  modification  of  the  family  idea.  Upon  the 
whole,  while  there  is  still  much  to  be  desired  both  in  the  pre- 
ventive and  the  reformatory  work  so  far  as  they  are  to  be  distin- 
guished, this  work  may  be  said  to  be  in  a  prosperous  way  among 
us  ;  and  not  tens  but  hundreds  of  thousands  of  young  persons 
have  been  saved  from  crime  and  ruin  through  its  agency,  direct 
and  indirect. 


CHAPTER  XXXIX.  — CHILD-SAVING  WORK  IN  FRANCE. 

FRANCE  has  made  great  progress  in  child-saving  work,  and 
is  still  pushing  her  efforts  and  her  victories  on  that  line 
with  intelligence,  zeal,  and  vigor.  Her  doctrine  under  this  head 
may  be  stated  thus :  That  every  nation  has  a  profound  interest 
in  the  good  education  of  its  members  ;  that  it  is  both  the  right 
and  the  duty  of  the  State  to  enforce  this  principle  with  respect  to 

6 


82  HISTORICAL  REVIEW  OF  CHILD-SAVING    WORK.      [BOOK  I. 

all  its  children ;  that  neither  the  misfortune  nor  the  fault  of  par- 
ents ought  to  shut  the  door  of  the  school  against  their  offspring  ; 
that  this  right  and  this  duty  are  above  all  imperative  where  the 
citizens  are  admitted,  through  universal  suffrage*  to  participate  in 
public  affairs  ;  that  the  child  badly  brought  up  must  become  a 
trouble  to  society,  since  the  idler  and  the  vagrant  soon  pass  into 
the  criminal ;  that  if  the  State  ignores  its  rights  or  neglects  its 
duty  towards  these  children,  it  cannot  in  fairness  hold  them  to 
a  strict  account  for  their  criminal  acts  ;  that  as  we  do  not  wait 
till  a  plant  is  well  grown  to  water  it,  but  begin  our  care  before  it 
appears  above  the  surface,  so  the  soul,  from  the  moment  it  begins 
its  existence,  demands  an  active  and  an  enlightened  solicitude  ; 
and  that  to  aid  parents,  or  when  necessary  to  replace  them,  in 
the  accomplishment  of  their  obligations  is  an  imperative  duty  of 
the  nation. 

Whenever,  speaking  of  France,  reference  is  made  to  this  de- 
partment of  the  work,  —  I  will  not  say  merely  or  mainly  of  the 
philanthropist,  but  rather  and  chiefly  of  the  patriot  and  the  states 
man,  —  the  Colonie  Pcnitentiaire  Agricole  of  Mettray  instantly 
rises  to  the  thought  of  every  one.  To  describe  Mettray  in  de- 
tail, —  its  organization,  workings,  and  results,  —  and  to  speak 
in  worthy  terms  of  its  illustrious, -its  superb  founder,  Auguste 
Demetz,  would  require  a  volume  instead  of  a  paragraph.  Hap- 
pily the  character,  history,  and  work  of  both  are  so  well  known 
wherever  neglected  and  imperilled  childhood  is  an  object  of 
interest,  that  the  simple  mention  of  their  names  is  enough ; 
the  rest  rises  unbidden  to  the  memory.  Ninety-five  per  cent  of 
all  the  colons  received  and  treated  at  Mettray  during  its  entire 
forty  years  of  life  have  been  saved  to  themselves  and  to  society. 
Such  a  fact  needs  no  comment,  and  would  hardly  admit  it  with- 
out lessening  its  sublimity  and  its  force. 

The  whole  number  of  establishments  in  France  founded  sub- 
stantially on  the  model  of  Mettray  —  though  scarcely  any  of 
them  equalling  it,  either  in  the  completeness  of  its  organization 
or  the  splendor  of  its  results  —  is  fifty-two,  of  which  thirty-two 
are  for  boys  and  twenty  for  girls.  They  are  of  varied  character, 
and  of  course  yield  fruits  differing  both  in  excellence  and  abun- 
dance ;  but  all  are  doing  a  good  and  useful  work. 

However,  if  I  should  stop  here  my  task  would  lack  half  its 
completeness,  if  not  more.  Nearly  all  of  the  children  entrusted 
to  the  establishments  named  above  have  committed  criminal  acts, 
have  been  acquitted  of  crime  as  having  acted  without  knowledge, 
and  been  sent  to  houses  of  correctional  education  instead  of  prisons. 
But  a  vast  and  busy  work  of  prevention  in  behalf  of  children  not 
criminal  even  in  form,  but  only  in  danger  of  becoming  so,  has  long 
been  and  is  now  going  forward  in  France.  Strenuous  efforts  are 
made  to  enlarge  and  intensify  this  work,  as  well  through  the  action 


PART  IL]  IN  FRANCE.  83 

of  private  citizens  as  through  that  of  the  Government.  Legion  is 
the  name  of  the  associations  and  agencies  employed  in  this  work, 
—  including  adoption,  maternal  societies,  infant  nurseries,  infant 
schools,  kindergarten  schools,  industrial  schools,  societies  in  aid 
of  apprentices,  apprentice  schools,  legislative  safe-guards  thrown 
around  children  employed  in  factories,  etc.  It  would  be  impos- 
sible in  this  preliminary  book  to  enter  at  all  into  detail  in  explana- 
tion of  these  numerous  organizations  and  their  work.  Instead,  I 
will  give  a  bit  of  history  connected  with  one  of  them  which  I  have 
had  the  pleasure  personally  to  inspect  and  examine. 

There  is,  No.  70  Rue  de  Reilly,  in  the  faubourg  St.  Antoine, 
a  communal  school  for  girls.  In  1862  it  was,  as  it  still  is,  numer- 
ously attended.  One  day  there  appeared  at  its  gate  five  or  six 
young  boys,  ragged  and  dirty.  They  rang  the  bell,  and  asked  to 
see  the  directress.  They  were  conducted  into  her  presence, 
when  the  following  dialogue  took  place :  — 

"  We  come  to  ask  if  you  will  teach  us  to  read." 

"  But  it  is  not  here  you  should  come ;  our  school  is  for  girls. 
Go  to  the  brothers." 

"  The  brothers  sent  us  from  their  door,  because,  they  said,  we 
were  blackguards." 

"  And  you  come  to  us  ? " 

"  Yes,  because  it  is  not  altogether  our  fault  that  we  are  as  you 
see  us.  We  work  in  the  wall-paper  factories  ;  we  have  never 
been  taught  any  thing :  but  we  are  no  worse  than  the  others,  and 
we  want  to  learn." 

"  We  can't  take  you  with  the  girls." 

"  We  can  only  come  in  the  evening,  after  our  day's  work  ;  the 
girls  will  be  gone  when  we  come." 

"  But  it  is  impossible  to  admit  you  into  premises  reserved 
exclusively  for  girls,  and  we  have  no  other  hall." 

"  Put  us  where  you  like  ;  we  don't  want  benches  or  tables. 
We  will  sit  on  the  ground,  in  the  corridor,  or  wherever  you 
please  ;  but  give  us  some  lessons." 

The  directress  could  make  no  further  answer,  and  that  evening 
the  boys  took  their  first  lesson. 

Such  was  the  beginning :  what  has  been  the  issue  ?  Since 
1863  the  sisters  have  received  and  taught  nightly  from  three  hun- 
dred to  four  hundred  scholars.  They  go  there,  in  the.  first  instance, 
to  be  prepared  for  their  first  communion,  which  takes  place  at  the 
age  of  ten  years.  Afterwards,  they  continue  their  attendance  to 
manhood,  commonly  indeed  till  their  marriage.  The  school  is 
held  daily  from  7  to  9  P.  M.  There  is  scarcely  a  week  of  vaca- 
tion during  the  year.  The  instruction  includes  reading,  spelling, 
writing,  arithmetic,  geography,  grammar,  history,  natural  history, 
geometry,  music,  drawing,  etc.  But  it  is  not  simply  a  scholastic 
instruction,  more  or  less  complete,  which  is  given  to  these  resolute 


84  HISTORICAL  REVIEW  OF  CHILD-SAVING    WORK.      [BOOK  i. 

youths  ;  rather  it  is  sought  by  a  solid  education,  moral  as  well  as 
mental,  to  make  them  honest  men  and  good  citizens.  And  that 
end  is  largely  accomplished.  They  become  lay  missionaries,  who 
carry  with  them  the  good  word  everywhere,  —  into  the  workshop, 
the  street,  the  household.  Parents,  friends,  comrades,  have  been 
won  to  goodness  and  virtue  by  their  lessons  and  their  example. 
All  this  because,  after  having  bent  the  whole  day  over  the  work 
that  earns  for  them  honest  bread,  they  have  each  night  known  how 
to  lift  themselves  up  and  stand  erect,  by  the  labor  of  the  mind  and 
the  heart. 

Who,  after  this  recital,  will  say  that  the  French  are  a  frivo- 
lous people  ?  They  who  so  say,  or  so  think,  do  not  know  the 
French  character.  The  French  are  mercurial,  light-hearted,  gay  ; 
but  they  are  as  resolute  and  tenacious  as  other  peoples  who  are 
more  sedate  and  sombre.  A  long  face  is  not  necessary  to  a  seri- 
ous purpose  or  a  steadfast  pursuit. 


CHAPTER  XL.  —  CHILD-SAVING  WORK  IN  OTHER  COUNTRIES. 

THE  number  of  reformatory  institutions  in  'the  little  Swiss 
Republic  approaches,  I  think,  a  hundred.  A  few  of  these 
have  been  founded  by  the  cantons  ;  the  rest  by  charitable  indi- 
viduals, by  societies  of  public  utility,  or  by  religous  and  philan- 
thropic associations.  The  average  aggregate  number  of  inmates 
must  be  something  like  three  thousand,  of  whom  rather  more 
than  a  third  are  girls.  I  was  able  to  visit  personally  but  one  of 
these  establishments,  —  an  agricultural  colony  near  Berne,  con- 
ducted on  the  family  plan,  with  twelve  boys  in  each  household. 
It  appeared  to  be  well  kept  in  all  respects.  The  appearance  and 
general  tone  of  the  inmates  were  excellent ;  the  results  are  re- 
ported as  good,  few  of  the  boys  returning  to  crime. 

Belgium  has  four  principal  institutions  for  juveniles;  namely, 
two  for  criminal  youths,  and  two  for  young  vagrants  and  children 
viciously  inclined.  They  are  excellent  of  their  kind,  and  the 
results  satisfactory. 

Holland  boasts  one  of  the  model  reformatories  of  Europe, 
founded  some  twenty-five  years  ago  under  the  name  of  the 
Netherlands  Mettray,  mainly  through  the  exertions  of  Mr.  Will- 
iam H.  Suringar,  of  Amsterdam.  It  is  an  agricultural  colony 
for  the  treatment  of  vagrant  and  vicious  boys,  being  a  close 
imitation  of  the  French  Mettray.  It  is  conducted  strictly  on 
the  family  principle.  There  are  ten  houses,  each  capable  of  ac- 
commodating fifteen  boys.  The  success  here  is  extraordinary, 


PART  n.]  IN  OTHER  EUROPEAN  COUNTRIES.  85 

not  more  than  two  per  cent,  according  to  the  best  evidence,  ever 
becoming  criminals. 

The  number  of  reformatory  institutions  for  juveniles  in  Italy  is 
thirty-seven,  of  which  four  are  houses  of  correction  for  young  con- 
victs who  are  still  in  their  minority,  and  thirty-three  for  idlers, 
vagrants,  and  youths  admitted  by  paternal  request  for  correction. 
Of  this  second  class  twenty-three  are  for  the  treatment  of  boys, 
and  ten  for  that  of  girls.  They  are  entirely  private  in  their  char- 
acter, having  been  instituted  either  by  individual  benevolence  or 
charitable  associations.  They  are  of  an  educational  rather  than 
a  punitive  character,  their  discipline  not  being  so  severe  as  that 
of  the  prisons.  Government  makes  use  of  them  also  as  a  re- 
ward, a  kind  of  intermediate  establishment,  as  in  the  Crofton 
system,  gathering  into  them  those  minors  who,  having  been  over- 
taken by  penal  law,  have  shown  an  exemplary  behavior  during 
their  incarceration. 

There  are  three  reformatory  institutions  in  Denmark  on  the 
model  of  Mettray,  all  founded  by  private  benevolence  and  under 
private  management,  yet  receiving  pecuniary  aid  from  the  State. 
As  regards  education  and  training,  it  is  sought  to  approximate 
family  life  as  much  as  possible  in  the  treatment  of  the  inmates. 
The  results  have  been  satisfactory.  One  of  these  establishments 
—  that  of  Flakkebjerg — has  for  many  years  displayed  great  activ- 
ity and  won  a  signal  success  under  the  superintendence  of  Mr. 
Holier,  a  gentleman  of  the  highest  ability,  whose  merits  have  been 
recognized  both  by  the  Government  and  the  people. 

Sweden  and  Norway  are  both  entering  with  zeal  and  energy 
upon  the  organization  of  systems  of  preventive  and  reformatory 
institutions ;  but  the  work,  though  full  of  promise  and  sure  of 
large  ultimate  success,  is  still  in  its  infancy  in  those  countries, 
and  specific  results  cannot  yet  be  reported.  The  same  may  be 
said  of  Russia,  Finland,  Poland,  Austria,  Hungary,  the  semi- 
autonomous  governments  still  farther  east,  and  many  of  the 
dependencies  of  Great  Britain  in  every  part  of  the  world  ;  while 
Canada,  our  immediate  neighbor  on  the  north,  is  well  advanced  in 
the  work,  and  has  gathered  many  laurels  on  this  field. 

On  a  survey  of  the  whole  field  thus  rapidly  traced,  we  can  but 
exclaim,  How  vast,  how  noble,  how  sublime,  and  best  and  most 
inspiring  of  all,  how  pre-eminently  hopeful  is  this  work !  This  is 
the  true  u  land  of  promise  "  in  which  to  labor  for  the  diminution 
and  the  extinction  of  crime.  And  if  charity  and  patriotism,  phil- 
anthropy and  statesmanship,  will  but  enter  and  possess  the  land, 
the  prison  itself  shall  one  day  become  little  more  than  a  thing  of 
the  past ;  and  the  world  will  wonder  at  the  blindness  and  folly 
which  delayed  through  weary  ages  "  a  consummation  devoutly  to 
be  wished." 


Second 

THE  UNITED   STATES. 


PART   FIRST. 

UNITED    STATES  IN  GENERAL. 

CHAPTER  I.  —  SPECIAL  RELATION  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 
GOVERNMENT  TO  PRISON  WORK. 

THE  United  States  differs  from  most  other  civilized  countries, 
whether  in  Europe  or  elsewhere,  in  this,  that  as  a  nation 
it  is  composed  of  a  large  number  of  individual  States,  possessing 
each  a  subordinate  and  limited  sovereignty.  Consequently  the 
functions  of  administration  are  divided,  —  sometimes  dubiously, 
more  commonly  sharply,  —  between  the  national  government  and 
the  State  governments.  Legislation  is  similarly  divided  between 
these  two  powers,  or  rather  classes  of  powers.  Thus,  questions  of 
war  and  peace,  of  the  army  and  navy,  of  commerce,  impost  duties, 
the  mails,  and  many  other  branches  of  legislation  and  administra- 
tion belong  exclusively  to  the  jurisdiction  of  the  national  govern- 
ment. Questions  of  education  and  public  punishment  belong 
mainly  to  the  States,  —  mainly,  but  not  exclusively.  The  na- 
tional government  has,  in  repeated  instances,  made  grants  of  the 
public  lands  in  aid  of  popular  education.  It  has  its  own  military 
and  naval  academies.  It  might  unquestionably,  if  it  saw  fit, 
found  and  maintain  a  national  university  for  purposes  of  general 
education.  In  like  manner  it  has  criminal  laws  and  courts  and 
prisoners  of  its  own,  —  these  latter  having  broken  its  laws  and 
been  convicted  and  sentenced  by  its  courts  in  contradistinction 
from  prisoners  who  have  violated  State  laws  and  have  been  ar- 
raigned, tried,  and  condemned  by  State  courts.  Still  it  remains 
true  that  the  interests  of  education  and  of  public  morality  and 
social  order  are  confided  largely,  — almost  wholly,  indeed,  —  to 
the  States. 

I  have  said  that  the  national  government  has  its  own  criminal 
laws,  its  own  courts  with  criminal  jurisdiction,  and  its  convicts 
sentenced  to  punishment  under  those  laws  and  by  those  tribunals. 


88  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  11. 

It  ought  to  follow,  —  it  would  naturally  follow, —  that  it  should 
have  its  own  prisons  ;  but  it  has  not.  It  is  compelled  to  sentence 
its  prisoners  for  punishment  to  the  penitentiaries  of  the  States  in 
which  they  happen  to  have  had  their  trial ;  at  least  such  is  the 
general  practice.  It  has  no  control,  no  voice,  no  influence  over 
the  discipline  of  the  prisons  to  which  they  have  been  committed. 
That  discipline  may  be  cruelly  severe  or  unwisely  lenient  ;  it 
may  make  its  subjects  worse  instead  of  better;  it  may  send  them 
out  more  depraved  and  hardened  than  when  they  entered,  and 
more  certain  to  continue  their  evil  courses.  But  the  Government 
has  not  a  word  to  say ;  it  cannot  lift  a  finger ;  it  cannot  exert  a 
single  counteracting  force  ;  it  can  only  sit  silent  and  let  the  work 
of  corruption  go  on. 

The  origin  of  this  anomaly  —  for  it  is  an  anomaly,  and  a  very 
grave  one  —  may  be  easily  explained.  It  had  its  root  in  necessity. 
When  the  Colonies  separated  from  the  mother  country  and  be- 
came an  independent  nation,  the  population  was  small  and  scat- 
tered, distances  were  great,  transportation  was  difficult,  tedious, 
and  costly,  and  United  States  prisoners  few,  —  not  enough, 
probably,  in  the  whole  country  to  fill  a  moderate-sized  peni- 
tentiary. So  that  it  was  quite  out  of  the  question  to  have  na- 
tional prisons  then ;  and  the  imprisonment  of  United  States 
prisoners  in  State  institutions  was  compulsory. 

But  the  case  is  different  now.  The  number  of  United  States 
prisoners  is  sufficient  to  fill  three  or  four  penitentiaries  as  large  as 
would  be  desirable  for  the  best  treatment ;  population  is  dense,  and 
transportation  rapid,  cheap,  and  easy.  The  question  is,  Is  it  wise 
to  continue  the  old  plan  ?  Is  it  right  ?  Is  it  good  statesman- 
ship ?  ,  Has  the  national  government  no  responsibility  in  regard 
to  these  men  whom  it  has  convicted  of  crime  ?  Is  their  salvation 
a  matter  in  which  it  has  no  concern,  no  interest,  no  duty  ?  Is  it 
not  bound,  in  honor  and  conscience,  to  try  to  reform  them  and 
send  them  back  to  society  regenerated  in  purpose  and  in  life, 
with  the  will  and  the  power  to  eat  bread  earned  by  honest  toil  ? 
If  it  has  any  duty  in  reference  to  these  men,  can  the  obligation 
be  discharged  by  sending  them  it  knows  not  whither  ;  by  com- 
mitting them  to  it  knows  not  whom  ;  by  subjecting  them  to  a 
treatment  which  it  has  no  power  to  control,  and  to  influences  in 
regard  to  which  it  does  not  even  know  whether  they  are  good  or 
bad,  salutary  or  pernicious,  and  likely  to  save  or  to  destroy  ? 

My  own  opinion  is  that  a  change  may  be,  ought  to  be,  and 
must  be  made.  At  present  United  States  convicts  are  treated  in 
some  prisons  with  undue  severity ;  in  others  with  undue  lenity, 
— both  extremes  being  equally  opposed  to  the  true  ends  of  prison 
discipline ;  while  in  all,  though  their  reformation  may  not  be 
wholly  ignored,  there  is  a  lack  of  the  best  and  wisest  means  to 
that  end.  The  logic  of  such  a  state  of  things  is  the  creation  of 


PART  i.]         PRISON  WORK  IN  THE   UNITED  STA  TES.  89 

United  States  prisons  for  United  States  prisoners.  The  argu- 
ment for  this  policy  rests  on  the  double  ground  of  duty  and 
interest. 

I  look  upon  it  as  the  duty  of  the  Government  to  care  for  its  own 
convicts,  because,  having  a  responsibility  in  relation  to  them  that 
can  be  met  only  by  honest  efforts  to  change  their  character  and 
life,  it  cannot  properly  transfer  that  responsibility  to  another 
power  (the  States),  over  whose  action  it  has,  quoad  hoc,  no  con- 
trol. Such  responsibility  must,  of  necessity,  attach  itself  directly 
to  the  power  which  punishes,  and  cannot  rightfully  be  passed 
over  to  another  in  respect  to  which  it  is  itself  an  alien. 

I  look  upon  it  as  the  interest  of  the  Government  to  have  its  own 
penitentiaries,  because  the  large  sums  now  spent  upon  their  keep, 
—  not  certainly  less  and  probably  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  million 
dollars  annually,  —  might  thus  all  be  saved.  Let  me  adduce  one 
or  two  facts  to  show  that  this  is  not  an  extravagant  statement. 
Mr.  Z.  R.  Brockway  organized  and  for  ten  years  managed  the 
Detroit  House  of  Correction.  With  an  average  population  of  four 
hundred  prisoners  and  an  average  imprisonment  of  one  hundred 
days,  the  prison  labor  paid  all  expenses  and  netted  an  aggregate 
profit  of  more  than  one  hundred  thousand  dollars.  With  an 
average  prison  population  of  three  hundred  and  fifty  and  an  av- 
erage detention  of  sixty-eight  days,  the  Allegheny  County  house 
of  correction,  in  Pennsylvania,  in  1873,  under  Mr.  Henry  Cordier, 
paid  its  expenses,  including  salaries  of  officials,  and  earned  a  clear 
profit  of  fourteen  thousand  dollars.  And  the  same  institution,  in 
1878,  with  an  average  of  five  hundred  and  thirty-seven  inmates, 
under  Mr.  J.  L.  Kennedy,  paid  its  way  as  before,  and  cleared  as 
net  profits  the  sum  of  twenty  thousand  dollars  in  cash.  The  late 
General  Pilsbury,  in  some  forty  years'  service  as  head  of  two  differ- 
ent prisons,  not  only  made  them  self-supporting,  but  so  managed 
the  labor  as  to  aggregate  more  than  three  hundred  thousand  dollars 
of  net  gain.  General  Pilsbury's  son,  Mr.  L.  D.  Pilsbury,  Super- 
intendent of  Prisons  in  the  State  of  New  York,  so  changed  the 
balance-sheet  of  Sing-Sing  Prison  in  less  than  two  years  of  his 
administration  that,  from  a  previous  annual  deficiency  running 
up  into  hundreds  of  thousands,  last  year  (1878)  it  showed  a 
net  profit  of  nearly  fifty  thousand  dollars.  And  to-day,  Auburn 
Prison,  from  being  largely  deficient  heretofore,  is  earning  a  profit 
at  the  rate  of  more  than  twenty  thousand  dollars  a  year.  Nor 
are  these  isolated  examples  of  financial  success  in  the  manage- 
ment of  American  prisons.  Something  like  twenty  of  the  larger 
prisons  of  the  United  States,  including  State-prisons  and  houses 
of  correction,  are  while  I  write  more  than  paying  their  way,  —  sal- 
aries of  officers  as  well  as  the  keep  and  clothing  of  the  prisoners 
included.  But  I  must  not  be  understood  from  these  statements 
as  favoring  any  sacrifice  of  moral  to  pecuniary  results  in  prison 


90  STATE   OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  n. 

management.  Still  I  am  thoroughly  convinced  that,  other  things 
being  equal,  those  prisons  will  be  most  reformatory  where  the 
labor  is  most  productive. 

How,  indeed,  could  it  well  be  otherwise  ?  For,  when  prisoners 
see  that  they  earn  their  own  living  in  prison,  what  more  natural 
than  that  they  should  infer  their  ability  to  support  themselves  by 
their  own  labor  outside  ?  As  confirmatory  of  tliis,  let  me  cite  a 
little  anecdote  related  in  one  of  his  annual  reports,  by  Mr.  Tallack, 
Secretary  of  the  Howard  Association  in  London.  A  prisoner  in 
Coldbath  Fields  Prison  had  served  out  his  time  and  was  about  to 
be  discharged.  On  appearing  before  the  governor  of  the  prison, 
the  latter  said  to  him,  "  Well,  my  man,  you  have  paid  your  keep 
and  earned  a  handsome  sum  for  the  prison  since  you  have  been 
here."  "  Is  that  so  ? "  asked  the  convict.  "  It  is,"  replied  the 
governor.  "Well,  then,"  promptly  responded  the  prisoner,  "you 
will  never  see  me  here  again." 


CHAPTER  II.  —  EARLY  HISTORY  OF  CELLULAR  AND  ASSOCIATED 

IMPRISONMENT. 

IN  studying  the  state  of  prisons  in  the  United  States,  it  must 
be  remembered,  then,  that  the  republic  is  composed  of  thirty- 
eight  separate  States,  with  local  self-government,  and  a  dozen 
organized  dependencies,  called  Territories,  not  yet  elevated  to  the 
rank  of  States  ;  that  these  fifty  jurisdictions  are,  in  matters  of 
crime  and  punishment,  independent  of  each  other,  and  very  little, 
if  at  all,  controlled  by  the  national  government ;  that  they  vary  in 
age,  from  Virginia,  New  York,  and  Massachusetts  —  which  have 
been  inhabited  by  the  Indo-European  races  for  more  than  two 
centuries  and  a  half  —  to  the  new  territories  of  Dakota  and  Mon- 
tana, which  ten  years  ago  were  occupied  only  by  roving  savage 
tribes  ;  and  that,  consequently,  almost  every  variety  of  social  con- 
dition prevails  in  this  vast  area,  larger  than  half  of  Europe,  and 
more  populous  at  this  moment  than  any  European  nation,  except 
Russia. 

As  a  nation,  the  United  States  has  existed  for  more  than  a  cen- 
tury, the  separation  of  the  colonies  from  the  British  empire  being 
coeval  with  the  first  improvement  of  prisons,  resulting  from  the 
labors  of  John  Howard.  Consequently,  the  prison  system  of 
America,  like  all  the  modern  systems,  dates  no  further  back  than 
1787,  when  the  first  organized  effort  to  improve  prison  discipline 
in  the  United  States  was  made  by  the  Pennsylvania  "  Society  for 
Alleviating  the  Miseries  of  Public  Prisons,"  of  which  Dr.  Franklin 


PART  i.]          CELLULAR  AND  ASSOCIATED  IMPRISONMENT.  91 

was  one  of  the  founders.  The  national  government,  as  now  estab- 
lished by  the  constitution  of  1787,  dates  from  the  same  year;  but 
it  has  never  much  concerned  itself,  as  a  government,  with  the 
prison  system  of  the  country,  its  first  step  in  that  direction  being 
the  appointment  of  the  author  of  this  book,  in  1871,  as  a  commis- 
sioner to  organize  the  international  prison  congress  of  London. 
Whatever  has  been  done,  therefore,  has  been  the  work  of  the  sep- 
arate States  of  the  Union,- and  almost  wholly  within  the  present 
century.  The  oldest  penitentiary  is  probably  that  just  abandoned 
at  Charlestown,  near  Boston,  which  was  commenced  in  1800,  be- 
gan to  receive  convicts  in  1805,  and  was  given  up  as  a  State-prison 
May  20,  1878.  Among  the  county  jails  there  are  probably  a  few 
older  than  the  date  named  ;  but  the  greater  number,  both  of  State 
and  county  prisons,  have  been  built  since  the  beginning  of  the 
controversy  between  the  advocates  of  the  cellular  or  Pennsylvania 
system -and  the  congregate  or  Auburn  system  of  convict  treat- 
ment. This  controversy,  which  began  in  America  about  sixty 
years  ago,  took  a  concrete  and  practical  form  with  the  opening  of 
the  Auburn  and  Sing-Sing  penitentiaries  in  the  State  of  New 
York,  built  on  the  congregate  plan,  with  separation  at  night  in 
single  cells,  and  of  the  two  penitentiaries  of  Pennsylvania,  at 
Philadelphia  and  at  Pittsburg,  built  on  the  separate  plan,  with 
cellular  imprisonment  day  and  night  for  each  convict. 

These  four  prisons,  and  the  remodelled  Charlestown  prison  con- 
structed on  the  Auburn  plan,  had  all  been  opened  in  1830,  and 
were  visited  a  few  years  later  by  the  French  commissioners,  MM. 
de  Beaumont  and  de  Tocqueville.  At  that  period,  —  forty-six 
years  ago,  —  and  for  fifteen  or  twenty  years  afterwards,  it  was  an 
open  question  in  the  United  States  whether  the  Pennsylvania  or 
Auburn  plan  of  construction  and  management  should  be  followed  ; 
but  such  is  no  longer  the  case.  The  States,  like  Rhode  Island, 
New  Jersey,  Maine,  and  possibly  some  others,  which  had  partially 
adopted  the  Pennsylvania  system,  have  now  all  gone  over  to  the 
Auburn  plan  ;  the  new  States,  of  which  a  dozen  have  been  created 
since  1835,  have  all  adopted  the  Auburn  plan  ;  and  even  in  Penn- 
sylvania, as  we  have  seen,  the  cellular  system  has  been  abandoned 
in  one  of  the  two  State  penitentiaries,  and  in  many  of  the  county 
prisons.  At  the  present  time,  there  is  but  one  State-prison  man- 
aged on  the  cellular  system,  —  the  eastern  penitentiary  at  Philadel- 
phia,—  which  contained  on  the  1st  of  January,  1878,  one  thousand 
one  hundred  and  six  convicts,  out  of  an  estimated  total  of  thirty 
thousand  convicts  of  the  same  grade  for  the  whole  country.  That 
is  to  say,  less  than  four  per  cent  of  the  long-sentenced  convicts  of 
the  United  States  are  now  confined  in  cellular  prisons  ;  the  other 
ninety-six  per  cent  being  confined  in  congregate  prisons,  managed 
more  or  less  strictly  on  the  Auburn  plan.  Of  the  county,  district, 
and  municipal  or  city  prisons,  containing  persons  waiting  trial 


92  STATE   OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  n 

and  convicts  sentenced  for  minor  offences,  the  proportion  managed 
on  the  cellular  system  is  still  smaller.  The  State  of  Pennsylvania 
alone  has  a  few  cellular  prisons  of  this  grade,  and  the  number  of 
their  inmates  on  the  1st  of  January,  1878,  did  not  probably  exceed 
one  thousand  ;  while  in  the  rest  of  Pennsylvania,  and  in  the  other 
States  and  territories,  the  number  of  prisoners  of  the  minor  grades, 
exclusive  of  juvenile  delinquents  in  reformatories,  was  probably 
not  far  from  thirty  thousand  at  that  time.  This  would  give  a  little 
less  than  four  per  cent  of  the  whole  number  confined  in  cellular 
prisons  ;  and  this  percentage,  say  one-thirtieth  of  all,  probably 
would  hold  good  for  the  number  of  prisoners  of  all  grades  in  the 
United  States  confined  in  cellular  prisons,  —  the  estimated  whole 
number  in  confinement  on  Jan.  I,  1878,  being  about  sixty  thousand. 
It  should  be  stated  here,  however,  that  the  current  of  public  opin- 
ion, among  men  who  study  this  question,  sets  strongly  in  the  direc- 
tion of  cellular  separation  for  prisoners  waiting  trial,  and  for  those 
sentenced  for  short  terms. 


CHAPTER  III.  —  DIFFERENT  CLASSES  OF  PRISONS. 

IT  is  evident,  then,  that  the  system  of  association,  as  opposed 
to  that  of  separation,  prevails  in  the  United  States ;  the 
relative  proportion  of  prisoners  under  the  two  systems  being  as 
ninety-six  to  four  in  every  hundred.  In  regard  to  the  classification 
of  prisons  in  other  respects,  the  broad  distinctions  are  :  State- 
prisons,  houses  of  correction,  county  jails,  and  lock-ups,  station 
houses,  or  city  prisons.  States  are  the  federal  units  of  the  Amer- 
ican Republic,  and  of  these  there  are  thirty-eight ;  but  the  units  of 
each  State  are  the  counties,  numbering,  in  the  whole  country,  about 
two  thousand  one  hundred.  In  each  of  these  counties  there  is,  or 
may  be,  a  county  jail,  and  in  a  few  of  them  there  are  two,  three,  or 
even  four.  In  the  thirty-eight  States  there  are  forty-five  State- 
prisons.  These  correspond  in  general  character  and  design  to 
the  convict  or  central  prisons  of  Europe,  and  are  intended  for  the 
treatment  of  persons  convicted  of  the  graver  offences.  The  dis- 
trict prisons,  or  houses  of  correction,  intermediate  between  the 
State  and  county  prisons,  and  bearing  different  names  in  different 
States,  are  not  numerous.  In  Massachusetts  there  is  a  house  of 
correction,  in  addition  to  the  jail,  in  every  county,  —  fourteen  in 
all ;  in  all  the  other  States,  together,  the  number  is  not  above 
eighteen  or  twenty.  By  an  approximate  estimate,  the  average 
number  of  inmates  in  all  these  establishments  will  not  vary  much 
from  eight  thousand,  and  is  more  likely  to  be  above  than  be- 


PART  i.]  VALUE   OF  PROPERTY,  ETC.  93 

low  that  figure.  Their  character  and  functions  are  substantially 
the  same,  wherever  found.  They  are  prisons  intended  for  the 
treatment  of  persons  found  guilty  of  the  lighter  rather  than  the 
graver  offences.  The  county  jails  are  intended  mainly  for  the  safe- 
keeping of  prisoners  awaiting  trial,  but  they  serve  also  for  the 
punishment  of  persons  convicted  of  minor  offences  and  sentenced 
to  short  terms  of  detention.  The  lock-ups  are  in  general  petty 
prisons,  in  which  persons  arrested  on  a  charge  or  suspicion  of 
crime  are  kept  for  a  night  or  a  few  hours  —  hardly  ever  exceeding 
twenty-four,  and  generally  less  —  until  they  can  be  taken  before  a 
magistrate  for  examination.  These  four  classes  —  city,  county, 
district,  and  State  prisons  —  include  all  places  for  the  confinement 
of  criminals  and  persons  charged  with  crime  in  the  United  States, 
except  those  for  juvenile  delinquents. 


CHAPTER  IV.  —  AGGREGATE  VALUE  OF  PROPERTY.  —  CELLS. — 
OFFICIALS.  —  SALARIES.  —  COST  AND  EARNINGS.  —  SEXES.  — 
FOREIGNERS. 

OF  the  forty-five  State-prisons  in  the  United  States,  the  aggre- 
gate value  of  real  estate  is  about  $14,000,000;  of  personal 
property,  i  2,000,000.  These  sums  are  partly  approximations,  but 
sufficiently  correct  for  practical  purposes.  They  are  made  up 
from  the  estimates  of  the  authorities  in  charge  of  the  several 
establishments. 

The  number  of  cells  and  sleeping  rooms  (reported  and  estima- 
ted) in  the  State-prisons  is  nearly  seventeen  thousand,  or  some 
three  thousand  less  than  the  number  of  prisoners.  But  of  those 
apartments  which  are  intended  for  night  occupancy,  some  are 
for  two  persons,  others  for  four ;  and  a  few  are  large  rooms 
that  will  serve  as  dormitories  for  a  considerable  number.  Their 
average  dimensions  are  eight  feet  in  length,  four  and  a  half  feet 
in  width,  and  seven  and  a  quarter  feet  in  height  ;  giving  as  the 
average  contents  of  each  a  fraction  more  than  two  hundred  and 
forty  cubic  feet.  The  smallest,  I  think,  are  those  of  Sing-Sing, 
in  New  York,  whose  contents  in  cubic  feet  are  only  one  hun- 
dred and  forty-seven  ;  not  certainly  more  than  half  the  size 
required  for  health  by  the  laws  of  hygiene,  even  under  the  most 
favorable  circumstances  ;  and  those  at  Sing-Sing  are  not  the 
most  favorable. 

The  whole  number  of  officers  and  employes  in  these  forty-five 
prisons  does  not  vary  much  either  way  from  fifteen  hundred  ;  or 
one  to  every  thirteen  and  one-third  prisoners.  The  aggregate 


94  STATE   OF  PRISONS,   ETC.  [BOOK  n. 

annual  salaries  paid  to  them  amount  to  $1,015,000,  making  an 
average  annual  salary  to  each  of  $  677.  If  this  seem  but  a  mod- 
erate stipend  for  the  service,  it  must  be  remembered  that  many, 
or  at  least  some,  of  the  employes  get  their  living  in  addition  to 
the  cash  compensation  paid  them.  Yet  giving  to  this  consider- 
ation all  the  weight  that  belongs  to  it,  it  must  be  admitted  that 
the  remuneration  paid  is  not  sufficient  to  command  the  talent 
and  qualifications  needed  for  the  service,  though  perhaps  a  full 
equivalent  for  the  capacity  actually  possessed  and  the  work  actu- 
ally done. 

The  total  annual  cost  of  the  State-prisons  of  the  country  for 
ordinary  current  expenses,  including  salaries  of  officials,  foots  up 
in  the  sum  of  $3,000,000,  or  thereabout ;  being  an  average  for 
each  prison  of  a  little  more  than  $650,000.  This  must  be  con- 
sidered a  very  large  expenditure,  when  it  is  remembered  that 
the  interest  on  the  property  is  not  included.  The  aggregate  an- 
nual earnings  from  labor  of  all  these  prisons  amount  to  about 
$1,500,000,  thereby  meeting  a  full  moiety  of  the  annual  cost. 
Seventeen  of  the  State-prisons  are  self-supporting,  or  very  nearly 
so,  from  the  labor  of  the  inmates,  and  some  of  them  have  a  con- 
siderable excess  of  earnings  over  expenditures.  In  like  manner 
seven  of  the  correctional  prisons,  in  which  misdemeanants  are 
confined  with  comparatively  short  sentences,  pay  their  way  from 
the  labor  of  their  inmates,  some  of  them  even  earning  a  hand- 
some surplus. 

In  a  considerable  number  of  the  Southern  States  what  is  called 
the  lease  system  of  labor  prevails,  whereby  the  prisons  are  made 
to  pay  their  way.  These  prisons  are  not  included  in  the  forego- 
ing statement.  This  system  will  be  explained  further  on,  and  the 
objections  to  it  set  forth. 

As  regards  the  sexes,  not  more  than  one  in  six  of  the  State- 
prison  population  of  the  whole  United  States  are  women.  The 
proportion  varies  a  good  deal  in  different  States,  but  the  above 
statement  is  correct  as  to  the  average.  In  the  county  jails  and 
houses  of  correction  the  proportion  of  women  is  larger. 

The  ratio  of  foreigners  to  Americans  in  our  State-prisons  is 
out  of  all  proportion  to  that  which  exists  between  the  total  popu- 
lation of  foreign-born  and  native-born  inhabitants.  The  foreign- 
born  population  cannot  exceed  twelve  per  cent  of  the  entire 
population,  while  it  constitutes  twenty-five  per  cent  of  the  prison 
population,  even  when  we  take  the  whole  country  into  the 
account.  In  the  eastern,  middle,  and  western  States,  the  propor- 
tion of  foreign  to  native-born  convicts  is  much  larger,  rising  in 
some  of  them  to  a  full  moiety ;  and  if  the  children  of  the  former 
are  counted  in  with  their  parents,  the  ratio  is  considerably  aug- 
mented. This  statement  is  not  meant  to  convey,  and  does  not 
convey,  any  reproach  to  the  people  of  other  lands,  as  if  they 


PARTI.]  VICIOUS  ORGANIZATION.  95 

were  less  virtuous  or  less  moral  than  our  own  ;  for  as  misery 
drove  multitudes  of  these  immigrants  to  our  own  shores,  so  it 
drives  numbers  of  them  into  crime  after  they  get  here.  In  the 
Southern  States  a  vast  majority,  probably  three-fourths  on  an 
average,  of  all  the  prisoners  are  of  the  African  race.  But  they 
are  often  sentenced  to  State-prison  for  crimes  of  a  very  trivial 
character,  —  such  as  larcenies  of  almost  infinitesimal  proportions, 
even  of  a  couple  of  fence-rails. 


CHAPTER  V.  —  Vicious  ORGANIZATION. 

THE  national  government,  as  already  stated,  has  no  prisons 
of  its  own,  and  of  course  has  nothing  to  do  with  prison  ad- 
ministration except  in  the  territories,  which  are  under  its  immedi- 
ate jurisdiction.  None  of  the  individual  States,  except  Maine  and 
Rhode  Island,  has  any  central  board  or  bureau  clothed  with  gen- 
eral powers  to  govern  all  its  prisons,  although  within  the  last  ten 
years  a  strong  tendency  has  been  developed  by  a  portion  of  them 
in  that  direction.  In  eight  or  ten  of  the  States  bureaus  exist, 
under  the  name  of  Boards  of  Public  Charities,  charged  with  the 
duty  of  visiting,  examining,  and  inspecting  the  prisons,  but  hav- 
ing no  authority  to  regulate  their  management  or  appoint  their 
officers.  As  a  general  rule,  the  State  manages  its  State-prisons, 
the  city  its  municipal  prisons,  and  the  county  its  local  prisons. 
The  houses  of  correction  are  generally,  except  in  Massachusetts, 
created  by  special  acts  and  managed  by  special  boards. 

The  chief  defects  of  this  disorganized  condition  of  prison 
management  spring  from  a  mutual  ignorance  of  the  condition 
and  working  of  prisons  that  should  co-operate  with  each  other ; 
and  one  great  advantage  derived  from  the  meeting  of  the  Amer- 
ican prison  congresses  has  been  a  better  acquaintance  of  prison 
managers  with  one  another,  and  a  wider  knowledge  of  the  prisons 
in  their  own  and  other  States.  In  general,  the  results  of  prison 
discipline  depend  wholly  on  the  management  of  each  individual 
prison,  and  have  no  reference  at  all,  or  a  very  slight  one,  to  any 
comprehensive  State  system  ;  for  none  such  exists  in  America. 

There  are,  perhaps,  one  thousand  prisons  in  the  United  States 
large  enough  to  have  the  word  "discipline"  applied  to  their  man- 
agement ;  and  in  these  every  variety  of  discipline,  lack  of  disci- 
pline, and  abuse  of  discipline  is  found.  In  a  great  many  nothing 
is  sought  for  but  the  security  of  the  prisoner  and  the  convenience 
of  the  prison-keeper  ;  in  many  others  the  discipline  is  u  intended 
mainly  to  be  deterrent,"  but  through  laxity  or  severity  becomes  a 


96  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  n. 

stimulus  to  crime  ;  in  some  it  is  really  deterrent,  to  a  greater  or 
less  degree,  without  being  reformatory  in  aim  or  result ;  in  a 
great  many  the  nominal  aim  is  reformation,  but  the  reasonable 
means  thereto  are  neglected  ;  in  a  few,  the  wise  combination 
of  deterrent  and  reformatory  means  is  attempted,  and  suc- 
ceeds in  either  direction,  or  in  both,  according  to  the  skill, 
opportunity,  and  perseverance  of  the  prison  government.  But 
the  majority  of  prisons  in  the  United  States  are  in  fact  neither 
deterrent  nor  reformatory  to  any  great  extent.  The  deterrent 
agencies  are  solitude,  silence,  coarse  fare,  and  constant  labor  ; 
sometimes  also  severe  disciplinary  punishments  are  employed. 
The  reformatory  agencies  are  instruction,  literary  and  religious, 
industrial  training,  the  encouragement  of  shortened  sentences  for 
good  conduct,  etc.  By  some  of  these  means  "  it  is  sought  to  plant 
hope  in  the  breast  of  the  prisoner  and  keep  it  there ; "  and  to 
these  are  added  gratuities  for  work,  the  visits  of  philanthropic 
persons  and  of  the  prisoner's  own  family,  and  the  promise  of  help 
in  leading  an  honest  life  on  his  discharge.  Conditional  pardon, 
which  enters ,so  largely  into  the  Irish  or  Crofton  convict  system, 
has  little  place  in  ours,  the  "  commutation  laws,"  by  which  sen- 
tences are  shortened  for  good  behavior,  being  almost  the  only 
feature  of  that  system  much  in  use  among  us,  and  that  not  very 
systematically.  In  several  of  our  best  managed  prisons,  however, 
the  mark  system  has  lately  been  introduced  with  good  effect ; 
notably  in  the  State  reformatory  prison  for  young  men  who  have 
been  committed  for  a  first  offence,  at  Elmira,  New  York.  This 
prison  is  under  the  direction  of  one  of  our  ablest  prison  governors, 
Mr.  Z.  R.  Brockway,  who  is  a  thorough-paced  believer  in  the 
principle  of  indeterminate  sentences. 


CHAPTER  VI.  —  PUBLIC  OPINION  BECOMING  MORE  ENLIGHTENED. 

1VTOTWITHSTANDING  what  has  been  said  in  the  preceding 
-L^l  chapter,  it  would  be  unjust  not  to  admit  and  impossible 
not  to  rejoice  in  the  fact,  that  within  the  last  ten  or  fifteen  years 
there  has  been  a  change  in  public  opinion,  and  especially  in  the 
sentiments  and  practice  of  prison  officers,  in  favor  of  giving 
the  reformation  of  criminals  a  more  prominent  place  in  the  aim 
and  effort  of  prison  administration  and  prison  discipline.  No 
doubt,  taking  the  whole  country  together,  there  are  far  too  many 
prisons  (if  there  were  but  one,  it  would  be  too  many)  in  which 
scarcely  a  thought  is  given  to  the  moral  regeneration  of  the 
prisoners.  Nevertheless,  there  is  a  goodly  number  in  which  the 


PART  i.]         PUBLIC  OPINION  BECOMING  ENLIGHTENED.  97 

wardens,  aided  more  or  less  by  their  subordinates,  labor  honestly 
to  this  end  ;  and  with  a  degree  of  success  sufficient  to  stimulate 
activity,  and  to  hold  out  the  hope  of  gratifying  results  when  all 
things  shall  concur  to  favor,  as  nearly  all  things  now  concur  to 
hinder,  such  a  work. 

But  at  no  one  point  have  the  aim  and  effort  here  referred  to 
taken  on  so  definite  and  practical  a  form  as  in  the  State  industrial 
reformatory  at  Elmira,  New  York,  under  the  care  of  Mr.  Brockway. 
This  is  a  felon  prison,  though  not  under  that  name,  intended  for 
young  criminals  between  the  ages  of  sixteen  and  thirty,  com- 
mitted for  a  first  State-prison  offence.  Within  certain  limits,  and 
those  by  no  means  narrow,  the  principle  of  indefinite  or  reforma- 
tion sentences  is  being  worked  out  in  that  establishment.  Every 
person  sentenced  to  the  reformatory  may  on  the  one  hand  be 
held,  if  the  managers  so  determine,  to  the  expiration  of  the 
maximum  term  fixed  by  law  for  the  crime  of  which  he  was  con- 
victed ;  and  on  the  other  hand  may  be  released,  conditionally  or 
unconditionally,  whenever  the  authorities,  believing  him  in  the 
exercise  of  their  best  judgment  to  have  been  reformed,  shall  deem 
it  safe  and  wise  so  to  do.  Thus  a  person  convicted  of  grand 
larceny  or  of  burglary  in  the  third  degree,  ordinarily  sentenced 
for  one  or  two  years,  may  be  detained  in  the  State  reformatory 
(which  is  not  even  called  a  prison  in  the  Act  creating  it)  for  five 
years,  —  or,  if  his  improvement  is  thought  to  warrant  it,  may  be 
released  at  any  time  before  that ;  and  the  managers  have  author- 
ity to  appoint  agents  in  different  parts  of  the  State  to  keep  kindly 
watch  over  prisoners  out  on  parole,  —  that  is,  on  ticket-of-leave. 

This  institution  has  been  in  operation  two  years.  Now,  what 
has  been  its  outcome,  or  rather  what  is  its  promise?  —  for  results 
it  can  hardly  yet  have  had  ;  it  is  too  soon  to  expect  them. 

Every  convict  received  into  the  reformatory  is  charged  with 
nine  marks  for  every  month  of  time  for  which  the  court  (under 
the  old  law)  might  have  sentenced  him,  less  the  possible  abate- 
ment for  good  conduct  he  might  gain  under  such  sentence. 
Thus,  if  he  had  been  sentenced  for  five  years,  the  possible  abate- 
ment (seventeen  months)  would  leave  him  three  years  and  seven 
months  —  or  forty-three  months  —  to  serve.  Such  a  man  would  be 
charged  under  this  mark  system,  therefore,  with  43X9=387 
marks  ;  so  that  by  maintaining  perfect  conduct  (earning  thus 
nine  marks  per  month),  he  would  be  released  at  the  same  time  as 
though  sentenced  for  the  longest  term  possible  under  the  old  law. 
But  the  government  of  the  reformatory  may  release  him  uncondi- 
tionally at  any  time,  or  grant  a  parole  (ticket-of-leave)  instead 
of  a  release ;  and  for  this  purpose  the  record  of  each  man  is 
reviewed  by  the  managers  every  six  months,  when  the  prisoners 
may  be  encouraged  by  a  gratuitous  credit  of  any  number  of 
marks,  or  in  case  of  misconduct  or  bad  development  any  amount 

7 


98  STATE   OF  PRISONS,   ETC.  [BooK  n. 

of  previous  credits  may  be  cancelled.  Each  prisoner  has  a  mem- 
orandum book  containing  a  printed  explanation  of  the  mark  sys- 
tem and  of  the  grades, —  also  showing  the  standing  of  his  account 
on  the  first  of  every  month,  or  oftener  if  he  desires  it. 

The  prisoners  are  divided  into  three  classes.  They  are  separ- 
ated at  night,  each  prisoner  in  all  the  classes  sleeping  in  his  own 
cell ;  but  the  necessities  of  the  school  and  of  the  industries  bring 
them  together  during  the  hours  of  instruction  and  labor. 

Meagrely  furnished  rooms,  coarse  gray  clothing,  the  plainest 
prison-fare  served  in  the  cells,  a  strict  prison-discipline,  no  cor- 
respondence with  relatives  or  friends,  liability  to  confinement  in 
seclusion,  and  possible  transfer  to  the  State-prison,  are  incidents 
attached  to  the  third-class  prisoners. 

Larger  and  better  furnished  rooms,  better  clothing,  better  food 
served  at  common  tables,  the  privilege  of  school  instruction,  of 
attending  the  lecture  course,  etc.,  are  the  increased  advantages 
accorded  to  those  in  the  second  class. 

The  first  class  have  an  entirely  separate  part  of  the  reforma- 
tory assigned  to  their  occupancy,  with  a  separate  dining-hall  and 
improved  dietary;  they  are  also  f  allowed  freer  correspondence 
with  relatives  and  approved  friend's  and  with  each  other,  admis- 
sion to  the  reading-rooms,  and  special  opportunities  for  oral 
instruction.  These  men  are  employed  in  responsible  and  some- 
times semi-official  positions  in  the  institution,  and  from  this  class 
alone  are  men  paroled  or  released. 

The  standard  of  conduct  entitling  prisoners  to  promotion  from 
one  class  to  another  must  not  only  be  satisfactory  as  relates  to 
good  order  and  the  discipline  of  the  reformatory  generally,  but 
must  also  be  such  as  to  induce  habits  opposed  to  those  of  the  crim- 
inal cast  of  character.  Therefore  it  is  made  to  embrace  the  general 
demeanor  in  its  moral,  social,  and  economic  features  ;  the  indus- 
trious habit,  viewed  either  as  forced,  urged,  or  voluntarily  diligent ; 
the  degree  of  effective  results ;  also  the  interest  shown  in  books 
and  study,  together  with  the  progress  in  education  actually  made. 
Moreover,  in  finally  determining  the  question  of  release,  the  im- 
pressions of  the  officials  who  are  brought  constantly  into  contact 
with  the  prisoners  are  sought,  in  addition  to  an  examination  of 
the  records  and  the  personal  observation  and  investigation  by  the 
managers. 

There  are  indubitable  indications  that  the  system  is  based  on 
the  right  foundation, — one  of  the  most  satisfactory  of  which 
proofs  is  found  in  the  hearty  accord  of  the  prisoners  with  the 
administration  as  regards  the  plans  and  purposes  relating  to 
them  and  their  welfare. 

There  is  an  evening  school,  maintained  for  recitations  only, 
on  two  evenings  of  each  week ;  a  normal  class  for  the  prisoner- 
teachers,  and  a  writing  class  for  those  unable  to  write  legibly, 


PART  i.]  MORAL  FORCES  REPLACING  PHYSICAL.  99 

on  another  evening.  The  reading-room  is  open  two  evenings 
each  week,  and  two  evenings  are  devoted  to  quiet  study  in  the 
separate  rooms,  in  each  of  which  gas  is  supplied.  A  regular 
course  of  instructive  Saturday  lectures  is  maintained,  and  both 
Protestant  and  Roman  Catholic  religious  services  are  regularly 
conducted  on  the  Sabbath.  Thus,  it  will  be  observed,  the  whole 
time  of  every  man,  except  for  necessary  hours  of  rest,  is  fully 
occupied  with  industrial  labor,  or  study,  or  recitation,  or  writing, 
or  useful  reading. 


CHAPTER   VII.  —  MORAL   FORCES  REPLACING  PHYSICAL  FORCE. 

IT  is  gratifying  to  be  able  to  state,  that  in  the  maintenance  of 
order  and  discipline  in  American  prisons  increasing  reli- 
ance is  placed  on  moral  forces,  while  physical  force  is  coming 
into  a  diminished  esteem  and  use.  But  the  lash  still  maintains 
its  place  in  some  prisons.  Let  it  be  banished  in  secula  seculorum. 
Recourse  is  now  seldom  had  to  scourging  in  the  great  prisons  of 
Europe ;  and  wherever  it  has  been  discontinued,  the  unanimous 
testimony  is  that  its  disuse  is  an  equal  gain  to  the  discipline  and 
the  moral  power  of  the  prison.  It  is  possible  to  subdue  a  man, 
to  break  his  spirit,  by  flogging  ;  it  is  not  possible  to  improve  him 
morally  by  such  a  punishment.  In  many  convicts,  punishment 
by  scourging  excites"  undying  hate.  An  indignity  has  been 
offered  to  their  manhood,  which  they  can  neither  overlook  nor 
forget.  To  a  convict  who  had  been  refractory,  but  whose  subse- 
quent quiet  behavior  had  given  hope  of  a  radical  amendment, 
his  chaplain  said  :  "  Well,  my  good  fellow,  I  hope  that  you  have 
no  bad  feelings  now,  and  that  you  have  driven  that  nasty  black 
dog  off  your  back."  "  He  replied,"  says  the  chaplain  in  narrating 
the  case,  "  with  a  shrug  and  a  sneer,  and  a  smile  on  his  large 
white  face  like  a  moonbeam  on  a  field  of  snow,  '  Oh  !  of  course, 
Sir/  '  Come,  I  don't  like  the  way  you  said  that  ;  I  fear  you  have 
bad  feelings  still.'  '  Do  you  know,  Sir,  that  I  was  in  this  prison 
before  ? '  4 1  did  not  know  it.'  '  Well,  I  was,  Sir,  five  or  six  years 
ago  ;  and  they  flogged  me.  I  have  the  marks  of  the  lash  on  my 
body.  When  they  wear  out,  I  shall  forget  and  forgive!  " 


IOO  STATE   OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BooK  n. 


CHAPTER    VIII. — ACTUAL    PROBLEMS    IN    AMERICAN    PRISON 

MANAGEMENT. 

TO  the  writer  it  seems  that  the  actual  problems  of  American 
prison  discipline  and  management  are: .  i.  To  unify  into 
one  comprehensive  system  the  prison  administration  of  each  State. 
2.  To  eliminate  the  element  of  party  politics  from  their  organiza- 
tion and  management.  3.  To  solve,  in  the  best  and  most  satisfac- 
tory manner,  the  systems  and  methods  of  prison  labor.  4.  To  give 
full  effect  to  the  reformatory  principle,  without  however  eliminat- 
ing the  penal  element,  in  prison  management.  5.  To  determine 
the  best  modes  and  proper  extent  of  scholastic,  moral,  and  relig- 
ious instruction  to  be  given  to  the  prisoners,  having  due  regard 
also  to  the  question  of  religious  liberty.  6.  The  establishment  of 
national  prisons  for  the  treatment  of  United  States  prisoners. 

An  important  step  in  the  right  direction  has  been  taken  by  the 
State  of  New  York,  so  far  —  and  unfortunately  only  so  far  — 
as  the  prisons  under  State  control  and  management  are  con- 
cerned. Under  a  special  amendment  of  the  constitution  of  the 
State  the  old  board  of  State-prison  inspectors  has  been  abolished, 
and  a  new  office  of  superintendent  of  State-prisons  has  been 
created.  In  this  officer  all  the  functions  of  the  late  board  are 
concentrated.  He  is  appointed  by  the  State  senate  on  the  nom- 
ination of  the  governor,  and  holds  his  office  for  five  years.  When 
the  change  of  system  was  made,  it  was  quite  understood  by  both 
the  great  political  parties  that  politics  should  no  longer  have  any 
place  or  influence  in  the  appointment  of  officials  and  the  ad- 
ministration of  the  prisons.  Effective  provision,  however,  was 
not  made  in  the  constitutional  amendment  for  the  exclusion  of 
such  influence  and  such  action,  and  already  menacing  indications 
begin  to  appear  that  the  old  trouble  is  not  wholly  extirpated ;  but 
we  still  hope  that  this  tendency  may  be  arrested,  and  that  political 
control  may  be  effectually  and  for  ever  eliminated  from  this  impor- 
tant part  of  the  public  service,  where  it  has  no  business,  and  only 
supervenes  to  mar  or  to  destroy. 


CHAPTER  IX.  —  RELIGIOUS  AND  EDUCATIONAL  AGENCIES. 

AS  regards  the  importance  of  religious  instruction  in  prisons, 
I  concur  in  the  utterance  of  the  London  Prison  Congress 
of   1872,  —  itself  an  echo  of  that  of  Cincinnati  in   1870,  —  that 
"of  all  reformatory  agencies  religion  is  first  in  importance,  be- 


PART    i.]        RELIGIOUS  AND  EDUCATIONAL  AGENCIES.  IOI 

cause  it  is  most  powerful  in  its  action  upon  the  human  heart  and 
life."  In  the  year  1.826  there  was  not  a  single  resident  chaplain 
in  any  of  the  State-prisons  of  the  United  States.  At  the  present 
time  (1879)  a^  tne  prisons  of  this  class  in  what  were  formerly 
known  as  the  free  States  are  supplied  with  chaplains  ;  though  it 
still  remains  true  that  only  a  part  of  those  in  the  Southern  (formerly 
slave  States)  are  so  provided.  This  shows  a  gratifying  progress 
within  the  half  century  intervening  between  these  two  dates. 
Surely,  in  the  effort  to  change  bad  men  into  good  ones,  nothing 
can  supply  the  place  of  religious  teaching  drawn  from  the  Word 
of  God  and  resting  on  its  everlasting  verities. 

In  a  majority  of  our  State-prisons  a  copy  of  the  Holy  Scrip- 
tures is  found  in  every  cell,  and  the  .testimony  from  prison  of- 
ficials is  quite  general  to  the  effect  that  they  are  a  good  deal  read 
by  the  prisoners,  and  that  the  influence  of  such  reading  is  not 
without  beneficial  results.  In  very  many  of  our  prisons  flourish- 
ing Sunday-schools  are  maintained,  chiefly  through  the  efforts  of 
volunteer  Christian  workers  from  outside ;  and  in  quite  a  number 
weekly  prayer-meetings  are  held,  in  which  the  prisoners  take  an 
active  part.  Most  of  the  prisons  have  a  choir  composed  of  the 
inmates,  which  leads  the  singing  at  the  Sunday  service,  though  all 
the  prisoners  who  can  sing  usually  take  part  in  this  exercise,  which 
is  much  relished  and  is  found  to  exert  a  quieting,  humanizing, 
and  elevating  influence.  As  regards  the  effect  of  the  Sunday- 
school,  one  of  our  best  prison  chaplains  gives  this  testimony  : 
"  The  school  is  highly  beneficial  to  those  who  attend  it.  A  grow- 
ing knowledge  of  and  interest  in  the  Scriptures  is  most  evidently 
the  result."  Volunteer  workers  are  largely  admitted  into  the 
prisons  of  the  United  States,  if  the  authorities  in  charge  have 
confidence  in  their  judgment  and  discretion.  As  a  general  thing, 
the  effects  noted  are  good.  Persons  who  object  to  this  usage,  — 
and  it  is  generally  objected  to  in  Europe,  —  should  remember 
that  John  Howard  and  Elizabeth  Fry  in  England,  William  H. 
Suringar  in  Holland,  and  Louis  Dwight  in  America  were  volun- 
teer workers.  So  have  been  multitudes  of  other  efficient  laborers 
in  both  countries,  who  have  worthily  followed  in  the  footsteps  of 
these  illustrious  reformers.  The  feeling  is  not  uncommon  with 
prisoners  that  persons  who  of  their  own  accord  come  to  visit 
them  and  to  labor  for  their  improvement  must  have  their  interest 
at  heart,  since  they  are  not  discharging  an  official  duty  for  which 
they  receive  pay.  This  feeling  on  their  part  adds  much  to  the 
power  of  such  instruction,  —  a  power  which,  if  wisely  used,  may 
be  turned  to  the  best  account.  The  ties  which  convicts  in  this 
way  form  with  some  of  the  purest  and  best  of  their  species  of 
both  sexes  are  often  of  inestimable  value  to  them  after  their  lib- 
eration. This  is  shown  by  the  many  offenders  who,  through  the 
instrumentality  of  such  voluntary  workers,  have  become  worthy 
and  useful  citizens. 


102  STATE   OF  PRISONS,   ETC.  [BOOK  11. 

The  general  condition  of  American  prisoners  in  point  of  edu- 
cation, as  compared  with  that  of  the  whole  population,  is  low ;  yet 
they  are  not  so  extremely  illiterate  as  the  criminals  of  many  other 
countries,  if  we  except  the  colored  criminals  of  the  South.  Never- 
theless, the  proportion  of  illiteracy  in  American  prisoners  far 
exceeds  that  of  the  Scandinavian  and  German  criminals.  Taking 
the  entire  mass  of  the  inmates  of  all  classes  of  prisons  in  the 
Northern  and  Western  States,  the  proportion  of  those  wholly 
illiterate  to  those  who  have  received  a  moderate  degree  of  educa- 
tion, —  often  very  moderate  indeed,  —  may  be  stated  with  sub- 
stantial correctness  at  about  one-third  ;  though  it  is  considerably 
less  than  that  in  the  majority  of  State-prisons.  In  the  Southern 
States  the  proportions  are  just  about  reversed,  —  being  two-thirds 
illiterate  to  one-third  partially  educated.  The  number  of  prison- 
ers who  have  received  a  superior  education  in  either  section  is 
small  indeed.  The  women  prisoners  are  not  so  well  educated  as 
the  men. 

The  facilities  for  imparting  an  education  to  the  illiterate  in- 
mates of  American  prisons  leave  still  much  to  be  desired.  How- 
ever, things  are  growing  better  rather  than  worse  ;  and  the 
provision  made  for  the  mental  improvement  of  the  prisoners  is 
undoubtedly  in  most  of  the  States  in  advance  of  what  it  was  a  few 
years  ago.  Public  attention  has  been  drawn  to  the  subject ;  and 
in  a  considerable  number  of  prisons  libraries  and  schools,  and  in 
a  few  courses  of  lectures,  have  been  established  with  a  view  to 
the  general  education  of  the  convicts  and  to  aid  in  their  reforma- 
tion. The  best  instances  of  prison  instruction  in  the  United 
States  are  probably  found  in  the  Detroit  House  of  Correction  and 
in  the  Elmira  State  Reformatory,  in  both  of  which  they  were 
established  by  Mr.  Brockway.  It  will  be  long,  probably,  before 
any  thing  so  comprehensive  as  Mr.  Brockway  has  established  at 
Detroit  and  Elmira  becomes  common  in  American  prisons.  Still, 
a  good  deal  has  been  done  in  many  of  the  State-prisons,  and 
something  in  some  of  the  houses  of  correction  ;  but  in  the  county 
jails  and  city  prisons  little  or  nothing  is  attempted  in  the  way  of 
literary  instruction. 

All  the  State-prisons  in  the  Northern  States  have  libraries  for 
the  use  of  their  inmates.  The  number  of  volumes  in  these  libra- 
ries, returned  for  1873  by  thirty-three  of  the  State-prisons,  was 
fifty  thousand  six  hundred  and  sixty-three,  —  showing  an  average 
number  for  each  prison  of  one  thousand  five  hundred  and  thirty- 
five.  Five  years  before,  the  same  prisons  showed  an  average  of 
one  thousand  and  fifty-one.  A  comparison  of  these  numbers 
shows  an  increase  within  that  period  of  nearly  fifty  per  cent.  At 
the  present  moment  the  number  of  volumes  in  these  same  prisons 
is  probably  not  less  than  seventy-five  thousand.  Prisoners  who 
know  how  to  read  for  the  most  part  make  full  use  of  the  library, 


PART  i.]  PROPER  SIZE   OF  PRISONS.  103 

and  as  a  general  thing  greatly  profit  by  it.  The  warden  of  one 
prison  says :  "  All  the  prisoners  who  can  read  understandingly 
avail  themselves  of  the  privilege.  The  improvement  from  it  is 
astonishing.  Young  men  who  two  years  ago  were  taught  their 
first  lesson  here  are  now  good  readers  ;  and  it  seems  as  if  they 
had  changed  entirely  in  body  and  mind.  They  keep  themselves 
now  neat  and  clean,  while  they  formerly  were  very  filthy  in  their 
habits.  They  have  better  manners,  and  look  more  intelligent, 
more  like  human  beings.  Ignorance  makes  many  convicts  ;  edu- 
cation alone  makes  the  man." 


CHAPTER  X.  —  PROPER  SIZE  OF  PRISONS. 

FOUR  of  our  State-prisons  have  fifteen  hundred  or  more 
inmates ;  nine  have  one  thousand  and  less  than  fifteen 
hundred  ;  thirteen  have  five  hundred  and  less  than  one  thou- 
sand ;  one  has  four  hundred  and  less  than  five  hundred  ;  and 
sixteen  have  less  than  four  hundred.  Now  penitentiary  science, 
as  represented  in  the  international  prison  congresses,  holds  that 
five  hundred  is  the  maximum  number  of  inmates  that  ought  ever 
to  be  treated  in  one  prison  ;  while  a  very  large  minority,  perhaps 
an  absolute  majority,  believe  that  four  hundred  would  be  the 
better  and  more  prudent  maximum.  This  is  the  limit  fixed  by 
M.  Charles  Lucas,  of  France,  the  high-priest  of  penitentiary 
science.  According  to  this  last  standard  only  eighteen  of  our 
forty-five  State-prisons  are  within  the  most  judicious  limit,  and 
only  nineteen  come  within  the  limit  admitted  by  the  congresses ; 
while  thirteen  go  with  more  or  less  of  moderation  beyond  it,  and 
thirteen  are  of  mammoth  dimensions,  of  which  four  are  of  a  size 
altogether  unwieldy  and  unreasonable. 

I  am  earnestly  in  accord  with  M.  Charles  Lucas  in  his  idea  con- 
cerning the  proper  maximum  of  prisoners  to  be  received  and  treated 
in  the  same  establishment,  and  that  not  simply  or  mainly  because 
of  the  better  facilities  thereby  afforded  for  the  organization  of  labor, 
but  still  more  because  such  a  prison  holds  out  the  best  hopes  for 
effective  reformatory  action  upon  its  inmates.  Now,  though  I 
freely  acknowledge  the  superiority  of  the  cellular  system  for  pre- 
liminary detention,  for  short  sentences  in  case  of  a  first  or  second 
minor  offence,  and  as  the  initial  stage  of  long  imprisonments  for 
grave  crimes  ;  and  though  I  hope  for  such  an  enlightenment  of 
public  opinion  as  will  not  only  permit  but  require  the  establish- 
ment of  the  system  to  that  extent,  —  yet  it  is  not  to  be  doubted 
that  the  congregate,  associated,  or  Auburn  system  is  now,  and 


IO4  STATE   OF  PRISONS,   ETC.  [BOOK  n. 

in  some  modified  and  it  may  be  hoped  more  effective  form  is 
to  remain,  the  permanent  system  of  this  country.  Nor,  as- 
suredly, would  I  have  it  otherwise ;  for  though  far  from  any  in- 
tention or  any  desire  to  re-kindle  a  struggle  which  in  other  times 
raged  so  long  and  so  fiercely,  but  is  now  happily  allayed,  yet  with 
M.  Charles  Lucas  I  must  avow  a  strong  and  steadfast  conviction, 
that,  under  the  influence  of  prolonged  detentions,  life  in  the  cell 
can  realize  neither  individual  reformation  —  since  it  is  not  in  con- 
formity but  in  contradiction  to  the  social  nature  of  man  —  nor  col- 
lective reformation,  since  cellurism  has  no  collectivity.  Neither 
collective  nor  individual  reformation  that  can  be  relied  upon 
seems  to  me  possible,  except  through  a  good  educational  and  dis- 
ciplinary organization  of  life  and  labor  in  association.  Thus  alone 
may  we  arrive  at  the  one  and  the  other ;  nay,  at  the  one  through 
the  other.  The  moral  regeneration  of  criminals  who  are  under- 
going long  terms  of  imprisonment  must,  as  it  seems  to  me,  be 
effected  through  the  agencies  indicated  above,  or  not  at  all. 

Now  those  who  hold  to  the  incompatibility  of  life  in  associa- 
tion with  a  good  penitentiary  system  do  not  appear  to  have  suffi- 
ciently considered  that  wherever  there  is  a  society,  no  matter  of 
what  sort,  there  must  of  necessity  be  a  public  opinion,  a  general 
sentiment,  an  esprit  de  corps.  It  is  the  part  of  a  vigilant  govern- 
ment, a  wise  discipline,  not  to  perrnit  this  public  sentiment  to 
grow  and  shape  itself  by  its  inherent  forces,  its  spontaneous 
action  ;  but  rather  to  take  the  initiative,  and  put  forth  the  most 
earnest  as  well  as  intelligent  efforts  to  develop,  form  and  direct  it. 
The  discipline  which  knows  how  to  create  and  mould  the  public 
opinion  of  the  society  with  whose  government  it  is  charged, 
—  whether  that  society  be  a  State,  a  community,  a  school,  or  a 
prison, —  will  ever  find  its  best,  its  supreme  force,  there.  But  if  it 
knows  not  how  to  enlist  in  its  service  and  use  to  the  furtherance 
of  its  own  purpose  this  esprit  de  corps,  from  the  moment  it  fails  to 
secure  the  concurrence  and  co-operation  of  this  great  power  it  will 
have  its  opposition  ;  and  thenceforth  it  will  be  the  strongest  ob- 
stacle to  its  success,  and  the  chief  cause  of  its  embarrassments 
and  failures.  The  pre-eminent  success  of  Wichern  at  the  Rauhe 
Haus,  of  Demetz  at  Mettray,  of  Crofton  in  Ireland,  of  Charles 
Lucas  at  Val  d'Yevre,  of  Obermaier  at  Munich,  of  Maconochie 
at  Norfolk  Island,  of  Guillaume  at  Neuchatel,  of  Sollohub  at  Mos- 
cow, of  Petersen  at  Christiania,  and  of  Brockway  at  Detroit  was 
and  is  mainly  secured  through  this  potent  agency. 

I  myself  have  never  been  governor  of  a  prison,  but  was  for 
eight  years  at  the  head  of  a  large  boarding-school.  Within  the 
first  six  months  of  my  administration  a  strong  public  opinion  was 
established  in  favor  of  law,  order,  and  morality,  and  after  that  all 
trouble  was  at  an  end.  No  blow  was  ever  struck ;  moral  forces 
reigned  supreme  ;  the  school  governed  itself. 


PART  i.]  PROPER  SIZE  OF  PRISONS.  105 

It  is  to  the  formation  of  a  sound,  strong,  controlling  public 
opinion  among  his  prisoners  that  a  prison-governor  must  above  all 
and  before  all  direct  his  attention  and  bend  his  efforts,  —  a  public 
opinion,  an  esprit  de  corps,  which  will  lend  itself  to  the  mainte- 
nance of  a  just,  wise,  and  effective  reformatory  discipline.  Nor 
will  this  result  be  impossible  or  even  difficult  if  undertaken  in  the 
right  spirit,  and  pursued  through  agencies  wisely  chosen,  and  skil- 
fully as  well  as  persistently  applied.  It  is  because  in  former  times 
no  effort  was  put  forth  to  this  end,  no  thought  given  to  it,  nor 
even  its  possibility  so  much  as  dreamed  of,  that  the  association  of 
prisoners  was  believed  to  be  always,  everywhere,  and  of  necessity 
corrupt  and  corrupting.  In  the  cases  named  above,  and  in  others 
this  has  been  disproved ;  and,  what  is  more  and  better,  it  has  been 
shown  that  even  in  prisons  there  may  be  a  contagion  of  good  as 
well  as  of  evil. 

In  other  things  this  is  manifest  and  acknowledged.  Witness 
the  labors  (with  their  results)  of  Wesley,  Whitefield,  Nettleton, 
Finney,  Moody,  and  scores  of  others  like-minded  and  of  an  equal 
zeal  and  activity.  And  so  it  will  be  in  prisons  when  the  right  men 
are  universally  placed  there,  including  the  whole  body  of  subordi- 
nates as  well  as  the  chiefs. 

In  this  connection  it  deserves  to  be  noted  and  considered,  that 
there  is  no  society  in  the  world  where  the  authorities  in  charge 
have  such  complete  control  of  the  influences  brought  to  bear  upon 
its  members  as  that  of  a  prison.  Not  the  State,  not  the  city,  not 
the  church,  not  the  school,  not  the  family  even  ;  for  none  of  these 
have  their  members  always  in  their  presence  and  under  their  eye 
as  the  prison  has.  And  this  fact  involves  a  grave  responsibility  on 
the  part  of  the  prison  officer,  and  a  still  graver  one  on  the  part  of 
the  State  whose  agent  he  is.  It  must  be  remembered  and  never 
forgotten,  that  it  is  the  future  of  the  prisoner  which  must  be 
thought  of  and  prepared  for  by  those  in  charge  of  him.  The  rules 
of  that  future  will  never  be  accepted  by  prisoners  on  the  impe- 
rious commands  of  authority.  They  may  be  so  accepted  as  the 
result  of  that  collective  reformation  which,  when  secured  in  the 
manner  pointed  out  above,  is  far  more  efficacious  as  well  as  reli- 
able than  individual  reformation.  And  here  comes  into  play  the 
principle  just  noticed,  that  good  has  a  force  of  contagion  as  well 
as  evil.  Every  thing  depends  on  knowing  how  to  seize,  or  rather 
perhaps  how  to  make  and  improve,  opportunities. 

The  bearing  of  all  this  is  clear  on  the  question  of  the  normal 
maximum  of  the  population  of  a  prison  which  shall  permit  the 
penitentiary  education  —  industrial,  literary,  moral,  and  religious 
—  to  act  under  the  conditions,  theoretical  and  practical,  of  an 
effective  application.  This  principle  of  limitation  is  not  peculiar 
to  penitentiary  establishments,  —  it  is  general  and  absolute ;  be- 
cause wherever  it  is  a  question  of  imparting  or  remodelling  educa- 


IO6  STATE   OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BooK  n. 

tion,  the  educators  who  do  not  avoid  an  excessive  agglomeration 
will  find  themselves  condemned  to  comparative  impotence.  I 
have  known  a  distinguished  theological  professor,  who  held  that 
a  seminary  intended  for  the  professional  education  of  ministers  of 
the  gospel  ought  to  be  restricted  to  such  a  number  of  students 
that  their  teachers  could  know  them  all  personally  and  intimately. 
If  he  was  right  in  his  view  in  regard  to  institutions  of  that  sort, 
where  the  inmates  unless  they  belie  their  profession  are  all  men 
of  piety  and  principle,  how  much  more  urgent  the  necessity  that 
prison-keepers,  whose  office  and  work  is  to  change  bad  men  into 
good  ones,  should  know  well  every  individual  under  their  care,  to 
the  end  that,  within  the  limits  of  the  law,  they  may  suit  their 
treatment  of  him  to  his  individual  character  and  exigencies. 
From  these  premises  it  would  not  seem  a  violent  inference  that 
M.  Charles  Lucas's  maximum  of  four  hundred  is  rather  above 
than  below  the  normal  standard  number  for  a  penitentiary  under 
the  empire  of  a  public  opinion,  an  esprit  de  corps,  which  itself 
has  created,  as  the  main  buttress  of  its  strength,  in  the  bosom  of 
the  society  which  it  directs  and  governs.  And  let  us  never  for- 
get the  maxim  of  Alexander  Maconochie,  the  profoundest,  the 
most  original,  and  at  the  same  time  the  most  practical  of  thinkers 
or  writers  on  the  penitentiary  question,  —  "  The  criminal  must  be 
trained  for  society  in  society."  The  education  of  man,  whether 
in  the  penitentiary  or  out  of  it,  must  be  conducted  in  conformity 
to  that  sociability  which  is  the  law  of  his  nature  and  the  law  of 
the  social  state,  —  which  is  the  condition  of  his  existence.  Indi- 
vidual imprisonment,  therefore,  cannot  be  for  one  sentenced  to  a 
long  term  a  fit  preparation  for  the  society  from  which  he  came, 
and  to  which  he  must  return  at  the  time  of  his  liberation. 


CHAPTER  XI.  —  PRISON  INDUSTRIES.  —  LABOR  SYSTEMS. 

THE  distinction  common  in  English  prisons,  between  penal 
or  "hard"  labor  and  industrial  labor,  has  no  existence  in 
American  prisons.  The  term  "hard  labor"  is  still  found  in  our 
laws,  but  all  the  work  done  under  these  sentences  is  industrial  and 
productive.  The  tread-mill,  the  crank,  the  shot-drill,  and  other 
forms  of  technically  penal  labor  have  no  place  in  the  prisons  of 
the  United  States.  The  "hard  labor"  of  the  sentence  means  sim- 
ply productive  labor,  of  whatever  kind.  And  this  element  in  the 
sentence  is  the  dictate  at  once  of  justice  and  good  policy;  of 
justice,  because  it  is  right  that  criminals  who  have  put  the  State 
to  more  or  less  expense  should  do  something  towards  defraying 


PART  i.]  LABOR  SYSTEMS.  IO/ 

the  cost  of  their  crimes  ;  of  good  policy,  because  work  is  an 
essential  condition  of  the  criminal's  reformation,  —  and  his  re- 
formation is  the  greatest  interest  the  State  has  in  him. 

There  is  scarcely  any  sort  of  productive  labor  which  does  not 
find  a  place  in  some  one  or  more  of  American  prisons.  In  Ala- 
bama, North  Carolina,  and  Texas  the  convicts  build  railroads  ;  in 
Mississippi  they  raise  cotton ;  in  Tennessee  and  New  York  they 
work  mines  ;  in  many  of  the  States  they  cultivate  vegetable 
gardens,  or  do  farm  work.  But,  except  at  the  South,  the  prison 
employments  are  generally  mechanical,  and  especially  deal  with 
work  in  wood,  leather,  and  the  metals,  though  stone-work  is 
also  done  on  a  large  scale  where  prisons  are  building.  This 
was  formerly  so  common  an  occupation  for  American  convicts 
that  " hammering  stone"  became  a  cant  term  for  imprisonment. 
At  the  Auburn  prison  agricultural  tools  are  extensively  man- 
ufactured ;  in  the  cellular  prison  at  Philadelphia  (the  eastern 
penitentiary)  the  employments  pursued  in  the  cells  are  mainly 
sedentary,  such  as  shoemaking,  weaving,  tailoring,  and  the  lighter 
kinds  of  wood-work ;  in  Massachusetts,  cabinet-making,  brush- 
making,  shoe-making,  and  sewing  by  means  of  the  sewing  ma- 
chine are  common  prison  employments ;  in  the  Connecticut 
State-prison  an  important  branch  of  labor  is  the  manufacture  of 
carpenter's  rules  ;  in  the  Maine  State-prison,  the  warden,  being 
a  carriage-maker,  introduced  that  branch  of  industry;  in  the 
prison  of  northern  New  York,  at  Dannemora,  a  great  iron  mine 
furnishes  ore,  which  has  been  smelted,  forged,  and  wrought  into 
nails  by  the  convicts  ;  in  the  Michigan  State-prison  at  one  time 
tanning  leather  was  largely  practised  ;  in  the  Detroit  House  of 
Correction  chair-making  has  been  the  chief  industry ;  and  in  the 
Indiana  State-prison  (south)  the  manufacture  of  railway  cars  is 
carried  on  in  all  its  branches.  In  short,  there  is  hardly  any  me- 
chanical occupation  which  is  not  or  has  not  been  practised  in 
some  of  our  American  prisons.  Thus,  wire-weaving  is  carried 
on  in  two  prisons  ;  the  making  of  bolts  and  hinges  in  one  ;  of 
brushes  in  several ;  of  stoves  in  one ;  of  edge-tools  in  one ;  of 
car-wheels  in  one  ;  of  bronzed  iron-work  in  one  ;  of  cigars  in  five ; 
of  machinery  in  one  ;  of  axles  in  one;  moulding  in  three ;  chair- 
making  and  chair-seating  in  eight ;  weaving  in  three ;  cabinet- 
making  in  six  ;  agricultural  implements  in  one ;  broom-making 
in  one ;  cooperage  in  nine  ;  saddling  and  harness-making  in 
several ;  boot-making  and  shoe-making  in  a  dozen  or  more  ;  and 
carpentry,  tailoring,  painting,  and  smithery  in  all.  Several  pris- 
ons, as  already  stated,  have  turned  their  attention  to  farming, 
and  have  made  or  propose  to  make  agriculture  and  horticulture 
principal  branches  of  industry. 

Three  systems  of  convict  labor  have  prevailed  at  different 
times  and  in  different  prisons  in  the  several  States  of  the  Ameri- 


108  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  n. 

can  Union :  i.  That  of  working  prisoners  on  account  of  the 
State;  the  latter  supplying  the  necessary  capital  and  raw  ma- 
terial, and  undertaking  through  its  agents  the  sale  of  the 
manufactured  articles.  2.  That  of  letting  the  labor  of  the  con- 
victs to  certain  persons,  who  buy  it  for  a  stipulated  number  of 
years  at  so  much  per  day  for  each  man.  This  is  known  as  the 
contract  system.  3.  That  of  leasing  the  prison,  —  that  is,  the 
labor  of  the  whole  prison  population,  —  fora  certain  number  of 
years  to  some  one  or  more  individuals  or  firms  ;  the  lessee  having 
the  entire  control  of  both  the  discipline  and  industries  of  the 
prisoners,  procuring  all  supplies  of  food,  clothing,  medicines,  etc., 
and  conducting  the  business  and  all  the  affairs  of  the  institution, 

—  every  thing,  in  fact,  connected  with  the  establishment  being  in 
his  discretion  and  at  his  disposal.     This  is  known  as  the  lease 
system.     It  is  sometimes  varied  from  the  type  as  above  described 
by  letting  the  labor  to  more  than  one  party ;  but  the  principle  is 
the  same,  whatever  the  number  of  independent  lessees  may  be, 

—  each  is  answerable  for  the  number  of  men  he  leases. 


CHAPTER  XII.  —  THE  CONTRACT  SYSTEM  OF  PRISON  LABOR. 

THE  contract  system  obtains  in  the  major  part  of  our  prisons. 
In  a  few,  perhaps  a  tenth  or  an  eighth  of  the  whole  number, 
the  prison  labor  is  managed  by  the  prison  administration  ;  and  this 
is  especially  the  case  where  the  building  or  enlarging  of  a  prison  is 
going  on.  There  are  many  objections  to  the  contract  system  of 
prison  labor,  but  it  has  been  found  in  general  less  expensive  to  the 
government  than  its  management  by  the  prison  officers.  This, 
however,  is  no  doubt  largely  due  to  the  general  instability  of  our 
prison  administrations.  Where  party  politics  dominate  these  ad- 
ministrations, and  where,  owing  to  the  fluctuations  of  parties, 
new  and  inexperienced  men  are  so  often  put  in  charge  of  our 
prisons,  it  is  not  to  be  expected  that  so  vast  and  complicated  a 
machine  as  the  industries  of  a  large  prison  should  be  successfully 
managed  by  them.  Even  under  our  present  system,  the  indus- 
tries in  prisons  of  moderate  size,  containing  not  more  than  three 
hundred  or  four  hundred  inmates,  have  been  and  are  carried  on 
by  the  authorities  in  charge  with  fair  success.  Take  the  history  of 
the  State-prison  of  Massachusetts  as  an  example,  —  a  prison  from 
which  we  have  financial  returns  for  a  longer  period  than  for  any 
other  in  the  country.  During  the  sixty-two  years  covered  by 
these  returns  the  prison  has  exhibited  a  profit  above  its  expenses 
in  twenty-three  years,  and  a  deficit  in  thirty-nine  years.  But  in 
the  first  thirty  years,  when  its  number  of  convicts  averaged  less 


PART  i.]  THE  CONTRACT  SYSTEM.  IOQ 

than  three  hundred,  the  prison  had  an  aggregate  deficit  during 
the  whole  period  of  less  than  sixty  thousand  dollars  ;  while  in  the 
thirty-two  years  since,  the  average  number  having  been  five  hun- 
dred the  greater  part  of  the  time,  the  aggregate  deficit  has  been 
more  than  three  hundred  thousand  dollars,  or  five  times  as  much 
as  when  the  prison  was  small.  Now,  although  the  revenue  derived 
from  the  labor  of  convicts  should  be  regarded  as  of  less  impor- 
tance than  their  judicious  treatment  and  their  moral  improve- 
ment, it  is  still  a  noteworthy  fact  that  prisons  of  a  moderate  size 
are  readily  made  self-supporting,  while  the  larger  ones  are  not. 

The  general  influence  of  letting  the  labor  of  the  convicts  to  a 
class  of  outside  persons,  called  contractors,  was  from  the  first  re- 
garded with  apprehension  by  those  three  early  apostles  of  the 
Auburn  system,  —  Elam  Lynds,  Gershom  Powers,  and  Moses 
Pilsbury,  —  the  two  former  of  New  York,  and  the  latter  of  New 
Hampshire,  and  afterwards  of  Connecticut.  Mr.  Lynds  expressed 
himself  to  De  Tocqueville  as  "  in  constant  fear  that  the  presence 
of  the  contractors  in  the  prison  would,  sooner  or  later,  lead  to  the 
total  ruin  of  the  discipline."  Judge  Powers's  fears  were  thus  ex- 
pressed by  himself  in  a  report  to  the  legislature  of  New  York  in 
1828:  "This  mode  of  employing  convicts  is  attended  with  con- 
siderable danger  to  the  discipline  of  the  prison,  by  bringing  the 
convicts  into  contact  with  contractors  and  their  agents,  unless 
very  strict  rules  are  rigidly  enforced."  To  the  question,  "  How 
does  your  contract  system  work  now  ? "  Mr.  Pilsbury  replied  in 
1839:  "Destructive  to  every  thing  which  may  be  called  good, 
both  as  it  relates  to  the  institution  and  the  prisoners." 

What  is  the  effect  of  the  contract  system  on  the  discipline  of 
our  prisons  ?  The  first  effect  of  the  system  is  to  place  for  the 
whole  working  day  all  the  prisoners  contracted  for,  to  a  great 
extent,  under  the  control  of  men  with  no  official  responsibility,  — 
men  who  see  in  the  convicts  only  so  much  machinery  for  making 
money ;  men  whose  only,  or  at  any  rate  whose  chief,  recommenda- 
tion to  the  positions  they  hold  in  the  prison  is  that  they  were  the 
highest  bidders  for  the  human  beings  hired  by  them.1  The  sec- 
ond effect  of  the  system  is  to  introduce  among  the  convicts  as 
superintendents  of  their  labor  strangers  to  the  prison,  who  are 
employed  by  the  contractors  as  agents,  foremen,  and  in  some 
instances  even  laborers,  —  men  utterly  irresponsible;  men  se- 
lected with  little  regard  to  their  moral  character,  and  often 
without  morals  ;  men  who  do  not  hesitate  to  smuggle  liquor  into 
the  prison  and  other  contraband  articles,  and  sell  them  to  the 
convicts  at  an  incredible  advance  on  their  true  market  value.  A 

1  There  are  exceptions  to  this,  I  gladly  acknowledge.  Mr.  G.  S.  Griffith  is  con- 
tractor for  a  part  of  the  labor  in  the  Baltimore  city  prison,  and  the  more  of  such 
contractors  in  our  prisons  the  better  for  the  prisoner  and  the  cause  of  prison  reform. 
But,  unfortunately,  in  this  case  "  the  exception  does  not  prove  the  rule." 


IIO  STATE   OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BooK  n. 

third  effect  of  the  system  —  in  former  times  especially  conspic- 
uous in  New  York  —  is  to  set  up  in  the  prisons  a  "  power  behind 
the  throne  greater  than  the  throne  ;"  a  power  well-nigh  omnipo- 
tent within  its  sphere  ;  a  power  that  coaxes,  bribes,  and  threatens 
in  pursuit  of  its  selfish  ends  ;  a  power  that  makes  and  unmakes 
officers,  imposes  and  remits  punishments  through  agents  whom 
it  has  been  able  to  bend  to  its  will,  and  even  stoops  to  mean  de- 
vices to  get  the  poor  prisoner  who  has  incurred  its  wrath  into 
straits  and  difficulties,  that  its  revenge  may  be  gratified  by  the 
sight  of  his  punishment.  Let  me  close  this  portraiture  with  the 
testimony  of  an  eminent  warden  of  one  of  the  principal  State- 
prisons  of  the  country :  "  The  contract  system  exerts  an  influ- 
ence unfavorable  to  discipline ;  it  is  the  source  of  strife  between 
the  contractors  and  convicts." 

What  is  its  effect  upon  the  reformation  of  the  prisoners  ? 
Little  need  be  said  on  this  point.  Its  influence  may  be  inferred 
from  its  nature.  It  impinges  with  a  crushing  force  upon  the 
great  work  of  the  moral  regeneration  of  the  prisoners.  The  con- 
tractors have  no  interest  as  contractors  in  their  reformation. 
Their  interest  as  contractors  and  the  interest  of  the  prison  as  a 
reformatory  agent  not  only  do  not  run  in  parallel  lines,  but  in 
lines  which  are  repellent  and  antagonistic.  By  a  necessary  law, 
by  an  instinct  of  its  very  nature,  this  system  of  prison  labor  op- 
poses itself  to  all  the  great  forces  of  reformation  by  which,  if 
at  all,  the  inmates  of  our  prisons  must  be  reclaimed,  regenerated, 
and  re-absorbed  into  the  mass  of  upright,  industrious,  and  hon- 
orable citizens. 

At  the  same  time,  I  am  free  to  confess  that  I  would  not  favor 
the  abolishment  of  the  contract  system  so  long  as  the  present 
policy  is  continued  as  regards  the  uncertain  tenure  of  office,  and 
for  the  following  reasons  :  I.  The  successful  management  of  the 
industries  of  a  prison  requires  experience  and  business  tact, — 
qualities  that  can  be  acquired  only  by  a  long  practical  familiarity 
with  such  management.  2.  It  would  not  be  wise  to  commit  the 
industries  of  a  prison  to  its  head  so  long  as  he  is  not  only  liable 
but  well-nigh  sure  to  be  displaced  on  every  transfer  of  power 
from  one  political  party  to  the  other.  3.  Considering  the  extent 
and  variety  of  the  industries  carried  on  in  most  of  our  State- 
prisons  and  the  frequent  change  of  officers  therein,  the  result  of 
which  is  that  inexperienced  persons  are  for  the  most  part  at 
their  head,  it  would  be  unsafe  to  change  the  system  of  labor 
while  the  system  of  government  remains  what  it  is  at  present. 
4.  Consequently,  in  order  to  a  safe  and  successful  change  of  the 
prison-labor  system  from  outside  contract  to  State  management, 
it  will  be  an  essential  condition  precedent  that  political  con- 
trol be  eliminated  from  the  government  of  our  State-prisons,  and 
that  their  administration  "be  placed  in  the  hands  of  honest  and 
capable  men,  and  kept  there. 


PART  i.]  THE  LEASE  SYSTEM.  Ill 


CHAPTER  XIII.  —  THE  LEASE  SYSTEM  OF  PRISON  LABOR. 

THE  third  system  of  prison  labor  in  the  United  States,  known 
as  the  lease  system,  has  already  been  described  in  a  general 
way.  Though  the  lease  system  and  the  contract  system  have 
points  in  common,  there  is  nevertheless  a  material  difference 
between  them  ;  and,  while  I  am  not  a  partisan  of  the  latter,  I 
look  upon  the  former  as  greatly  the  more  objectionable  of  the 
two.  Under  the  contract  system,  the  labor  only  of  the  convict  is 
hired  out ;  but  the  whole  care  of  the  prisoners,  —  the  discipline, 
the  clothing,  the  bedding,  the  food,  the  medical  attendance,  the 
religious  and  secular  instruction,  the  hours  of  labor,  etc.,  —  is 
retained  in  the  hands  of  the  authorities.  But  under  th&lease 
system  all  this  is  changed.  The  whole  control  and  mana^ment 
of  the  prison,  at  least  as  a  general  rule,  are  turned  over  to  the 
lessee,  who  is  sometimes  an  individual  and  sometimes  a  firm,  but 
always  a  party  whose  object  is  to  make  money,  —  first  out  of  what 
the  convicts  can  earn,  and  next  out  of  what  can  be  saved  from 
the  cost  of  feeding,  clothing,  and  housing  them.  The  prison  is 
let  for  a  term  of  years  to  the  party  who  offers  the  highest  bonus 
to  the  State  over  and  above  the  keep  and  care  of  the  prisoners. 
Other  considerations  may  possibly  come  in,  but  this  is  the  main 
and  controlling  one.  I  consider  it  a  system  objectionable  to  the 
last  degree.  It  is  the  same  system  against  which,  a  hundred 
years  ago,  John  Howard  lifted  up  his  voice  and  sharpened  his 
pen.  The  central  evil  of  that  system  was  that  the  keeper,  free 
from  supervision  and  restraint,  was  left  to  make  his  fortune,  or  at 
least  his  living,  out  of  the  prison.  A  salary  was  seldom  given. 
Sometimes  he  paid  an  annual  rent ;  sometimes  he  bought  his 
place  for  a  round  sum.  Howard  mentions  many  examples. 

The  system,  as  De  Tocqueville  has  suggested  in  his  report  on 
American  prisons,  is  equally  injurious  to  the  interests  of  the  con- 
vict and  the  discipline  of  the  prison.  It  is  injurious  to  the  convict, 
because  the  lessee,  seeing  nothing  but  a  money  transaction  in  his 
lease,  speculates  on  the  food  and  clothing  as  he  does  upon  the 
labor  :  if  he  loses  on  the  clothing,  he  indemnifies  himself  on  the 
food  ;  if  the  labor  is  not  as  productive  as  he  calculated,  he  seeks  to 
balance  his  loss  in  that  direction  by  spending  less  on  the  supplies. 
The  system  is  injurious  to  the  prison,  because  the  lessee,  looking 
upon  the  convict  simply  as  a  working  machine,  thinks  only  how 
he  can  use  him  to  the  greatest  pecuniary  advantage,  and  he  cares 
little  whether  the  gains  are  made  to  the  profit  or  the  prejudice  of 
the  discipline  and  good  order  of  the  institution. 

Such  is  the  rationale  of  the  system  ;  and,  so  far  as  my  obser- 
vations and  inquiries  have  extended  in  the  States  which  have 


112  STATE   OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BooK  n. 

practised  it,  facts  accord  with  and  sustain  the  theory.  The 
system  has  twice  been  adopted  in  Missouri,  and  twice  been  con- 
demned and  discarded  there  by  public  opinion.  It  long  prevailed 
in  Illinois,  but  the  force  of  an  enlightened  public  sentiment  at 
length  put  an  end  to  it  in  that  State.  It  has  been  practised  in 
Kentucky  almost  from  the  foundation  of  the  State-prison,  but  not 
without  a  vigorous  and  persistent  opposition  on  the  part  of  many 
of  the  best  citizens  of  the  State.  On  occasion  of  sundry  visits 
to  that  State  and  its  prisons,  I  have  heard,  even  from  inspectors 
of  the  prison  and  governors  of  the  State,  numerous  complaints 
made  against  different  lessees  on  account  of  their  unjust  and  un- 
feeling treatment  of  the  prisoners.  One  was  charged  with  having 
so  overtasked  his  men  that  they  became  broken  down  in  health 
and  constitution ;  another,  with  having  kept  them  on  rations  so 
stinted  in  quantity  and  so  inferior  in  quality  as  to  have  brought 
on  a  general  epidemic  of  the  scurvy  ;  and  all,  or  nearly  all,  with 
treating  them  badly  towards  the  end  of  their  lease  in  respect  to 
food,  clothes,  bedding,  and  other  supplies,  being  naturally  anxious 
to  spend  as  little  as  possible  and  to  make  as  much  as  possible  in 
anticipation  of  the  winding  up  of  the  whole  business.  Thus 
every  interest  of  the  prisoner,  bodily  and  spiritual,  and  every  in- 
terest of  the  State,  material  and  moral,  were  lost  sight  of  in  the 
one  all-absorbing  idea  of  making  money. 

The  general  result  of  the  lease  system,  then  (I  will  not  affirm 
universality  of  it),  appears  to  be  this :  The  food  and  clothing  are 
brought  down  to  a  minimum  ;  the  strength  of  the  convict  is 
tasked  beyond  all  bounds  of  reason  ;  the  property  of  the  State 
is  abused  or  suffered  to  go  to  ruin ;  convicts  are  regarded  as  so 
many  working  machines,  and  are  valued  chiefly  if  not  wholly  for 
the  work  that  can  be  got  out  of  them  ;  the  idea  of  reformation  is 
ignored  ;  and  all  the  higher  ends  of  prison  discipline  are  held  in 
abeyance. 


CHAPTER  XIV.  —  CHARACTER  AND  CAUSES  OF  CRIME. 

THE  prevailing  character  of  crime  in  America  is  hard  to 
define.  In  the  South  and  West  crimes  of  violence,  in  the 
North  and  East  crimes  of  fraud,  are  more  common.  Theft  pre- 
vails everywhere,  though  not  to  so  great  an  extent  as  in  Europe. 
Crimes  against  property  and  crimes  against  the  person  are  sub- 
stantially in  the  ratio  of  three  to  one.  Intemperance  is  a  proxi- 
mate cause  of  a  very  large  proportion  of  the  crime  committed  in 
America.  Fully  three-fourths  of  all  the  prisoners  with  whom  I 
have  personally  conversed  in  different  parts  of  the  country  have 


PART  i.]  CHARACTER  AND  CAUSES  OF  CRIME.  113 

admitted  that  they  were  addicted  to  an  excessive  use  of  alcoholic 
liquors.  "  If  it  had  not  been  for  the  dram-shop  I  should  never 
have  been  here,"  is  the  stereotyped  wail  that  issues  from  every 
cell  and  swells  in  melancholy  chorus  through  all  the  corridors  of 
our  prisons.  In  a  circular  letter  which  I  once  addressed  to  the 
wardens  of  all  our  State-prisons,  this  question  was  put  to  them 
among  others  :  "  What  is  your  opinion  as  to  the  connection  be- 
tween strong  drink  and  crime  ? "  The  answers  returned  all 
looked  one  way.  Mr.  Pollard,  of  Vermont,  did  but  echo  the 
general  sentiment,  though  he  put  it  more  sharply  than  most, 
when  he  said :  u  My  opinion  is  that  if  intoxicants  were  totally 
eradicated,  the  Vermont  State-prison  would  be  large  enough  to 
hold  all  the  criminals  in  the  United  States." 

Orphanage,  idleness,  misery,  and  the  wretched  home-life,  or 
lack  of  home-life,  in  great  cities,  are  fruitful  sources  of  crime- 
A  desire  to  live  without  work  leads  to  crime  here  as  it  does  in 
other  countries,  and  this  vicious  indolence  was  much  increased  by 
the  late  civil  war.  The  severe  financial  depression  that  has  ex- 
isted throughout  the  whole  country  since  1873,  and  is  but  recently 
beginning  slowly  to  withdraw  its  heavy  hand,  has  contributed  in 
no  small  degree  to  swell  the  volume  of  crimes,  both  of  fraud  and 
theft,  and  even  of  violence.  Among  educated  men,  crimes  of 
fraud  have  greatly  increased,  and  our  prisons  now  contain  more 
convicts  of  this  class  than  ever  before.  Want  of  a  trade  is  a  per- 
manent and  potent  occasion  of  crime.  Three-fourths  of  our  con- 
victs make  no  pretence  to  having  acquired  a  trade  ;  and  of  the 
remainder  more  than  a  moiety  have  done  so  only  in  a  very  imper- 
fect degree. 

There  is  a  melancholy  tendency  of  crime  youthward.  More 
than  a  fifth  of  the  inmates  of  our  State-prisons  are  mere  boys, 
ranging  from  twenty  years  down  even  to  the  child  who  has 
scarcely  reached  his  teens.  Reformatory  homes,  not  the  State- 
prison,  are  needed  for  such,  —  houses  of  discipline,  in  which 
kindly,  curative,  healing  influences  may  be  applied. 

Another  suggestive  fact  is  that  two-thirds  of  the  entire  popula- 
tion of  our  State-prisons,  including  of  course  those  referred  to  in 
the  last  paragraph,  are  under  thirty  years  of  age.  Of  these  a  large 
majority  are  undergoing  their  first  imprisonment  in  establishments 
of  this  class.  Such  a  fact  points  to  the  creation  of  juvenile  pris- 
ons like  that  at  Elmira,  of  which  some  account  has  already  been 
given,  —  institutions  that  might  be  made  to  assume  more  the 
character  of  a  well-conducted  farm-school  or  industrial  reformatory 
than  of  an  ordinary  prison. 


114  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  n. 


CHAPTER  XV.  —  DIVERS  FACTS  RELATING  TO  STATE  PRISONS. 

THE  tendency  of  such  prison  improvements  as  have  been 
made  is  towards  the  Crofton,  or  Irish,  convict  system,  which, 
as  it  becomes  better  understood,  gains  more  friends  every  year  in 
the  United  States.  No  States  have  yet  introduced  it  as  a  whole, 
or  even  its  essential  features  ;  but  some  steps  in  that  direction 
have  been  taken,  and  others  will  doubtless  follow,  till  it  becomes 
the  system  of  the  country.  The  cellular  system  —  to  which,  in 
my  opinion,  some  injustice  is  done  in  America  —  has  ceased  to 
be  of  practical  importance  here,  but  the  introduction  of  the  Irish 
plan  would  permit  us  to  use  the  desirable  features  of  cellular 
separation.  The  system  in  its  strictness,  except  in  the  eastern 
penitentiary  at  Philadelphia,  does  not  now  exist  in  the  United 
States,  and  is  not  likely  to  return  into  favor.  A  great  evil  in 
our  minor  prisons,  and  in  many  of  those  of  a  higher  grade,  is 
that  there  is  no  system  at  all,  but  a  mixture  of  routine  and 
caprice  in  the  prison  administration,  from  which  good  results  can 
come  only  by  hazard  or  by  miracle. 

The  most  hopeful  examples  of  prison  discipline  among  us  are 
found  in  a  small  class  of  prisons  —  houses  of  correction  properly 
—  holding  a  middle  place  between  the  State-prison  and  the  county 
jail.  Such  are  the  district  prisons  at  Albany,  Detroit,  Rochester, 
Pittsburg,  Cleveland,  and  perhaps  a  few  others,  where  the  bale- 
ful influence  of  partisan  politics  has  not  been  too  much  felt,  and 
where  the  management  of  prison  affairs  remains  in  the  hands  of 
competent  men  for  adong  period.  The  administration  of  prisons 
of  this  class  is,  as  a  rule,  more  permanent  than  that  of  either 
State-prisons  or  jails  ;  and,  as  a  consequence,  the  best  officers  are 
attracted  towards  them.  In  some  of  these  —  such  for  example  as 
the  Albany  penitentiary  —  the  Auburn  system  is  maintained  with 
rigor ;  in  others  it  is  so  modified  as  to  permit  the  introduction  of 
some  of  the  best  features  of  the  Irish  system  as  practised  by 
Maconochie  and  Crofton.  Were  our  laws  so  amended  as  to 
allow  longer  sentences,  and  especially  cumulative  sentences  for 
the  petty  criminals  who  make  up  the  great  majority  in  these 
district  prisons,  they  would  soon  display  results  more  marked 
and  gratifying.  With  all  the  disadvantage  of  repeated  short 
sentences,  the  best  prisons  of  this  grade  are  now  self-supporting, 
and  to  some  degree  preventive  of  crime.  New  prisons  of  this 
class  are  gradually  appearing,  especially  in  the  older  and  more 
populous  States,  and  always  in  or  near  large  cities  receiving  con- 
victs from  a  wide  area  or  a  great  population,  and  classifying  their 
inmates  more  systematically  and  more  thoroughly. 

Another  hopeful  class  of  our  prisons  —  though  these  are  not  as 
yet  very  well  organized  —  include  State  workhouses  like  those  of 


PART  L]  COUNTY  JAILS.  115 

Massachusetts  and  Rhode  Island,  where  sentences  of  one,  two, 
or  three  years  are  given  for  such  offences  as  vagrancy,  habitual 
drunkenness,  and  prostitution,  and  where  it  will  be  easy  to  intro- 
duce the  main  points  of  the  Irish  convict  system.  These  work- 
house prisons  generally  have  ill-arranged  buildings,  and  do  not 
separate  their  inmates  properly ;  but  they  are  much  more  dreaded 
by  the  vagrant  class  than  the  better-built  prisons  where  short  sen- 
tences are  imposed,  and  thus  they  serve  a  good  purpose  in  deter- 
ring from  petty  crime  and  breaking  up  habits  of  intemperance 
and  idleness.  They  have  come  into  favor  within  the  last  few 
years  for  the  confinement  of  tramps,  who  have  become  alarmingly 
numerous  in  most  of  the  northern,  middle,  and  western  States, 
and  among  whom  many  persons  guilty  of  heinous  crime  seek  to 
escape  notice. 


CHAPTER  XVI.  —  COUNTY  JAILS. 

THE  county  jails  of  the  United  States,  as  already  noted,  are 
small  prisons  found  in  the  counties  of  the  several  States, 
to  the  number  of  two  thousand  or  more.  They  are  designed 
for  the  safe-keeping  of  persons  awaiting  trial,  and  for  the  punish- 
ment of  misdemeanants  by  short  terms  of  imprisonment.  De 
Tocqueville  nearly  fifty  years  ago  subjected  these  prisons  to  a 
sharp  but  just  critique.  There  has  been  progress  since  in  some 
localities  ;  but  the  majority  of  the  jails,  taking  the  whole  country, 
are  little  if  at  all  better  to-day  than  they  were  then.  These 
prisons  escape  notice  from  the  public  for  the  reason  that  for  the 
most  part  they  are  small  structures,  with  few  inmates,  and  these 
for  short  terms.  But  if  we  reflect  upon  the  great  number  of  jails, 
and  remember  that  all  criminals  of  the  higher  grade  pass  through 
them  to  the  penitentiary,  we  must  recognize  the  importance  of 
the  question  which  the  jail-system  offers  for  our  determination. 
As  places  of  safe-keeping  they  answer  fairly  well;  as  places  of 
punishment  they  fail  to  accomplish  the  object  of  their  creation ; 
as  places  of  reformation  they  are  worse  than  nothing,  as  their 
tendency  is  to  debase  and  to  deteriorate.  They  are  defective  in 
a  sanitary  point  of  view :  many  of  them  are  insecure.  They  are 
so  constructed  as  to  compel  the  promiscuous  association  of  the 
young  and  the  old,  the  convicted  and  the  unconvicted,  the  hard- 
ened villain  and  the  novice  in  crime,  and  in  some  cases  —  but 
this  is  rare  —  even  of  the  sexes.  In  none  of  them  is  there  pro- 
vision for  the  employment  of  their  inmates  ;  and  there  are  few 
comparatively  where  any  attempt  is  made,  officially  at  least,  either 
at  moral  or  mental  culture.  Their  condemnation  may  be  pro- 


Il6  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  n. 

nounced  in  a  single  sentence, —  they  are  an  absurd  attempt  to 
cure  crime,  the  offspring  of  idleness,  by  making  idleness  compul- 
sory. The  moral  atmosphere  of  these  prisons  is  necessarily  foul, 
—  no  fouler  exists  anywhere.  It  is  loaded  with  moral  contagion. 
The  contact  of  the  inmates  is  close,  their  intercourse  unrestricted, 
their  conversation  abominable,  the  corruption  of  the  innocent  cer- 
tain, while  that  of  the  depraved  must  be  augmented. 
What  is  the  remedy  for  this  state  of  things  ? 

1.  The  State  must   assume   the  custody  and  control  of   the 
whole  body  of  prisoners  convicted  of  a  violation  of  the  laws,  what- 
ever the  gravity  or  the  lightness  of  the  offence.    From  the  nature 
of  the  case  the  counties  cannot  adequately  discharge  this  func- 
tion ;  and  the  whole  responsibility  of  the  failure  which  has  at- 
tended the  effort  rests  not  upon  the  counties,  but  upon  the  State, 
which  has  assigned  to  them  a  task  impossible  of  execution  by 
them.     The  counties,  with  very  few  exceptions,  are  not  strong 
enough,  either  in  wealth  or  population,  to  maintain  a  prison  for 
sentenced  persons  conducted  on  right  principles  and  in  an  effec- 
tive manner. 

2.  But  in  what  manner  must  the  State  supervene  that  its  action 
may  be  effectual  ?     Intervention  by  the  State  will  not  be  satis- 
factory, unless  it  embrace  four  elements :  district  prisons,  a  sin- 
gle governing  authority,  the  power  of  transfer,  and  a  reformatory 
discipline.      The  number  of   these  prisons   needed  will  depend 
upon  the  territorial  extent  of  the  State  and  the  density  of  its 
population.     The  number  of  prisoners  in  a  single  prison  must  be 
sufficient  to  admit  of  profitable  employment  and  an  effective  dis- 
cipline, but  should  never  be  so  large  as  to  obstruct  these  ends. 

3.  The  principle  of  cumulative  sentences  should  be  introduced, 
and  the  length  of  the  imprisonments  rapidly  increased  on  a  repe- 
tition of  crime.     After  one  or  two  re-convictions,  the  terms  of 
sentence  should  be  made  long  enough  for  the  effective  applica- 
tion of   reformatory  processes.     This  is  at  once  justice  to  the 
State  and  mercy  to  the  culprit. 

If  the  State  assume  the  treatment  of  all  convicted  and  sen- 
tenced prisoners,  nothing  will  be  left  to  the  counties  but  to  care 
for  those  awaiting  examination  or  trial,  and  the  jails  will  at  once 
become  mere  houses  of  detention.  What  influence  this  will  have 
on  the  number  of  such  places  time  will  determine.  The  reduc- 
tion will  no  doubt  be  considerable,  and  so  will  the  points  at  which 
the  accused  shall  be  tried.  Houses  of  detention  should  then  be 
constructed  upon  the  principle  of  complete  isolation.  The  prop- 
agation of  crime  through  the  promiscuous  association  of  the 
innocent  and  the  guilty  must  be  stopped.  Justice  to  the  State 
and  justice  to  the  prisoner  alike  demand  this,  since  the  highest 
interests  of  both  are  involved  in  it. 


PARTI.]  LOCK-UPS. 


CHAPTER  XVII.  —  LOCK-UPS. 

THERE  is  another  class  of  prisons,  little  known  or  thought  of, 
but  very  numerous  and  often  extremely  crowded  ;  namely, 
the  city  prisons,  lock-ups,  or  station-houses,  as  they  are  variously 
called.  They  almost  need  a  John  Howard  for  their  sole  reforma- 
tion. They  belong,  as  Dr.  Eliot  of  St.  Louis  said  in  a  paper 
contributed  to  the  New  York  prison  congress  of  1876,  to  the 
alphabet  of  penitentiary  reform,  but  they  are  not  on  that  account 
less  important  or  less  difficult  as  a  question  of  social  science  and 
reform.  I  shall  draw  freely  from  his  essay  in  what  I  am  about 
to  say  on  this  subject. 

It  would  seem  at  first  thought  to  be  a  matter  of  slight  import- 
ance where  arrested  persons  are  put  for  a  single  night  or  day,  or 
how  treated,  or  under  what  circumstances  of  discomfort  kept,  so 
long  as  absolute  barbarity  is  not  practised.  Let  the  brief  hard- 
ship be  a  lesson  to  them  ;  make  the  place  intolerable,  and  they 
will  keep  out  of  it !  If  they  would,  the  case  would  be  different 
and  there  would  be  less  to  say.  If  crime  were  more  effectually 
prevented  by  cruel  treatment  of  the  criminal,  that  would  be  some 
excuse  for  it ;  we  might  be  willing  to  yield  something  of  hu- 
manity to  secure  greater  efficiency.  But  all  experience  proves 
the  contrary.  Brutal  treatment  brutalizes  the  wrong-doer,  and 
prepares  him  for  worse  offences.  Dr.  Eliot  tells  of  a  visit,  in  the 
old  days  of  slavery,  to  a  plantation  where  the  slaves  were  ill- 
treated.  He  said  to  one  of  them,  an  intelligent,  steady  fellow : 

"  What  makes  you  all  behave  so  badly  ?  Why  not  be  decent, 
and  do  your  work  honestly  ? " 

"  Well,  master,"  he  answered,  "  they  treat  us  like  dogs,  and  we 
behave  like  dogs,  —  that 's  just  how  it  is." 

A  thoughtful  answer  ;  but,  observe,  the  dog-like  treatment  pre- 
ceded the  dog-like  behavior. 

It  is  very  apt  to  be  so  with  men.  The  worse  the  lock-up  is 
made  the  more  crowded  it  will  be.  Every  night  spent  there  de- 
grades the  occupant  and  makes  his  return  more  sure.  Continu- 
ally disgraced  he  continually  grows  worse. 

In  studying  what  character  to  give  to  a  lock-up,  we  must  con- 
sider that  among  the  occupants  there  will  always  be  a  number 
who  are  there  for  the  first  time  and  the  first  offence.  They  have 
been  caught  in  bad  company  ;  or  been  guilty  of  some  disorder ;  or 
found  sleeping  out  of  doors,  having  no  in-doors  where  to  sleep  ; 
or  accused  by  the  blunder  of  a  policeman  ;  or  held  on  a  ground- 
less suspicion.  Just  at  that  point  not  a  few  of  these  take  the  first 
step  of  a  downward  course.  Probably  not  less  than  ten  per  cent 
of  all  confined  nightly  in  this  class  of  prisons  are  there  for  a  first 


Il8  STATE   OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  rt 

and  trifling  offence,  or  for  no  punishable  offence  at  all ;  and  the 
aggregate  number  every  night  shut  up  in  them  throughout  the 
whole  country  can  hardly  be  less  than  from  ten  to  fifteen  thou- 
sand. Think  of  it !  Not  less  than  a  thousand  every  night  in  the 
year  locked  up  in  these  city  prisons  for  the  first  time,  for  a  small 
offence  or  no  offence ;  not  a  few  of  them  children,  —  boys  and 
girls  under  fifteen  years  of  age,  whose  chief  fault  is  that  they 
have  never  known  a  parent's  love,  never  enjoyed  the  blessing 
of  a  home,  never  felt  the  warm  pressure  of  Christian  care  and 
kindness !  Truly,  human  justice  is  a  clumsy  machine,  and  often 
deserves  the  punishment  which  it  inflicts. 

Dr.  Eliot  describes  one  of  these  lock-ups  in  the  city  of  St. 
Louis,  in  which  each  cell  is  twelve  feet  long  by  eight  feet  wide 
and  ten  in  height,  with  no  windows  and  no  ventilation,  all  the  light 
and  air  being  admitted  by  grated  doors  opening  into  a  passage. 
The  usual  average  of  occupants  at  night  to  each  cell  is  four  or 
five ;  sometimes,  and  on  Sunday  nights  often,  going  up  to  eight 
or  ten.  "  Think,"  he  exclaims,  "  what  school-houses  of  crime  are 
these  !  The  city's  public  schools  of  vice  and  profligacy  !  Open 
for  men,  women,  and  children  every  day  in  the  year,  with  a  doubly 
accumulated  crowd  for  the  Lord's  day  !  Go  through  the  lock-ups 
of  any  large  city  next  Sunday  night,  and  you  will  see  where  no 
small  part  of  the  primary  instruction  in  crime  —  yes,  and  ad- 
vanced instruction  too  —  is  given,  and  who  the  learners  are." 

The  conclusions  reached  by  Dr.  Eliot  are :  i.  That  the  city 
prisons,  or  lock-ups,  should  be  so  constructed  as  to  give  a  separate 
cell  to  each  prisoner,  with  a  decent  minimum  of  physical  comfort 
and  an  ample  supply  of  fresh  air.  2.  That  the  treatment  should 
be  that  of  kindness,  but  with  enforced  silence  and  solitude  so  far 
as  other  prisoners  are  concerned,  and  with  a  view  to  the  hin- 
drance of  all  needless  publicity  and  disgrace.  Prevention  of  fu- 
ture evil,  rather  than  the  correction  of  what  is  past,  should  be 
the  aim.  3.  The  opportunity  for  the  use  of  direct  moral  means, 
especially  by  legal  enactment,  seems  to  be  small ;  but  no  better 
sphere  of  useful  service  offers  itself  to  the  city  missionary,  to 
young  men's  Christian  Associations,  to  all  who  are  willing  to  work 
for  Christ's  sake,  than  would  be  afforded  by  well-constructed  and 
well-managed  "  city  prisons."  The  exercise  of  such  labors  might 
be  legally  recognized,  though  not  legally  provided  or  enforced. 


PART  i.]  SENTENCES  AND  EXECUTIVE   CLEMENCY.  119 


CHAPTER  XVIII.  —  SENTENCES  AND  EXECUTIVE  CLEMENCY. 

IT  is  the  practice  of  courts  in  the  United  States  to  give  short 
sentences  for  minor  offences,  and  to  repeat  them  often  in 
the  case  of  the  same  person.  The  effect  of  this  is  to  increase 
crime,  as  our  prisons  are  now  managed.  The  principle  of  cumu- 
lative sentences  has  not  hitherto  been  much  discussed  among  us, 
but  there  are  earnest  thinkers  who  warmly  favor  it.  There  is, 
too,  a  growing  sentiment  favorable  to  longer  sentences  than  are 
now  given,  and  even  to  sentences  of  an  indeterminate  length,  or 
at  least  of  a  maximum  duration  so  great  as  to  allow  to  the  au- 
thorities a  large  discretionary  power  of  absolute  or  conditional 
liberation,  similar  to  what  has  been  described  as  existing  in  the 
New  York  State-reformatory  at  Elmira. 

The  length  of  sentences  to  State-prisons  offers  a  curious  study. 
The  average  for  the  whole  country  —  excluding,  of  course,  life- 
sentenced  men  —  is  a  fraction  over  four  years.  The  average  of 
the  individual  prisons  varies  all  the  way  from  a  maximum  of 
ten  years  (Virginia)  to  a  minimum  of  one  year  and  three  months 
(Minnesota).  The  tendency  to  long  sentences  shows  itself  in  the 
Southern  States,  to  short  ones  in  the  Northern.  For  example, 
the  general  average  length  of  sentences  in  the  four  Southern 
States  which  are  highest  is  seven  years  and  three  months,  while 
the  general  average  of  the  four  highest  Northern  States  is  four 
years  and  nine  months ;  the  average  sentences  in  the  four  lowest 
at  the  South  are  two  years  and  a  half,  in  the  four  lowest  at  the 
North  are  one  year  and  three-quarters.  But  what  is  most  re- 
markable is  the  extremes,  —  the  absolutely  highest  being  ten 
years,  the  absolutely  lowest  being  one  year  and  a  half.  This 
astonishing  diversity  in  the  length  of  sentences  in  the  two  sec- 
tions —  which  is  scarcely  less  astonishing  in  the  several  prisons 
of  the  same  section  —  shows  very  clearly  the  importance  of  a 
commission  of  eminent  jurists  of  all  the  States,  one  from  each, 
charged  with  the  duty  of  preparing  and  proposing  to  the  con- 
sideration of  the  several  legislatures  a  uniform  code  of  criminal 
law. 

A  few  words  touching  the  exercise  of  executive  clemency.  In 
1865  the  percentage  of  convicts  pardoned  in  the  whole  country, 
exclusive  of  those  who  earned  a  diminution  of  sentence  by  good 
conduct,  was  seventeen  ;  in  1869  it  had  fallen  to  ten  per  cent; 
and  in  1873  to  five  and  one-third  per  cent.  These  figures  are 
of  course  partly  estimated,  and  at  best  therefore  are  but  ap- 
proximations to  the  truth.  But  the  decrease  is  indubitable,  and 
it  is  well  that  it  has  taken  place  ;  for  there  can  be  no  doubt  that 
the  desire  and  expectation  of  executive  clemency  on  the  part  of 


I2O  STATE   OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BooK  II. 

prisoners,  absorbing  as  it  has  done  a  large  share  of  their  thought, 
anxiety,  and  effort,  has  been  a  serious  obstruction  to  their  refor- 
mation. They  are  always  planning,  hoping,  working  to  get  out ; 
and  this  makes  them  uneasy,  irritable,  and  indisposed  to  yield 
themselves  to  reformatory  influences.  The  true  method  is  to 
place  our  prisons  upon  a  proper  basis,  render  the  administration 
permanent,  put  the  prisons  in  the  hands  of  competent  officers, 
make  them  really  adult  reformatories,  and  then  say  to  the  crim- 
inal on  his  commitment :  "  When  you  show  yourself  a  reformed 
man,  when  you  convince  us  by  satisfactory  evidence  that  it  will 
be  safe  to  let  you  be  at  large,  you  can  go  ;  but  not  before."  This 
would  put  every  man's  pardon  in  his  own  hands,  and  free  our 
governors  from  a  world  of  anxious  toil,  and  from  a  responsibility 
to  which  they  ought  not  to  be  subjected.  No  doubt  the  prin- 
ciple of  executive  clemency  should  be  retained  ;  but  its  exercise 
should  be,  if  not  by  law  at  least  by  usage,  limited  to  exceptional 
cases,  and  not  as  heretofore  and  now  made  the  ordinary  resort 
of  criminals  whose  money  or  social  position  enables  them  to 
command  the  influence  necessary  to  secure  their  liberation,  in 
many  cases,  long  prior  to  the  time  when  it  would  be  effected  by 
the  operation  of  law. 


CHAPTER  XIX.  —  DIETARIES  AND  HYGIENE. 

THERE  is  no  general  scale  of  dietaries  in  the  United  States, 
and  from  the  diversity  of  climate  and  productions  there 
could  scarcely  be  one ;  for  what  would  be  wholesome  at  Boston 
or  Albany  might  be  deleterious  at  New  Orleans  or  Charleston. 
Besides,  as  already  stated,  there  is  no  central  penitentiary  admin- 
istration for  the  whole  country,  and  of  course  no  central  authority 
to  ordain  such  general  scale.  In  the  Western  States  fresh  meat 
is  more  freely -used  than  on  the  seaboard,  but  in  all  the  American 
prisons  meat  is  far  more  common  than  in  those  of  Europe.  The 
rations  are  for  the  most  part  as  good  as  prison  fare  ought  to  be ;  and 
there  is  no  restriction  by  weight  of  the  essential  articles  of  food, 
—  in  these  the  only  limitation  is  that  imposed  by  the  prisoner's 
appetite.  It  would  be  possible,  and  every  way  desirable,  to  make 
our  prison  dietaries  more  uniform  and  more  in  accord  with  medi- 
cal science ;  and  the  same  may  be  said  with  increased  emphasis 
of  the  general  sanitary  condition  of  the  prisons.  But  this  is  im- 
proving wherever  new  buildings  are  erected,  and  the  ventilation 
and  drainage  of  half  our  prisons  is  now  reasonably  good ;  of  the 
other  half  it  is  indifferent  or  bad,  —  in  many  instances  very  bad. 
Probably  one-fourth  of  the  prisons  are  kept  scrupulously  clean, 


FART  i.]  AID  TO  DISCHARGED  PRISONERS.  121 

the  major  part  of  the  rest  fairly  clean,  but  a  few  are  foul  and 
filthy  ;  yet  most  of  them  are  free  from  serious  sickness,  and  the 
death-rate  is  not  generally  large.  It  cannot  be  given  with  accu- 
racy, however,  for  lack  of  careful  and  trustworthy  statistics. 


CHAPTER  XX.  —  AID  TO  DISCHARGED  PRISONERS. 

THE  work  of  aiding  well-disposed  prisoners  on  their  libera- 
tion, though  begun  in  this  country,  is  not  so  well  organized 
or  so  far  advanced  here  as  in  several  other  countries.  The  first 
society  of  this  kind,  so  far  as  I  know  or  believe,  was  formed  in 
Philadelphia,  on  the  seventh  day  of  February,  1776,  and  is  just 
five  months  older  than  the  nation,  which  had  its  birth  on  the 
fourth  day  of  July  of  the  same  year,  and  in  the  same  city.  It  is 
worth  while  to  record  the  name  of  the  person  in  whose  brain  and 
heart  this  simple  but  great  conception  (all  great  conceptions  are 
simple)  had  its  birth.  Richard  Wistar,  whose  residence  was  near 
the  common  jail,  had  his  attention,  as  the  result  of  this  proximity, 
called  to  the  bad  condition  of  the  prison  and  the  great  misery  of 
the  inmates.  He  was  moved  to  speak  to  his  neighbors,  and  from 
him  came  the  first  incentives  to  a  more  general  interest  in  the 
jail.  This  resulted  in  the  formation,  on  the  day  and  year  above 
named,  of  a  society  under  the  title  of  "The  Philadelphia  Society 
for  Assisting  Distressed  Prisoners."  The  occupation  of  Philadel- 
phia two  years  later  by  the  British  troops  put  an  end,  for  the  time 
being,  to  the  labors  of  the  society ;  but  in  1787  substantially  the 
same  association  was  revived,  with  the  slightly  altered  title  of 
"  The  Philadelphia  Society  for  Alleviating  the  Miseries  of  Public 
Prisons."  In  this  revival  many  of  the  chief  citizens  took  part, 
and  among  them  the  illustrious  Benjamin  Franklin  and  the  ven- 
erable Bishop  White.  The  Philadelphia  prison  society  still  exists*, 
as  fresh,  vigorous,  and  active  to-day  as  when  it  first  started  into 
life  ;  and,  what  is  not  a  little  remarkable,  during  the  one  hun- 
dred and  two  years  since  its  reorganization  it  has  had  but  two 
presidents. 

The  prison  societies  of  America  do  not,  like  similar  societies  in 
Europe,  limit  their  labors  to  the  patronage  or  aid  of  liberated  pris- 
oners. They  have  also  in  view  the  study  and  promotion  of  gen- 
eral prison  reform  in  the  States  where  they  are  located.  Moreover, 
such  attention  and  aid  as  may  be  found  necessary  are  given  by 
these  organizations  to  persons  under  arrest  or  indictment,  and 
who  are  awaiting  examination  or  trial.  This  is  both  an  important 
and  useful  work,  as  it  prevents  a  great  deal  of  unnecessary  expense 


122  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  n. 

to  the  public,  a  great  deal  of  unnecessary  detention  to  the  accused, 
and  a  great  deal  of  unnecessary  suffering  to  their  families.  For 
the  nature  and  results  of  this  sort  of  work,  reference  may  be  made 
to  the  reports  of  Mr.  William  J.  Mullen,  agent  of  the  Philadelphia 
prison  society  for  a  period  of  more  than  twenty  years.  During 
that  time  he  has  been  instrumental  in  procuring  the  release  from 
prison  of  forty  thousand  persons,  and  in  saving  to  the  tax-payers  a 
full  half  million  of  dollars.  Attention  to  prisoners  in  preliminary 
detention  is  also  given  by  the  New  York  prison  association  as  well 
as  by  the  Philadelphia  prison  society.  During  an  existence  of 
thirty  years  ten  thousand  persons  have,  on  the  recommendation 
of  the  former,  been  discharged  from  prison  without  trial,  and  eight 
thousand  complaints  dismissed.  A  large  majority  of  the  persons 
so  discharged,  both  in  Philadelphia  and  New  York,  were  innocent 
of  the  crimes  charged  ;  others  were  very  young,  and  had  sinned 
under  mitigating  circumstances  ;  and  others  still  were  released 
by  consent  of  their  prosecutors,  who  became  convinced  that  they 
were  wrong  in  going  to  law.  In  all  cases  the  judicial  authorities 
were  convinced  that  the  true  ends  of  justice,  as  well  as  the  best 
interests  of  society  would  be  promoted  by  their  release. 

Twelve  States  have  societies  in  aid  of  liberated  prisoners,  which 
are  working  with  more  or  less  zeal  and  a  corresponding  success. 
Massachusetts  has  a  double  agency,  —  a  prison  society,  and  an 
official  agent  appointed  by  the  State.  They  work  harmoniously 
together.  It  is  a  partnership  in  philanthropy,  and  the  result  is 
effective  work  done  for  God  and  man.  The  Maryland  prisoners' 
aid  society  is  one  of  the  youngest  of  the  sisterhood,  but  one  of  the 
most  energetic  and  useful.  The  California  society,  too,  deserves 
special  mention  for  its  earnest  and  effective  labors.  The  agencies 
for  saving  liberated  prisoners  are,  I  think,  more  thoroughly  organ- 
ized and  worked  in  New  York  than  in  any  other  State.  I  wish 
there  were  more  space  at  my  command  in  which  to  develop  the  sys- 
tem employed,  and  to  illustrate  its  results.  The  central  society, 
with  its  seat  in  New  York,  has  a  working  committee  in  every 
county  of  the  State.  The  society  has  been  fortunate  in  securing 
the  co-operation  of  some  hundreds  of  master  workmen,  embracing 
all  the  chief  industries  of  the  State,  who  have  agreed  to  employ, 
so  far  as  circumstances  would  permit,  discharged  prisoners  who 
show  a  purpose  to  change  their  manner  of  life.  Those  bad  men 
are  thus  changed  into  good  citizens,  and  the  spoliators  of  society 
become  its  benefactors. 

Now,  what  is  it  that  a  prisoner,  who  has  formed  an  honest  pur- 
pose to  lead  a  better  life,  needs  in  the  supreme  hour  of  his  libera- 
tion ?  First  of  all,  sympathy,  which  will  be  like  a  cordial  to  his 
bruised  and  fainting  heart.  Then  he  needs  words  of  encourage- 
ment and  hope,  of  wise  and  affectionate  counsel,  which  will  still 
further  refresh  and  strengthen  his  spirits.  He  needs,  moreover, 


PART  i.]  COMMUTATION  LAWS,  ETC.  123 

pecuniary  help.  Some  money,  or  its  equivalent,  he  must  have ; 
or  crime  becomes  a  necessity,  unless  he  is  willing  to  starve.  The 
best  provision  of  this  kind  would  be  to  allow  him  some  share  of 
his  earnings  as  a  prisoner,  and  not  a  stinted  one,  to  be  retained 
for  him  to  the  day  of  his  liberation.  But,  most  of  all,  the  dis- 
charged prisoner  needs  employment.  At  the  earliest  possible 
moment,  therefore,  he  should  be  put  in  a  position  to  help  himself. 
Self-help  is  the  best  help  he  can  have,  for  it  gives  independence, 
self-respect,  and  inward  force.  Sympathy,  kind  words,  good  advice, 
are  all  excellent  in  their  place  ;  but  they  are  useless  —  worse  than 
that,  they  are  mockery  —  while  you  leave  the  man  hungry  and 
shivering,  with  nothing  to  do.  But  back  your  words  with  acts  ; 
give  work  as  well  as  advice ;  and  then  the  words  and  the  counsel 
have  a  mighty  power,  —  they  become  living  forces  in  his  soul. 


CHAPTER  XXI. —  COMMUTATION   LAWS.  —  PARTICIPATION   IN 

EARNINGS. 

THE  principle  of  provisional  liberation  has  not  yet  been  intro- 
duced into  the  prison  administration  of  the  United  States. 
The  nearest  approach  to  it  is  the  system  of  what  are  called  com- 
mutation laws.  These  are  now  found  on  the  statute  books  of 
much  the  larger  moiety  of  the  States.  Their  design  is  to  encour- 
age and  stimulate  prisoners  to  industry,  obedience,  and  general 
good  conduct,  by  allowing  them  thereby  to  earn  a  certain  diminu- 
tion of  their  terms  of  sentence.  Under  the  commutation  laws  of 
New  York,  the  convict  during  the  first  three  years  of  his  impris- 
onment can  earn,  by  unifprm  good  conduct  and  industry,  a  remis- 
sion from  his  sentence  of  five  days  per  month  ;  from  the  fourth 
to  the  tenth  year  he  can  earn  seven  and  a  half  days  per  month, — 
so  that,  if  sentenced  to  ten  years,  he  can  shorten  his  term  by  two 
years  and  one  month.  After  the  tenth  year  he  can  earn  a  diminu- 
tion of  ten  days  a  month  ;  so  that  a  prisoner,  sentenced  for  twenty 
years,  may  shorten  his  imprisonment  by  five  years  and  five  months, 
or  rather  more  than  one-fourth  of  the  whole  term  of  sentence. 

The  principle  of  this  law  is  founded  in  reason  and  justice,  and 
the  policy  established  by  it  is  wise  and  beneficent.  The  effect  of 
the  policy  is  to  change,  in  some  respects  (and  those  not  unim- 
portant), the  aspect  and  condition  of  prison  life.  In  keeping  before 
prisoners  a  permanent  incentive  to  good  conduct,  it  fortifies  the 
resolutions  of  many  a  feeble  mind,  and  counteracts  in  others  the 
tendency  to  feelings  of  despondency,  recklessness,  and  revenge, 
which  their  situation  is  apt  to  engender,  and  in  which,  many  of 


124  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  n. 

them  are  prone  to  indulge.  In  encouraging  them  to  perform 
their  work  cheerfully,  it  has  so  far  the  good  effect  of  converting 
coerced  into  voluntary  labor ;  while,  as  a  means  of  discipline,  ap- 
pealing to  the  better  feelings  of  all  in  whom  such  feelings  still 
have  place,  and  substituting  rewards  instead  of  punishments,  moral 
instead  of  brute  force,  and  hope  in  the  place  of  fear,  its  operation 
cannot  be  and  is  not  otherwise  than  healthful  and  bracing  to  their 
moral  nature.  A  law  of  which  all  this  can  be  said  needs  no  further 
vindication.  But,  tested  by  experience,  it  is  found  to  be  most  salu- 
tary. The  warden  of  one  of  our  State-prisons  says  :  "  The  effect 
of  this  law  in  our  prison  has  been  excellent.  I  think  it  the  most 
important  step  in  prison  reform  that  has  been  taken  within  the 
last  forty  years."  Another :  "  No  law  ever  passed  in  this  State 
has  been  so  marked  in  its  influence  for  good."  A  third  :  "  I  con- 
sider the  commutation  law  a  more  powerful  agency  to  promote 
good  conduct  among  prisoners  than  any  thing  else  that  ever  came 
under  my  observation."  Other  heads  of  prisons  are  unanimous  in 
their  testimony  to  the  same  effect. 

The  practice  of  allowing  prisoners  a  share  of  their  earnings 
has  not  been  extensively  adopted  in  America,  but  wherever  the 
principle  has  been  introduced  its  effect  has  been  excellent.  Let 
me  cite  a  single  example.  The  Allegheny  county  workhouse  at 
Claremont,  Pennsylvania,  a  correctional  prison  for  misdemean- 
ants, —  that  is,  persons  guilty  of  minor  offences,  — has  introduced 
this  principle  into  its  administration.  Its  chief  industry  is  the 
manufacture  of  kerosene  oil  barrels,  which  is  carried  on  in  two 
large  workshops  in  the  same  building,  one  above  the  other.  At 
a  certain  point  in  the  manufacture  the  casks  are  passed  from  the 
lower  to  the  upper  shop,  and  the  prisoner  receiving  them  at  this 
point  is  required  to  finish  seven  for  the  institution  without  any  gain 
to  himself,  —  the  average  day's  work  for  a  free  laborer  outside 
being  thirteen  or  fourteen  ;  after  which,,  for  every  additional  bar- 
rel completed  he  gets  five  cents  for  himself.  Under  this  stimulus 
I  saw  prisoners  making  twenty-four  barrels  a  day  ;  and  the  aver- 
age daily  production  is  from  sixteen  to  eighteen,  —  equal  to,  say, 
one  and  one-fifth  day's  work  of  ordinary  workmen  in  free  shops 
outside.  The  refining  of  petroleum  is  a  very  extensive  business 
in  Allegheny  County,  and  there  are  many  establishments  in  the 
county  in  which  it  is  carried  on.  At  first  the  proprietors  of  these 
factories  laughed  the  superintendent  to  scorn  for  thinking  that 
he  could  utilize  the  labor  of  his  short-term  men 1  upon  such  a 
manufacture ;  but  the  laugh  is  now  on  the  other  side,  for  the 
prison-made  barrels  actually  command  five  cents  a  piece  more  in 
the  market  than  those  made  in  the  outside  factories. 

Most  of  the  labor  in  the  lower  shop  is  unskilled,  and  for  a  time 

1  The  average  length  of  sentences  in  this  prison  is  a  little  over  two  months. 


PART  i.]  REFORMATION  AND  PREVENTION.  12$ 

the  prisoners  working  there  received  no  part  of  their  earnings. 
At  length  the  superintendent  hit  upon  the  plan  of  giving  to  each 
prisoner  against  whom  there  was  no  complaint  at  the  end  of  the 
day  a  credit  of  ten  cents  (half  *a  franc)  for  that  day.  The  effect 
of  this  was  magical.  I  visited  the  establishment  three  or  four 
months  after  the  plan  went  into  effect,  and  not  a  man  in  the 
shop  had  received  a  single  bad  mark.  All  had  regularly  gained 
their  credits  of  ten  cents  a  day.  The  daily  amount  of  work  per- 
formed inv  that  shop  had  also  very  sensibly  increased. 


CHAPTER   XXII.  —  REFORMATORY  AND   PREVENTIVE    INSTITU- 
TIONS. 

CHILD-SAVING  work  in  America,  though  far  from  having 
gained  that  breadth  and  completeness  of  organization 
which  its  importance  and  hopefulness  demand,  is  nevertheless 
considerable  in  point  of  extent,  and  largely  beneficent  in  its  ac- 
tion. It  offers  a  strong  contrast  to  the  work  of  the  penal  establish- 
ments of  the  country.  Our  prisons  have  heretofore  been  mainly 
places  of  punishment,  and  have  done  little  comparatively  to 
check  crime  ;  our  reformatory  and  preventive  institutions  have 
checked  crime,  and  in  a  large  majority  of  instances  have  wrought 
a  practical  reformation  of  their  inmates.  Of  course,  the  mate- 
rial is  better  in  these  establishments  than  in  the  prison, — 
the  inmates  are  more  tender  in  years,  less  hardened  in  crime, 
more  easily  moulded,  and  far  less  under  the  slavery  of  degrading 
habits.  But  this  is  not  all.  The  spirit  of  our  reformatories  is 
that  of  hope  and  effort,  while  listless  indifference  or  despair  too 
often  reigns  in  our  prisons.  The  sentences  of  young  offenders 
are  wisely  regulated  for  their  amendment ;  they  are  not  absurdly 
shortened  as  if  they  signified  only  so  much  endurance  of  vindic- 
tive suffering.  The  whole  machinery  of  the  establishment  is  set 
in  the  reformatories  for  the  good  training  of  the  child,  while  in 
prisons  it  is  too  often  allowed  to  chafe  and  wear  upon  the  moral 
nature  and  chill  the  best  aspirations  of  the  adult  convict.  Amer- 
ica has  little  reason  to-day  to  be  proud  of  her  prisons  ;  but  she 
can  justly  take  pride  in  her  juvenile  reformatories,  from  the  very 
beginning  of  their  work  fifty  years  ago  until  now. 

The  first  American  reformatory,  and  still  the  largest  one,  was 
the  New  York  House  of  Refuge,  opened  in  1825,  and  now  estab- 
lished on  Randall's  Island,  within  the  city  limits  of  New  York. 
It  grew  out  of  the  efforts  made  by  Edward  Livingston,  John 
Griscom,  James  Gerard,  and  other  enlightened  philanthropists,  to 


126  STATE   OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  n. 

train  the  young  in  cities  to  a  life  of  honest  industry ;  and  its 
general  plan  was  adopted  by  Livingston  in  his  scheme  for  the 
administration  of  justice  (and  mercy)  in  Louisiana,  which,  how- 
ever, never  went  into  practical  effect  there.  In  1826  a  similar 
reformatory  was  opened  in  Boston,  and  in  1828  another  in  Phila- 
delphia. All  these  establishments  received  boys  under  sentence, 
and  were  supported  in  whole  or  in  part  by  grants  from  the  public 
revenue.  But  they  were  not  managed  by  the  State  directly,  nor 
did  they  become,  legally  at  least,  a  component  part  of  the  penal 
system  of  the  States  where  they  existed. 

The  first  step  in  the  direction  of  forming  State  establish- 
ments of  this  sort  was  taken  by  Massachusetts  in  1847,  when 
the  State  reform-school  at  Westborough  was  established  by  law. 
Since  then  the  policy  thus  initiated  has  been  generally  followed, 
and  is  now  adopted  in  more  than  half  of  the  States  of  the 
Union,  while  other  semi-public  reformatories  under  municipal 
or  private  management  are  found  in  most  of  the  Northern  and 
Western  States,  but  very  few  of  those  at  the  South.  The 
number  of  large  reformatories  in  America  must  exceed  fifty, 
while  the  smaller  establishments  are  still  more  numerous.  The 
average  number  of  reformatory  pupils  in  1877  cannot  have  been 
less  than  12,000,  of  whom  more  than  2,000  were  girls  ;  nor  does 
this  include  the  strictly  educational  or  preventive  establishments, 
like  the  State  primary  school  for  poor  children  at  Monson,  Mas- 
sachusetts, the  State  public  school  at  Coldwater,  Michigan,  the 
Boston  farm-school,  and  many  other  such  schools,  in  which  it  is 
probable  there  are  as  many  more  children  (say  13,000)  in  all  parts 
of  the  country. 

The  general  results  of  these  reformatory  and  preventive  schools 
are  good,  as  has  been  intimated.  Of  the  estimated  twelve  thou- 
sand in  reformatories  strictly  so  termed  sixty  per  cent  at  least 
will  be  trained  into  good  citizens :  some  would  claim  more  than 
this,  say  seventy-five  or  eighty  per  cent,  but  there  are  no  statistics 
that  bear  out  this  claim.  Perhaps  the  percentage  of  worthy  citi- 
zens trained  up  among  the  whole  twenty-five  thousand  in  preven- 
tive and  reformatory  schools  would  be  as  high  as  seventy-five. 
The  average  cost  of  maintaining  each  child  above  his  earnings 
cannot  be  less  than  $100  a  year  for  the  whole  number,  —  say 
$2,500,000  in  all.  In  Massachusetts  a  yearly  average  of  more 
than  two  thousand  such  children  in  large  and  small  establish- 
ments, of  whom  at  least  twelve  hundred  were  in  reformatories, 
last  year  cost  more  than  $250,000  above  their  earnings,  of  which 
at  least  $200,000  were  raised  by  taxation. 


PART  i.]  CHILD-SAVING  IN  NEW  YORK  CITY.  127 


CHAPTER    XXIII.  —  CHILD-SAVING    WORK    IN    THE    CITY    OF 

NEW  YORK. 

THE  work  done  in  the  great  cities  of  the  United  States  for 
the  reclamation  and  salvation  of  neglected,  destitute,  and 
vicious  children,  if  not  all  that  ought  be  done,  is  at  least  large  in 
extent  and  remarkable  in  its  results.  It  would  be  impossible  in  a 
work  of  this  sort  to  go  much  into  details,  or  even  to  state  in  the 
most  general  way  what  is  doing  in  all  these  cities.  I  will  there- 
fore confine  my  exposition  to  a  short  survey  of  this  child-saving 
work  in  the  city  of  New  York,  —  which,  though  not  the  capital, 
is  yet  the  metropolis  of  the  nation,  —  into  which  are  poured  year 
by  year  successive  waves  of  immigrants  from  almost  every  quar- 
ter of  the  globe.  Vast  deposits  of  impure  and  vicious  elements 
in  the  children  of  these  immigrants  are  thus  accumulated  at  this 
port.  As  early  as  1848  the  chief  of  police  estimated  the  number 
of  such  foreign  children,  wretched  and  half-criminal,  who  were 
daily  wandering  through  the  streets  of  New  York,  at  more  than 
ten  thousand.  To  the  honor  of  the  native-born  citizens,  the 
agencies  for  overcoming  and  suppressing  this  evil  are  measur- 
ably at  least  proportioned  to  its  magnitude. 

There  are  in  the  city  of  New  York  forty-four  associations 
which  have  in  view  the  redemption  of  vicious  and  exposed  chil- 
dren, whether  foreign  or  native.  The  earliest  of  these  was  formed 
in  1834,  soon  after  the  visit  of  De  Tocqueville  to  America,  under 
the  name  of  "  The  American  Female  Guardian  Society."  It  is 
composed,  as  its  title  imports,  of  ladies  whose  wise  activity  in  the 
domain  of  child-saving  work  has  continued  without  abatement 
for  more  than  half  a  century.  Some  twenty-five  years  later,  con- 
temporary with  or  following  the  revelation  of  the  chief  of  police 
referred  to  above,  there  sprang  into  being  "  The  Children's  Aid 
Society,"  the  two  Missions  at  the  Five  Points  (then  the  most 
wretched  quarter  of  the  city),  and  some  years  afterwards  "  The 
Home  for  Little  Wanderers  "  in  the  New  Bowery  street.  The 
two  first-named  are  by  far  the  largest  and  most  important ;  and 
of  these  the  Children's  Aid  Society,  under  the  general  direction 
of  Mr.  Charles  Loring  Brace,  holds  the  pre-eminence.  These  two 
societies,  Children's  Aid  and  Female  Guardian,  have  together 
under  their  care  thirty-three  industrial  schools,  —  the  former 
twenty-one,  the  latter  twelve. 

The  object  of  the  Children's  Aid  Society,  which  has  a  world- 
wide fame,  is  to  save  the  homeless,  vagrant,  and  semi-criminal 
children  of  the  city  by  drawing  them  into  places  of  instruction 
and  shelter,  and  then  by  transferring  them  to  carefully-selected 
homes  in  the  rural  districts.  Its  work  is  divided  into  three 
branches  :  (i.)  Lodging-houses,  where  beds  are  furnished  at  cheap 


128  STATE   OF  PRISONS,   ETC.  [BooK  n. 

rates  ;  (2.)  day  industrial  and  night  schools  ;  (3.)  sending  out  chil- 
dren to  the  West  to  become  laborers,  chiefly  on  farms.  I  offer  a 
brief  resume  of  the  work  done  by  this  excellent  Association  in 
each  of  these  departments  :  — 

i.  The  lodging-houses.  —  Of  these  the  number  is  seven,  of  which 
one  is  for  girls,  the  other  six  for  boys  :  a  description  of  one  will 
give  an  idea  of  all.  Let  us  take  "  The  Newsboys'  Lodging-house," 
so  called,  because  it  is  intended  for  children  who  sell  newspapers. 
It  is  a  large  brick  building,  six  stories  high.  When  a  boy  presents 
himself  there,  his  name,  age,  birth-place,  and  the  names  of  his 
parents  are  inscribed  in  a  register.  If  he  has  money,  he  is  re- 
quired to 'pay  six  cents  for  his  lodging ;  if  not,  two  meals  and  a 
bed  are  every  day  furnished  gratuitously.  His  under-clothing  is 
washed  weekly  without  charge.  If  he  has  no  shirt,  one  is  given 
him  as  soon  as  it  is  ascertained  that  he  cannot  earn  enough  to 
buy  one  ;  but  it  is  a  fixed  principle  to  require  the  lodgers  to  earn 
all  they  can.  At  first,  only  the  rules  of  the  house  are  made  known 
to  the  applicant.  Nothing  further  is  said  to  him,  till  it  is  ascer- 
tained whether  he  has  a  home  or  not.  If  the  boy  has  neither 
home  nor  parents,  it  is  suggested  to  him  that  he  go  West  to  find 
employment  in  a  respectable  family.  He  is  counselled  to  be  hon- 
est and  industrious,  and  to  let  tobacco  alone.  He  is  told  that  if 
he  wants  employment,  he  must  keep  himself  scrupulously  clean. 
Generally,  when  these  boys  come  to  the  house  they  are  in  a  con- 
dition impossible  to  be  described  ;  but  in  a  few  days  the  change 
is  so  complete  that  they  can  hardly  be  recognized. 

The  bedsteads  are  of  iron,  arranged  in  tiers  one  above  the  other, 
as  in  the  cabin  of  a  steamboat.  As  soon  as  the  lodgers  are  in  bed 
there  reigns  a  profound  silence ;  all  sleep  peacefully.  A  guard 
remains  in  the  dormitory  till  eleven  o'clock.  There  are  special 
rooms,  containing  only  two  or  three  beds.  The  administration 
prefers  the  use  of  these  rooms,  and  notes  with  a  good  mark  those 
who  choose  them.  But,  to  prevent  jealousy,  their  occupants  are 
charged  ten  cents  a  night,  while  the  others  pay  only  six. 

The  establishment  has  a  gymnasium,  a  bath-room,  a  dining-hall, 
a  drying-room  for  boys  who  arrive  with  their  clothes  wet,  and  a 
reception-room,  which  serves  also  as  a  school-room ;  for  in  all  the 
lodging-houses  there  are  night  schools.  On  the  walls  of  this  apart- 
ment are  the  following  inscriptions  :  "  Boys  who  have  a  home  are 
not  received  here."  "  Boys  who  desire  situations  in  the  country 
should  apply  to  the  director."  "  Under-clothing  washed  gratui- 
tously every  Friday."  "The  use  of  tobacco  is  strictly  forbidden." 

The  most  curious  part  of  the  furniture  of  the  reception-room  is 
a  large  table,  pierced  with  one  hundred  and  ten  numbered  holes, 
each  large  enough  to  admit  a  half-dollar.  This  is  the  savings 
bank,  where  every  boy  is  invited  to  deposit  whatever  he  can  spare 
from  his  living.  He  has  only  to  drop  it  in  the  hole  bearing  his 


PART  i.]  CHILD-SAVING  IN  NEW  YORK  CITY.  1 29 

number.  Every  precaution  is  taken  to  assure  the  safety  of  this 
place  of  deposit.  On  each  side  of  the  table  are  two  drawers, 
secured  by  a  triple  lock.  These  are  divided  into  as  many  com- 
partments as  the  table  has  numbers ;  each  of  which  compart- 
ments is  also  shut  with  a  key,  which  is  kept  by  the  boy  to  whom  it 
belongs.  The  sums  thus  deposited  amounted  in  1875  to  $3>2°6, 
the  deposits  being  made  by  one  thousand  three  hundred  and 
eleven  boys,  —  nearly  three  dollars  to  each  one. 

Something  like  thirteen  thousand  homeless  children  are  annu- 
ally sheltered  in  the  seven  lodging-houses  under  the  care  of  the 
Society  ;  and  the  nightly  total  average  of  lodgers  is  about  six  hun- 
dred. The  Newsboys'  Lodging-house  alone,  which  was  erected 
at  a  cost  of  $200,000,  has  received  since  its  foundation  over  one 
hundred  thousand  different  boys. 

2.  Day  industrial  and  night  schools.  —  Of  the  former,  as  before 
stated,  the  number  is  twenty-one ;   of  the  latter,  thirteen.     The 
day  schools  are  designed  for  that  large  class  of  children  who, 
though  having  friends  and  homes,  are  too  poor  and  ragged  to 
attend  the  public  schools,  and  are  obliged  to  be  on  the  street  a 
part  of  the  day  engaged  in  street  occupations.     To  these  children 
a  simple  meal  is  given,  clothing  and  shoes  are  distributed  to  the 
more  needy,  and  industrial  branches  are  taught  in  addition  to 
the  common  branches. 

3.  Sending  children  to  homes  in  the  West.  —  The  Society  began 
its  work  in  1853,  and  that  year  secured  homes  in  the  country  for 
two  hundred  and  seven  boys  ;   to-day  it  sends  out  from  three 
thousand  to  four  thousand  annually,  while  the  whole  number  for 
whom  it  has  provided  homes  must  be  somewhere  between  forty 
thousand  and  fifty  thousand,  nearly  all  of  whom  have  been  saved 
to  a  life  of  virtuous  industry  and  good  citizenship.     A  special 
agent  is  charged  with  this  part  of  the  service.     When  a  party  of 
children  has  been  made  up,  and  is  ready  to  set  out  on  the  journey, 
an  employe  of  the  Society  is  detailed  to  accompany  them  ;  and  he 
does  not  leave  them  till  all  have  been  placed.     Besides  the  knowl- 
edge of  them  kept  up  through  correspondence,  partly  with  the 
children,  partly  with  their  employers,  they  are  from  time  to  time 
visited  by  agents  of  the  association,  who  report  as  to  their  condi- 
tion and  how  they  are  getting  on. 

It  is,  perhaps,  hardly  proper  to  speak  of  it  as  a  fourth  branch  of 
the  Society's  work,  yet  it  is  nevertheless  true  that  for  some  years 
it  has  supported  a  seaside  summer  home,  in  which  some  two  thou- 
sand children  have  during  the  summer  enjoyed  a  week  of  recrea- 
tion and  country  air. 

The  total  outlay,  during  its  quarter  century  of  work,  has  ex- 
ceeded $2,000,000  (10,000,000  francs) ;  and  the  annual  income  at 
the  present  time,  partly  from  legislative  and  municipal  grants,  but 
chiefly  from  private  benefactions,  does  not  fall  much,  if  any,  below 
a  quarter  of  a  million  dollars. 

9 


130  STATE  OF  PRISONS,   ETC.  [BooK  n. 


CHAPTER  XXIV.  —  CHILD-SAVING  AS  A  PREVENTIVE  OF  CRIME 

IN  NEW  YORK. 

IT  would  occupy  too  much  space  to  go  into  even  the  briefest 
details  of  the  other  charitable  associations,  named  and  not 
named,  which  have  co-operated  actively  and  efficiently  with  the 
Children's  Aid  Society  in  this  child-saving  work.  It  is  more  im- 
portant to  inquire,  Has  all  this  work  borne  any  sensible  fruit  in 
the  way  of  crime-prevention  ?  Yes,  much  and  precious. 

First,  as  to  females.  The  commitments  of  females  for  vagrancy 
—  a  term  which  includes  many  of  the  peculiar  offences  of  women 
and  girls  —  fell  from  5,880  in  1860  to  548  in  1871,  the  latest  year 
for  which  returns  have  been  furnished  by  the  Commissioners  of 
Charities  and  Correction.  If  this  class  had  increased  proportion- 
ably  with  the  population,  the  number  in  1871  would  have  been 
6,700  in  place  of  548.  The  commitments  of  young  girls  for  petty 
thieving  shrank  from  1,133  'm  l86o  to  572  in  1871  ;  and  female 
"juvenile  delinquents"  from  240  in  1860  to  59  in  1870.  The 
commitments  of  female  young  children  fell  from  403  in  1863  to 
212  in  1871. 

Second,  as  to  males.  The  commitments  for  vagrancy  dimin- 
ished from  2,829  in  1859  to  934  in  1871,  whereas  the  natural 
increase  according  to  population  would  have  given,  for  the  last- 
named  year,  3,225.  For  petty  larceny  the  decrease  was  from 
2,626  in  1859  to  r>978  in  1871,  while  by  natural  increase  the  num- 
ber would  have  been  2,861.  The  classification  of  the  commit- 
ments of  lads  under  fifteen  years  began  in  1864,  and  the  decrease 
is  from  1,965  in  that  year  to  1,017  in  1871.  The  arrests  of  juve- 
nile pickpockets  fell  from  466  in  1860  to  313  in  1871.  This  com- 
parison might  be  carried  out  farther,  but  it  is  already  sufficient  to 
prove  the  remarkable  effect  produced  upon  the  growth,  or  rather 
the  shrinkage,  of  juvenile  criminality  since  the  child-saving  work 
began  in  earnest  in  New  York  on  its  actual  basis  as  to  breadth. 

The  curative  moral  power  of  this  work  may  be  shown  by  a  state- 
ment of  a  different  kind,  certainly  no  less  striking  and  perhaps 
even  more  so.  Ten  years  ago,  the  Children's  Aid  Society  started 
one  of  its  day  industrial  schools  in  the  midst  of  a  population  ex- 
ceptionally vicious  and  miserable,  composed  largely  of  Irish  emi- 
grants. The  school  was  overrun  with  children,  the  number 
exceeding  one  thousand.  To-day  it  is  not  more  than  three  hun- 
dred, having  diminished  by  two-thirds,  because  of  a  proportionate 
diminution  of  neglected  children.  Indeed,  the  manners  of  that 
quarter  of  the  city  have  changed,  and  the  time  is  foreseen  when 
the  school  will  either  become  useless,  or  will  have  to  change  its 
destination. 


PART  i.]  HOPEFUL   CHARACTER   OF  THE    WORK,  131 

Let  it  not  be  supposed,  because  I  have  said  so  much  of  what 
New  York  is  doing,  that  other  large  American  cities  are  not  equally 
active  and  successful.  An  intelligent  Frenchman,  M.  Robin,  who 
is  the  foremost  man  among  his  countrymen  on  this  subject,  in  a 
work  recently  issued  from  the  press,  remarks  :  "  As  in  New  York, 
so  in  all  the  larger  cities  of  the  United  States.  The  traveller  who 
visits  them  is  astonished  at  a  state  of  things  quite  new  to  one  who 
knows  only  the  great  cities  of  France :  it  is  the  fact,  that  he  sees 
no  children  wandering  in  the  streets  during  the  hours  of  school. 
This  fact  is  thus  explained  :  The  police  of  the  city  arrests  all  the 
little  vagrants  and  conducts  them  before  the  magistrate,  who  sends 
them  to  the  industrial  schools.  It  is  thus  that  New  York,  the 
metropolis  of  America,  the  receptacle  of  all  the  impure  elements 
of  Europe,  is  healed  by  this  energetic  moral  hygiene.  There,  no 
more  than  in  other  cities,  are  vagrant  children  seen  in  the  streets 
at  the  hour  named." 


CHAPTER   XXV.  —  HOPEFUL  CHARACTER  OF   CHILD-SAVING 

WORK. 

THE  thing  which  most  strikes  one  on  a  survey  of  this  whole 
preventive  and  reformatory  work  is  its  extremely  hopeful 
character.  From  its  commencement,  certainly  not  less,  probably 
more,  than  a  quarter  of  a  million  of  children  have  felt  its  beneficent 
and  regenerative  action.  Of  these  the  vast  majority  have  been 
rescued  from  idleness,  vagrancy,  and  vice,  and  subjected  for  an 
average  of  two  years  or  more  to  the  elevating  and  refining  in- 
fluences of  industry,  education,  and  religion.  And  with  what 
results  ?  Three-fourths  of  them —  that  is,  nearly  200,000  —  have 
been  saved,  and  are  leading  upright  and  respectable  lives.  It 
may  be  safely  assumed,  that,  but  for  the  curative  influence  of 
these  quiet  and  humble  but  busy  and  hard-working  reformato- 
ries, four  out  of  every  five  of  these  boys  and  girls  would  have  gone 
to  swell  the  torrent  of  criminality  that  is  sweeping  over  the 
land,  whereas  now  they  give  breadth  and  volume  to  the  stream 
of  honest  toil  that  is  subduing  the  wilderness  and  making  it  bud 
and  blossom  as  the  rose.  No  figures  of  arithmetic  or  figures  of 
rhetoric  can  adequately  set  forth  the  good  which  has  been  ac- 
complished through  this  instrumentality.  There  can  be  no  wiser 
economy  than  the  expenditure  that  has  been  made  to  this  end ; 
no  cheaper  defence  of  life  and  property,  of  the  public  peace  and 
order,  than  that  which  has  been  devised  and  so  nobly  carried 
into  effect  by  the  friends  and  promoters  of  juvenile  reform.  Yet, 
after  all,  what  are  material  benefits  when  placed  in  the  scale 


132  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BooK  11. 

against  the  higher  interest  of  humanity  ;  and  what  the  cost  in- 
curred in  securing  these  benefits,  when  weighed  against  the  duty 
resting  on  society  to  multiply  the  agencies  for  moral  advancement 
and  the  means  of  checking,  and  if  possible  preventing,  the  in- 
crease of  ignorance,  pauperism,  brutality,  and  crime  ? 

But  there  is  another  aspect  of  the  case  which  has  a  sad  and 
harrowing  interest.  I  refer  to  the  condition  and  surroundings  of 
these  children  before  their  commitment.  More  than  one  half  of 
them  were  orphans  by  the  loss  of  one  or  both  parents,  and  more 
than  a  moiety  of  the  rest  worse  than  orphans  by  the  intemper- 
ance, brutality,  and  crimes  of  their  parents.  Nearly  one  half  were 
wholly  or  virtually  illiterate  ;  the  major  part  were  living  in  idle- 
ness, either  vagrants  or  truants  ;  three-fourths  were  neglecters  of 
church  and  Sunday-school,  and  more  than  three-fourths  addicted 
to  profanity ;  more  than  half  were  frequenters  of  theatres,  and 
more  than  a  third  habitual  chewers  or  smokers  of  tobacco  ;  a 
moiety  had  been  arrested  more  than  once  ;  a  large  proportion  were 
homeless,  or  otherwise  out  of  the  normal  family  relation,  not 
simply  by  orphanage,  but  by  having  step-parents,  or  parents  who 
had  been  separated  or  were  in  prison ;  and  almost  all  were  the 
children  of  neglect,  of  ignorance,  of  poverty,  of  misery,  of  the 
street,  of  the  dock,  —  in  a  word,  of  evil  surroundings  and  evil  influ- 
ences whose  name  is  legion,  and  their  power  well-rfigh  omnipotent. 
What  a  catalogue  of  exposures,  temptations,  and  perils  !  How 
few  and  faint  the  chances  of  victory  in  such  a  battle !  How  al- 
most certain  the  issue  of  disaster,  defeat,  and  ruin !  Numbers  of 
these  homeless,  outcast,  beleaguered  children  came  to  the  refor- 
matories with  the  impression  burned  into  their  souls,  "  Nobody 
cares  for  me  ! "  No  language  is  more  common  from  their  lips, 
on  their  reception,  than  such  expressions  as  these  :  "  /  have  no 
friends  ;  I  never  had  any."  A  task  of  greatest  difficulty  it  often  is 
to  correct  this  impression,  which,  so  long  as  it  lasts,  is  fatal  to  all 
progress.  The  effect  is  sometimes  wonderful  when  the  convic- 
tion is  brought  home  for  the  first  time  to  one  of  these  children, 
"  There  is  one  that  loves  me  and  cares  for  my  welfare."  It  is  the 
first  violet  of  spring,  whose  beauty  and  fragrance  are  at  once  a 
prophecy  and  a  promise  of  the  bloom  and  the  fruitage  of  summer 
and  autumn. 


PART  IL]  IN  MASSACHUSETTS.  133 


PART    SECOND. 

INDIVIDUAL  STATES  OF  THE  AMERICAN  UNION. 

CHAPTER  XXVI.  —  NEW  ENGLAND  STATES.  —  MASSACHUSETTS. 

MASSACHUSETTS  is  not  among  the  larger  or  more  popu- 
lous States  of  the  Union,  but  from  the  start  she  has  led 
the  whole  sisterhood  in  all  the  qualities  that  constitute  a  true  and 
sturdy  civilization  ;  and  to-day,  after  the  lapse  of  a  century,  she 
holds  the  same  proud  position  as  when,  still  an  infant,  she  braved 
the  wrath  and  defied  the  power  of  a  mighty  empire,  by  tumbling 
a  whole  cargo  of  tea  into  the  waters  of  the  ocean,  rather  than 
sacrifice  one  jot  or  tittle  of  principle.  In  her  treatment  of  crime 
and  criminals,  in  her  system  of  penal,  penitentiary,  reformatory, 
and  preventive  agencies,  she  has  in  the  main  —  I  will  not  here 
say  absolutely  and  always  —  shown  a  pre-eminence  in  harmony 
with  her  supremacy  in  most  other  departments  of  social  progress. 
These  agencies  include  a  prison  system,  a  reformatory  system, 
and  a  preventive  system  ;  but  these  three,  and  especially  the  last 
two,  are  more  or  less  interlaced,  —  the  reformatory  being  largely 
preventive,  and  the  preventive  to  a  certain  extent  reformatory. 

Of  penal  institutions  properly  so  called,  —  that  is,  of  institutions 
having  to  do  with  the  repression  of  crime,  —  there  are,  exclusive  of 
station-houses  or  lock-ups,  twenty-five  ;  namely,  three  State-prisons 
and  twenty-two  county  prisons,  divided  between  common  jails  and 
houses  of  correction,  these  being  about  equal  in  number.  Some 
of  them  are  independent  institutions,  but  the  greater  number  are 
annexes  to  the  jails,  and  are  under  the  same  roof  and  the  same 
administration. 

The  first  State-prison  was  established  in  1800  for  men  and 
women  felons,  in  what  was  then  a  suburb  but  is  now  a  part  of 
Boston.  It  has  lately  been  removed  to  the  country,  near  Con- 
cord, a  better  location  for  such  an  establishment.  Through  the 
persistent  efforts  of  the  women  of  Massachusetts  there  has  been 
opened,  within  the  last  two  years,  a  female  State-prison  at  Sher- 
born,  quite  in  the  country.  Besides  these,  there  is  a  third  State- 
prison  at  Bridgewater,  under  the  name  of  State  workhouse,  which  is 
a  prison  for  vagrants,  drunkards,  and  other  classes  of  misdemean- 
ants,—  mostly  men,  for  the  women  are  nearly  all  now  sent  to  Sher- 
born.  The  aggregate  number  of  convicts  at  present  in  the  State- 


134  STATE   OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  ir. 

prisons  is  1,343  >  namely,  770  in  the  male  prison  ;  357  in  the  female 
prison;  and  216  in  the  misdemeanant  prison,  —  showing  about 
twenty-five  per  cent  of  women.  The  original  State-prison,  estab- 
lished in  1800,  has  been  self-supporting  during  a  little  more  than 
a  moiety  of  its  existence.  During  the  severe  business  depression 
of  the  last  six  years  it  has  gone  a  good  deal  behindhand  ;  but  it 
is  not  doubted,  that,  with  a  return  of  general  prosperity,  the  rev- 
enue from  the  convict  labor  will  again  meet  all  expenses.  I  have 
visited  and  spent  a  day  at  the  women's  prison  with  much  satis- 
faction. The  reformatory  agencies  are  wisely  organized,  and 
must  show  good  results  after  they  shall  have  had  time  to  exert 
and  make  manifest  their  inherent  power. 

The  common  jails  are,  for  the  most  part,  used  for  the  safe  cus- 
tody of  prisoners  awaiting  trial  who  cannot  give  the  required  bail 
for  their  appearance,  for  witnesses  in  criminal  cases  detained  for 
the  same  reason,  and  for  persons  confined  for  the  non-payment  of 
fines  ;  there  are  also  a  few  serving  out  terms  of  sentence  for 
trifling  offences.  The  houses  of  correction  are  convict  prisons 
for  persons  convicted  of  the  lower  grades  of  crime,  the  maxi- 
mum sentence  being  three  years,  as  the  minimum  sentence  to 
the  male  prison  is  also  three  years.  The  shortest  sentence  to 
the  women's  prison  is  now  three  months,  too  short  for  a  mini- 
mum in  a  prison  of  its  class.  A  few  of  the  houses  of  correction 
are,  I  believe,  or  have  been,  self-supporting  from  the  labor  of 
their  inmates.  The  number  now  in  the  jails  (May,  1879)  is  about 
450 ;  in  the  houses  of  correction,  2,300,  —  total,  2,750.  In  the 
winter  the  number  is  larger,  and  rose  during  the  severe  winter  of 
1878-9  to  3,500.  The  average  daily  number  in  all  the  prisons  is 
slightly  in  excess  of  4,500,  and  the  whole  number  annually  pass- 
ing through  them  is  20,000.  I  am  unable  to  give  any  account  of 
the  lock-ups  in  the  three  hundred  and  forty-five  cities  and  towns, 
—  more  numerous  therefore  than  all  the  other  prisons,  —  beyond 
the  fact  that  their  aggregate  estimated  annual  cost  is  in  the 
neighborhood  of  $50,000.  The  total  annual  cost  of  all  the  pris- 
ons, including  the  lock-ups,  is  not  far  from  §570,000. 

By  a  recent  Act  of  the  Legislature,  the  regulation  and  man- 
agement of  the  penal  institutions  of  the  State  were  made  more 
uniform,  though  not  completely  centralized.  A  State  Board  of 
five  members,  —  three  men  and  two  women,  —  appointed  by  the 
governor  for  five  years,  now  manages  all  the  affairs  of  the  State- 
prisons  at  Concord  and  Sherborn,  and  establishes  rules  for  the 
county  jails  and  houses  of  correction,  though  these  are  directly 
managed  by  the  county  authorities.  The  new  board  has  no  power 
of  government  over  the  State  workhouse  at  Bridgewater  ;  but  is 
empowered  to  transfer  women  from  it  to  Sherborn,  and  also  to 
make  all  necessary  transfers  of  prisoners  among  the  county  houses 
of  correction.  It  is  not  doubted  that  the  extended  powers  given 


PART  ii.]  IN  MASSACHUSETTS,  135 

to  this  new  board  will  enable  it  to  make  prison  discipline  in  Mas- 
sachusetts not  only  more  uniform,  but  more  reformatory  as  well. 

There  are  three  juvenile  reformatories,  technically  so  called,  in 
Massachusetts ;  namely,  the  House  of  Reformation,  established 
by  the  city  of  Boston  in  1826;  the  State  Reformatory  for  Boys, 
opened  at  Westborough  in  1848;  and  the  State  Reform  School 
for  girls,  at  Lancaster  in  1856.  The  average  daily  number  in  all 
three  institutions  for  last  year  (1878)  was  657,  of  whom  95  were 
girls.  The  girls'  reformatory  is  conducted  wholly,  the  boys  refor- 
matory partially,  on  the  family  system.  The  average  percentage 
of  reformations  is  probably  seventy  or  thereabout.  The  house 
of  reformation  at  Boston  was  the  second  juvenile  reformatory  in 
America,  having  been  established  in  1826,  one  year  after  the 
mother  institution  at  New  York. 

The  preventive  system  in  Massachusetts  is  more  extended, 
and  no  doubt  more  effective,  than  the  reformatory.  First  among 
these  institutions  (not  first  in  importance)  I  name  the  State  Pri- 
mary School  at  Monson,  opened  in  1866.  It  has  an  average 
of  more  than  four  hundred  poor  children,  such  as  furnish  the 
material  for  criminals  if  neglected  and  corrupted,  as  they  would 
be  almost  sure  to  be.  And  here  I  mention,  somewhat  out  of  its 
logical  order  perhaps,  that  the  two  State  reformatories,  as  well 
as  this  State  preventive  school,  were  by  act  of  the  Legislature 
in  July,  1879,  placed  in  charge  of  a  single  board  of  seven  mem- 
bers, of  whom  three  are  women.  Prior  to  that  date  the  three 
institutions  had  been  managed  each  by  its  own  board.  The 
House  of  Reformation  is  administered  by  the  municipal  authori- 
ties of  Boston. 

Next  among  the  preventive  agencies  may  be  named  a  consid- 
erable number  of  city  institutions,  some  of  them  under  the  title 
of  "  truant  schools."  The  total  number  of  inmates  in  establish- 
ments of  this  sort  may  be  set  down  as  exceeding  four  hundred, 
and  they  are  doing  an  excellent  work. 

But  most  important  of  all  the  agencies  preventive  of  crime  is 
an  institution  which  was  created  and  has  been  in  operation  since 
1867,  under  the  name  of  the  State  Visiting  Agency.  It  is 
(i)  authorized  to  attend  upon  the  criminal  courts  when  children 
under  a  certain  age  are  arraigned,  and  may  in  its  discretion, 
after  hearing  the  evidence,  take  them  immediately  under  its 
charge,  and  place  them  in  suitable  families  in  the  country ;  (2)  it 
is  authorized,  whenever  in  its  best  judgment  it  thinks  proper,  to 
take  the  children  out  of  the  State  reformatories,  and  place  them 
in  families  as  above.  It  is  the  duty  of  the  agent  and  his  assist- 
ants statedly  to  visit  these  children  at  their  foster-homes,  and 
the  agency  is  empowered  to  continue  them  there  or  remove 
them  therefrom,  according  to  circumstances.  This  is  a  work  of 
the  highest  utility,  as  more  than  seventy  per  cent  of  the  children 
thus  dealt  with  are  saved  to  themselves  and  to  society. 


136  STATE   OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  n. 

Finally,  among  the  preventive  agencies  must  be  mentioned 
the  orphan  asylums,  to  the  number  of  twenty,  scattered  through 
the  State,  with  an  average  aggregate  of  five  hundred  inmates. 
They  are  doing  the  ordinary  work  of  such  establishments,  in  the 
customary  manner,  and  with  the  usual  excellent  results. 

Something  is  done  to  prevent  relapse  into  crime  by  discharged 
convicts,  both  on  the  part  of  the  State  and  by  private  benevo- 
lence. There  are  two  prisoners'  aid  societies,  one  for  men  and 
the  other  for  women,  and  the  State  makes  an  annual  appropri- 
ation for  both,  amounting  in  all  to  about  four  thousand  five  hun- 
dred dollars.  With  this  about  five  hundred  convicts  are  assisted 
in  a  year.  This  part  of  the  prison  system,  by  the  recent  law, 
comes  under  the  charge  of  the  new  board  of  prison  commission- 
ers, who  can,  if  they  see  fit,  much  extend  the  work  of  aiding  dis- 
charged prisoners  to  support  themselves  by  honest  labor. 


CHAPTER  XXVII.  —  NEW  ENGLAND  STATES  (continued}.  — 
RHODE  ISLAND. 

WE  pass  to  a  State  among  the  smallest,  in  territory  and 
population,  of  any  of  the  States  in  the  American  Union, 
though  by  no  means  the  least  important  in  regard  to  its  prison 
system  and  prison  work.     It  has  but  five  counties,  all  of  them 
diminutive  in  size,  and,  with  one  exception,  in  population  as  well. 

The  prison  and  reformatory  system  of  Rhode  Island  consists 
of  a  State-prison,  a  house  of  correction,  and  five  county  jails, 
together  with  the  Providence  Reform  School,  —  this  latter  under 
the  control  and  management  of  the  municipal  authorities  of  that 
city.  The  State-prison  and  Providence  county  jail  have  always 
been  administered  by  the  same  board  and  within  the  same  enclo- 
sure ;  the  other  four  jails,  by  the  counties  in  which  they  are  situ- 
ated ;  the  house  of  correction,  by  the  board  of  State  charities 
and  corrections;  and  the  juvenile  reformatory,  by  the  city  of 
Providence  as  stated  above.  Ten  years  ago  the  board  of  chari- 
ties was  created,  and  a  valuable  farm  of  several  hundred  acres 
was  purchased  near  the  city  of  Providence.  Here  it  was  in- 
tended to  gather  by  degrees  all  the  public  institutions  of  the 
State  having  any  thing  to  do  with  the  criminal,  insane,  and 
pauper  classes  of  the  population.  A  new  institution  was  imme- 
diately founded  at  this  locality  under  the  name  of  workhouse  and 
house  of  correction.  There  were  also  erected  there,  soon  after 
the  creation  of  the  board,  a  new  insane  asylum,  a  new  almshouse, 
and  lately  a  small  school  has  been  opened  for  the  older  pauper 


PART  n.]  IN  RHODE  ISLAND.  137 

children,  under  the  care  and  instruction  of  the  chaplain.  The 
farm  is  large  ;  the  children  are  entirely  withdrawn  from  the  com- 
panionship of  the  adults  ;  and  it  is  believed,  that,  placed  under 
the  kindly  care  of  the  excellent  chaplain  and  his  family,  in 
whose  house  they  are  lodged,  they  will  have  as  good  a  start  in 
life  as  many  of  those  who  are  more  favored  in  birth  and  fortune. 
The  State-prison  and  Providence  jail  have  lately  been  removed 
to  the  new  and  admirably-planned  and  constructed  buildings 
erected  for  their  accommodation  on  the  State  farm.  It  is  now 
proposed  to  abolish  the  jails  in  the  other  four  counties,  and  bring 
all  the  jail  prisoners  to  the  State  farm  ;  and  this  will  no  doubt 
be  effected  in  due  time.  Thus  Rhode  Island  furnishes  the  most 
complete  example  of  unification  and  centralization  in  the  United 
States.  The  whole  series  of  institutions  on  the  State  farm  are 
under  the  care  of  the  board  of  State  charities  and  corrections,  — 
a  body  which  seems  to  be  doing  its  work  with  intelligence,  vigor, 
and  large  success.  The  average  number  in  the  State-prison  is 
less  than  one  hundred.  The  labor  is  skilfully  managed,  and  pro- 
duces a  revenue  more  than  sufficient  to  meet  all  expenses.  A 
prosperous  prison-school  is  maintained.  Popular  scientific  and 
entertaining  lectures  are  from  time  to  time  given  to  the  prisoners 
by  competent  professors  from  the  university  and  elsewhere.  An 
excellent  chaplain  holds  religious  services  on  the  Sabbath.  A 
Sunday-school  is  kept  up  with  much  spirit  and  the  best  results, 
at  which  volunteer  workers  from  outside  assist.  One  evening 
of  the  week  there  is  a  prisoners'  prayer-meeting,  which  is  well  at- 
tended and  earnestly  participated  in  by  the  prison  inmates.  Few 
punishments  of  any  kind  are  found  necessary,  and  those  which 
are  employed  are  almost  wholly  of  a  moral  character.  Moral 
forces  have  thus  largely  taken  the  place  of  physical.  In  the  new 
prison  no  dark  cells  have  been  constructed,  from  a  belief  that 
they  would  never  be  needed.  The  cells  in  this  building  are  of 
three  sizes,  the  larger  being  provided  with  more  conveniences 
than  the  smaller,  and  as  the  prisoners  earn  better  treatment  by 
their  good  conduct  they  are  changed  from  the  smaller  to  the 
larger.  A  prisoners'  aid  society  has  been  for  several  years  in  ex- 
istence, of  which  Mrs.  Little,  daughter  of  the  late  eminent  United 
States  Senator  Robbins,  is  president.  This  lady  has  collected 
money  and  purchased  a  site  for  a  refuge  or  temporary  home  for 
liberated  prisoners,  where  they  will  be  able  to  sustain  themselves 
by  their  labor  while  waiting  for  permanent  employment,  which 
of  course  should  be  secured  for  them  at  the  earliest  practicable 
moment.  The  quickest  possible  re-absorption  into  the  ranks  of 
honest  industry,  after  quitting  prison,  is  the  best. 

The  Providence  Reform  School  has  been  among  the  most  suc- 
cessful of  its  class  in  the  country,  and  has  won  an  enviable  repu- 
tation for  efficiency  and  usefulness. 


138  STAl^E   OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  n. 

So  far  as  I  have  been  able  to  learn,  there  are  five  other  child- 
saving  institutions  in  Rhode  Island,  as  follows  :  I.  The  Chil- 
dren's Friend  Society,  at  Providence.  This  association  has  had 
an  existence  of  more  than  forty  years,  and  during  that  time  has 
received  and  cared  for  over  a  thousand  destitute  children,  nearly 
all  of  whom  have  been  saved  to  a  life  of  virtuous  citizenship. 
But  for  the  care  thus  extended,  much  the  greater  part  of  these 
children  would  doubtless  have  gone  to  swell  the  ranks  of  crime. 
It  has  now  seventy-seven  inmates,  nearly  equally  divided  between 
boys  and  girls ;  the  former,  however,  being  in  the  majority.  2. 
The  Providence  Nursery,  created  to  give  shelter  to  the  infant  chil- 
dren of  the  poor.  It  is  of  more  recent  origin,  having  been  founded 
some  half-dozen  years  ago.  During  this  time  more  than  two 
hundred  little  ones  have  been  clothed,  fed,  and  cared  for,  till 
adopted  by  other  homes  and  friends.  Where  parents  or  friends 
can  pay,  they  are  required  to  do  so  ;  where  they  cannot,  the 
children  are  cared  for  all  the  same,  and  charity  foots  the  bill. 
3.  Association  for  the  Benefit  of  Colored  Children.  The  average 
number  of  inmates  last  year  (1878)  was  thirty,  —  ten  boys  and 
twenty  girls.  This  has  been  about  the  average  during  the  twenty- 
five  years  of  the  Society's  life.  4.  The  Home  for  Friendless  and 
Destitute  Children  at  Newport.  Here  the  average  of  inmates  is 
about  the  same  ;  last  year  it  was  twenty-seven.  5.  The  St.  Aloy- 
sius  Orphan  Asylum  at  Providence  (Roman  Catholic).  Of  this 
I  can  give  only  the  name,  having  failed  in  the  effort  to  obtain 
further  information. 


CHAPTER  XXVIII.  —  NEW  ENGLAND  STATES  (continued).  — 

CONNECTICUT. 

THERE  are  three  classes  of  institutions  in  this  State,  —  the 
penal,  the  reformatory,  and  the  preventive. 
Belonging  to  the  first,  category  are  the  State-prison  and  the 
county  jails.  The  State-prison  at  Wethersfield,  from  its  founda- 
tion in  1827,  was,  during  the  twenty  years  of  General  Amos  Pils- 
bury's  administration,  the  model  institution  of  the  whole  country. 
This  is  the  position  assigned  to  it  by  the  eminent  French  com- 
missioners, Messrs,  de  Beaumont  and  de  Tocqueville.  But  this 
pre-eminence  has  long  since  passed  away.  However,  the  present 
board  of  directors,  appointed  by  the  governor,  —  non-partisan  in 
character,  and  serving  without  compensation,  —  is  a  body  of  en- 
lightened, able,  and  earnest  men,  who  are  determined  to  restore 
the  prison  to  its  pristine  glory,  and  bring  back  the  bright  record 
of  its  palmy  days. 


PART  n.]  IN  CONNECTICUT.  139 

There  is  a  common  jail  in  each  county  of  the  State, —  eight  in 
all.  They  are  places  of  detention  for  prisoners  awaiting  trial  and 
for  witnesses  in  criminal  cases  who  are  unable  to  furnish  bail  for 
their  appearance  at  the  trial.  They  are  also  places  of  punishment 
for  persons  convicted  of  minor  offences  and  sentenced  to  short 
terms  of  imprisonment.  They  are  built  by  the  counties  and 
managed  by  the  county  authorities.  The  result  is  an  utter  want 
of  uniformity  in  construction,  arrangement,  and  administration. 
There  are  but  three  of  the  whole  number  which  can  be  regarded 
as  at  all  what  a  jail  ought  to  be. 

Of  reformatory  institutions  in  this  State  there  are  two  :  the 
State  Reform  School  for  boys  at  West  Meriden,  and  the  Girls' 
Industrial  School  at  Middletown.  Both  have  long  been  reputed 
as  among  the  best  establishments  of  their  class  in  the  country. 
The  first  was  founded  and  is  managed  by  the  State  ;  the  second 
by  private  citizens.  The  boys'  reformatory  has  a  farm  of  one 
hundred  and  sixty  acres,  which  became,  under  the  skilful  man- 
agement of  its  late  distinguished  superintendent,  Dr.  Hatch,  one 
of  the  model  farms  of  the  State.  The  institution  has  accommo- 
dations for  three  hundred  inmates,  with  admirable  appliances  of 
all  kinds,  —  dormitories,  schoolrooms,  workshops,  playgrounds,  etc. 
It  is  on  the  congregate  as  distinguished  from  the  family  plan  ; 
but  under  its  present  administration — which  is  in  the  hands  of 
Mr.  George  E.  Howe,  well  known  and  highly  honored  as  the  head 
for  many  years  of  the  family  reform  farm-school  of  Ohio  —  an 
earnest  effort  is  being  made  to  modify  and  improve  it  by  the  ad- 
dition of  one  or  more  family  houses.  This  may,  and  very  likely 
will  in  the  end,  lead  to  an  entire  change  of  system  in  this  regard. 

The  Girls'  Industrial  School  is  due  to  private  initiative  for  its 
origin,  but  is  largely  supported  by  annual  grants  from  the  State 
Treasury.  This  is  substantially  the  English  system,  and  is  by 
many,  and  certainly  by  the  present  writer,  regarded  as  the  better 
plan,  especially  as  it  gives  entire  control  to  the  best  friends  of  the 
institution  and  secures  absolute  freedom  from  outside  interference. 
Moreover,  the  union  of  public  and  private  charity  —  the  first  to 
start,  the  second  to  maintain  —  offers  strong  inducements  to  the 
multiplication  of  such  institutions.  Then  again,  —  and  this  is  the 
strongest  argument,  —  the  influence  upon  the  children  is  better 
and  more  wholesome,  since  the  breaking  them  up  into  families 
tends  at  the  same  time  measurably  to  break  up  the  stiffening  and 
denaturalizing  effect  of  institutional  life,  to  develop  the  personality, 
and  to  give  individuality,  warmth,  and  naturalness  to  the  charac- 
ter. The  influence  and  effect  of  this  school  is  good  and  only  good. 
Careful  examination  has  shown  that  at  least  seventy-five  per  cent 
of  all  who  have  passed  under  its  actual  training  and  influence  have 
become  respectable  and  self-supporting  members  of  society.  The 
institution  was  organized,  and  has  from  the  start  been  conducted, 
on  the  family  plan. 


140  STATE   OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  n. 

It  will  be  impossible  to  give  an  exhaustive  account  of  preven- 
tive institutions ;  I  can  only  name  such  of  them  as  have  come  to 
my  knowledge.  These  are  :  i.  Four  Protestant  orphan  asylums, 
open  to  children  of  every  nationality  and  faith  ;  and  two  Catholic 
asylums  for  the  children  of  that  church.  2.  A  union  for  home 
work,  —  that  is,  where  work  is  taken  in  and  done  in  the  establish- 
ment. 3.  A  home  for  the  friendless.  4.  A  boarding-house  for 
working  women,  where  they  have  board  at  moderate  cost,  with 
the  associations  and  advantages  of  a  respectable  and  virtuous 
home.  5,  A  reading  room  and  refreshment  room  for  news-boys 
and  laboring  men.  6.  Two  homes  for  the  children  of  soldiers 
killed  in  the  late  civil  war.  7.  Several  associations  in  aid  of  the 
poor,  under  the  care  of  city  missionaries.  These  are  all  private 
charities,  though  some  of  them  receive  aid  from  the  State.  They 
are  in  divers  localities.  It  would  require  too  much  space  to  give 
a  description  of  each  ;  it  is  enough  to  say  that  they  are  all  doing 
good  work  within  their  several  spheres  and  according  to  their 
special  resources. 


CHAPTER  XXIX.  —  NEW  ENGLAND  STATES  (continued).  —  NEW 

HAMPSHIRE. 

THE   institutions   in  this   State   which  deal  expressly  with 
crime  are  the  State-prison,  the  county  jails,  and  the  juve- 
nile reformatory. 

Of  the  State-prison  the  standing  legislative  committee  on  that 
institution,  in  its  report  for  1878,  with  equal  aptness  and  truth 
says,  "  It  is  a  very  poor  prison  very  well  managed."  Built  two 
generations  ago  to  accommodate  one  hundred  and  thirty  convicts, 
it  contains  to-day  one  hundred  and  ninety-four.  Every  nook  and 
cranny  is  full.  The  chapel  has  been  changed  into  a  dormitory  ; 
an  abandoned  workshop  has  become  a  chapel ;  the  corridors  have 
been  made  bed-rooms ;  and  in  cases  not  few  two  convicts  have  been 
put  into  one  cell  with  space  hardly  sufficient  for  a  single  occupant. 
This  was  so  throughout  the  greater  part  of  1878;  yet  during  the 
whole  of  that  year  the  warden,  Mr.  Pilsbury,  reports  the  condition 
of  things  in  the  prison  as  "so  exceptionally  free  from  every  disturb- 
ing element "  that  his  "  report  for  the  year  will  necessarily  be  very 
brief."  It  is  a  relief  to  know  that  a  new  prison  is  building,  "with 
all  the  modern  improvements."  The  sole  industry  carried  on  in 
the  prison  at  present  is  the  manufacture  of  cabinet  ware  ;  and  the 
net  cash  gain  during  the  last  year,  after  meeting  all  expenses,  has 
been  seven  thousand  four  hundred  and  forty-four  dollars.  The 
discipline  is  strict,  but  not  severe.  Refractory  prisoners  are  for 


PART  n.]  IN  NEW  HAMPSHIRE.  I4I 

the  most  part  brought  to  submission  and  obedience  by  kind  but 
firm  moral  treatment.  If  this  fails,  the  dark  cell  with  diminished 
food  is  generally  effective.  The  law  which  enables  prisoners  to 
shorten  their  terms  by  good  conduct  and  industry  has  proved  a 
potent  agent  of  discipline  and  reform.  Prisoners  are  still  men, 
and  if  fit  appeal  be  made  to  their  dormant  manhood  and  self- 
respect,  these  sentiments  will  generally  re-appear  and  assert  their 
native  force.  This  is  the  kind  of  discipline  which  it  is  claimed 
in  the  main  characterizes  the  government  of  this  prison.  A 
prison  school  is  maintained  for  those  who  need  it,  and  a  good 
library  is  provided  for  the  prisoners,  who  make  good  use  of  it 
and  greatly  profit  thereby.  Religious  services  are  regularly  held 
on  Sunday  both  for  the  well  and  the  sick ;  so  are  Sunday-schools 
for  both  sexes  ;  so  is  a  convicts'  prayer-meeting  every  Wednesday 
evening.  The  influences  of  these  various  services  are  reported 
as  indubitably  and  decidedly  good.  The  chaplain,  Mr.  Holman, 
is  evidently  a  man  of  sterling  sense,  sterling  worth,  and  sterling 
humor.  I  have  space  only  for  an  example  of  the  last  named 
quality.  He  says  that  "  some  of  the  books  in  the  library  are  so 
clumsy  in  style  and  so  heavy  in  matter  that  to  require  a  convict  to 
read  them  would  be  a  punishment  not  included  in  his  sentence." 

The  county  jails,  of  which  there  are  ten,  are  not  model  prisons. 
The  system  needs  radical  reform,  as  the  common  jail  system  does 
almost  everywhere  in  America.  Rather,  it  needs  demolition  and 
reconstruction,  —  a  sweeping  away  of  the  old  and  the  bringing  in 
of  a  new  order  of  things. 

The  State  Reform  School  near  Manchester,  established  some 
twenty  years  ago,  was  designed  as  a  home  for  idle,  vagrant,  and 
vicious  children.  To  save  such  children  and  train  them  to  hon- 
est industry  was  the  intent  of  the  establishment,  which  has  been 
measurably  accomplished.  Many  of  the  inmates  make  good  pro- 
gress in  the  common  branches  of  learning,  but  their  moral  im- 
provement is  said  to  be  not  so  encouraging.  Nevertheless,  the 
larger  part  leave  the  school  improved  in  character,  and  become 
good  citizens. 

A  farm  is  connected  with  the  reformatory,  on  which  all  the 
boys  work  more  or  less.  In  the  winter  they  are  employed  to 
some  extent  in  cane-seating  chairs,  in  shoe-making,  and  in  print- 
ing. The  girls  are  taught  sewing,  housework,  etc.  A  system 
of  rewards  has  been  introduced.  The  boys  employed  in  chair- 
seating,  after  completing  their  task,  are  allowed  a  credit  of  five 
cents  on  every  additional  chair.  The  farm-boys  are  permitted  to 
cultivate  a  patch  of  land  for  themselves  during  play-hours,  which 
last  year  yielded  an  average  income  to  each  of  about  ten  dollars. 
The  result  of  this  experiment  has  been  extremely  gratifying. 
The  trustees  report  marked  improvement  in  the  school  under 
Mr.  Ray,  its  present  superintendent. 


142  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  n. 

There  are  several  other  institutions  not  supported  by  the  State 
which  do  good  and  effective  work  in  the  way  of  preventing  crime 
by  saving  destitute  and  exposed  children,  orphans  or  otherwise. 

1.  The  Orphan's  Home  at  Concord  dates  its  existence  from 
1866.     It  began  in  a  small  way,  but  has  grown  and  expanded  till 
it  now  has  a  little  farm  of  six  acres,  with  the  necessary  buildings 
and  other  needful  appliances  for  the  accommodation  of  a  consid- 
erable number  of  orphans.     At  present  the  inmates  count  thirty 
or  thereabout.     Though  under  Episcopal  patronage,  no  question 
of  sect  or  nationality  is  ever  raised  in  the  reception  of  children. 
Orphanage  and  necessity  constitute  the   all-sufficient  and  only 
claim  to  admission. 

2.  The  New  Hampshire  Orphans'  Home  has  one  title  to  dis- 
tinction besides  its  object  and  its  work.     It  occupies  the  farm- 
house and  farm  of  one  hundred  and  eighty  acres,  in  the  township 
of   Franklin,  where  the   great  American  statesman  and  orator 
Daniel  Webster  was  born.     The  thought  had  its  birth  in  the  heart 
of  the  Rev.  D.  A.  Mack  (an  ex-chaplain  in  the  Union  army),  in 
1870,  who  at  once,  with  the  energy  and  courage  of  a  true  soldier, 
set  about  raising  the  funds  necessary  to  begin  the  work ;  and  in 
less  than  a  twelvemonth  had  secured  the  ten  thousand  dollars  re- 
quired for  the  purchase.     In  June,  1871,  the  legislature  granted  a 
charter  of  incorporation,  which  declared  that  "the  main  object  or 
purpose  of  this  corporation  is  to  procure  a  home  for  the  destitute 
orphans  and   homeless  children  of   this  State ;    to  furnish  sub- 
stantial aid  for  a  time  by  feeding  and  clothing  them,  by  teaching 
them  habits  of  industry,  by  giving  them  moral  and  intellectual 
instruction ;  and  finally  to  seek  out  for  them  suitable  and  per- 
manent places  of  residence  where  they  may  receive  rewards  for 
their  labor,  and  ultimately  become  useful   members  of   society, 
and  consequently  be   saved  from    pauperism,  vice,   and  crime." 
On  the  nineteenth  day  of  October  of  the  same  year  (1871)  it 
was  inaugurated  and  set  apart  to  its  declared  objects  by  fitting 
ceremonies  and   speeches,  and   furnished   with    president,   vice- 
presidents,  treasurer,  secretary,  board  of  trustees,  board  of  vis- 
itors, superintendent,  matron,  teacher,  and  all  the  other  necessary 
appointments  (including  one  orphan  to  begin  with)  "  made  and 
provided  "  for  all  such  cases  and  occasions. 

The  eighth  anniversary  of  the  Home  has  just  been  celebrated 
with  brilliant  success.  It  is  a  great  favorite  in  the  State,  and 
has  been  from  the  start.  Its  real  estate  and  personal  property 
are  now,  at  a  low  valuation,  worth  $20,000  ;  and  the  permanent 
fund  actually  invested  or  soon  to  be  received  —  all  from  legacies 
—  is  of  an  equal  or  nearly  equal  amount.  Some  hundreds  of  or- 
phans and  homeless  children  (for  moral  as  well  as  actual  orphans 
are  admitted)  have  passed  through  the  institution,  and  been  pro- 
vided with  permanent  Christian  homes,  chiefly  on  the  soil  of 


PART  IL]  IN  NEW  HAMPSHIRE.  143 

New  Hampshire ;  for  the  policy  of  expatriation  to  the  "  great 
West,"  or  even  to  Vermont  and  Massachusetts,  is  not  popular. 
The  average  number  of  children  for  1878  was  forty;  the  number 
received,  twenty-five ;  and  the  number  provided  with  homes,  the 
same. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Mack  as  superintendent  and  matron  have  been 
in  charge  from  the  first,  and  more  competent  and  devoted  per- 
sons it  would  be  difficult  to  find.  Mrs.  Mack  is  said  to  be  to  a 
wonderful  degree  "  the  right  woman  in  the  right  place."  All 
the  children  call  her  "  mother,"  and  she  never  fails  to  be  in  their 
confidence  and  love.  She  goes  to  bring  the  little  ones  to  their 
orphan  home,  and  she  goes  to  place  them  in  their  new  homes 
when  they  leave  it.  From  cutting  up  and  salting  meat  in  the 
cellar  she  is  called  to  entertain  distinguished  visitors  in  the  draw- 
ing-room, and  she  fills  both  positions  with  equal  fitness.  She 
is  matron,  nurse,  book-keeper,  correspondent-general,  counsellor, 
judge,  jury,  and  executor  of  discipline,  all  in  one.  There  is  no 
gap  she  cannot  fill.  Now  she  cuts  the  hundred  little  garments, 
now  with  comb  and  scissors  she  goes  the  round  of  little  heads 
(not  always  a  pleasant  task  with  the  new-comers),  then  she  sits 
darning  far  into  the  "  wee  short  hours,"  lest  tiny  toes  be  bitten 
by  Jack  Frost,  and  next  day  she  teaches  the  boys  to  sew  on  but- 
tons. With  opening  spring  she  leads  her  little  flock  to  the  large 
garden  :  how  proud  they  are  to  carry  some  implement,  or  run 
back  on  some  errand  !  They  watch  Mrs.  Mack  and  her  son  as 
they  form  the  beds,  plant  the  seeds,  weed,  hoe,  etc. 

"  I  can  do  that,"  cries  one. 

"So  you  can,"  she  replies,  "and  each  of  you  shall  have  a  little 
plot,  use  the  tools,  and  play  farmer.  Here,  divide  these  seeds 
between  you,  and  I  will  buy  all  you  raise." 

"  Can't  I  have  this  spot  ?  "  asks  another. 

"  Yes  ; "  and  the  little  fellow  digs  and  tugs  at  the  sod  till  he 
builds  a  turf  wall  about  his  "  farm."  "  My  boys  are  safe  for  weeks 
in  their  gardens,"  she  says.  It  is  real  play  and  real  work  as  well. 
When  the  lettuce,  the  quart  of  beans,  the  few  ears  of  corn,  the 
melon,  the  half-dozen  cucumbers  come  in,  she  is  as  pleased  and 
proud  as  the  boys.  "  Now  what  shall  I  pay  you  in  ?  —  money,  a 
knife  [that  joy  of  a  boy's  heart],  a  book,  a  toy,  or  what?  You 
may  choose." 

How  wisely  is  such  pay  invested !  Next  time  help  is  needed 
on  the  farm  how  delightedly  the  boys  enlist  in  the  hoeing  brigade, 
the  corn-club,  or  in  any  corps  to  do  any  work  that  may  be  press- 
ing !  Once  it  was  two  bushels  of  potato  beetles  they  picked, 
and  saved  the  crop.  Boys  so  trained  will  always  love  farm-work, 
and  farm-work  is  what  they  most  need  to  learn. 

Ah !  this  is  the  sort  of  place  needed  for  the  little  waifs  of 
society,  —  the  street  Arabs, — be  they  orphans,  or  simply  destitute, 


144  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  n. 

neglected  wanderers.  Begin  with  the  child,  for  the  man  begins 
in  him.  It  is  important  that  life  start  right.  There  are  thou- 
sands of  children  who  live  in  the  streets,  orphans  tossed  about 
by  the  social  wave ;  others  who  have  parents,  but  parents  who 
train  them  to  evil.  Both  these  classes  are  made  up  of  children 
that  follow  the  great  army  of  crime,  —  born  for  it,  brought  up  for 
it.  All  this  little  world  is  borne  along  by  a  current  that  rushes 
ever  towards  the  deep  sea.  We  must  draw  it  to  the  shore. 
We  must  wrest  it  by  force  if  need  be  from  those  who  ought  to 
save  it,  but  who  only  speed  it  towards  the  abyss  ;  from  those 
who  invoke  upon  it  rights  only  to  betray  their  duties.  We  must 
gather,  shelter,  elevate,  educate  these  little  ones  ;  and  the  place  of 
education  is  the  country,  the  fields.  Make  as  many  tillers  of  the 
soil  as  you  can.  Field-work  is  more  healthy  than  shop-work,  — 
to  the  soul  as  well  as  to  the  body  ;  and  the  Webster  farm  is  the 
right  spot  for  this  right  work :  its  moral  associations  are  inspir- 
ing, its  rural  charms  exquisite.  One  of  the  later  visits  paid  to 
the  old  homestead  by  the  illustrious  statesman  and  orator  was  in 
the  summer  of  1848.  Looking  out  from  the  eastern  window 
seaward,  he  wrote  to  his  son  on  that  occasion  :  "  This  is  the  most 
beautiful  place  on  this  earth.  Adopting  the  language  of  Alex- 
ander Pope  when  describing  his  '  Boxwood '  I  say,  — 

" '  Here  let  me  live,  here  let  me  die, 

And  one  small  stone  tell  where  I  lie.'  " 

What  better  place  can  be  found  for  the  boys  and  girls  gathered 
there  by  the  loving  hand  of  Christian  charity,  and  who  are 

"  '  To  fame  and  fortune  now  unknown  "  ? 

3.  The  Children's  Home,  Portsmouth,  is  a  new  institution, 
founded  in  1877.  It  receives  orphans,  half-orphans,  children  de- 
serted by  parents,  those  made  homeless  by  fire  or  accident,  the 
children  of  seamen  absent  on  voyages,  and  those  of  poor  families 
in  the  exigencies  of  sickness  and  absence  of  parents.  It  is  partly 
self-supporting  through  the  payment  of  such  sums  as  parents  and 
friends  may  be  able  to  spare,  but  the  chief  support  comes  from 
the  charity  of  the  benevolent.  Friends  may  at  any  time  remove 
their  children,  or  they  are  placed  in  suitable  homes  by  the  institu- 
tion. Those  ol'd  enough  attend  the  city  schools  and  churches. 


PART  n.]  IN  MAINE.  145 


CHAPTER    XXX.  —  NEW    ENGLAND    STATES   (continued}.  — 

MAINE. 

THE  repressive  and  reformatory  system  of  Maine,  so  far  as  it 
depends  on  State  action,  embraces  a  State-prison,  a  county 
jail  for  each  county,  and  two  reformatory  institutions,  —  one  for 
boys,  the  other  for  girls.  Until  recently  Maine  has  been  behind 
some  of  her  sister  States  in  regard  to  her  penal  system.  One  rea- 
son may  have  been  that  she  had  given  more  attention  to  the  causes 
than  to  the  cure  of  crime,  to  what  makes  criminals  of  men  than 
men  of  criminals.  The  great  question  with  her  has  been  how  to 
keep  her  people  industrious,  sober,  and  moral,  and  thereby  safe 
and  prosperous.  The  so-called  "  Maine  law  "  prohibiting  the  sale 
of  intoxicants  as  a  beverage  is  one  of  the  results  of  this  state  of 
public  opinion.  Nor  is  this  law  so  far  as  Maine  is  concerned  a 
"  fanatical  whim,"  as  some  have  thought  and  said.  Three-fourths 
at  least  (probably  more)  of  all  the  crime  committed  being  proxi- 
mately  due  to  drink,  it  seemed  to  the  wise  and  good  men  and 
women  of  Maine  that  there  could  be  no  question  where  some 
State  force  ought  to  be  applied.  To  the  people  of  that  State  it 
presents  itself  as  a  matter  of  wonder  that  any  can  be  blind 
enough,  either  through  prejudice  or  ignorance,  to  surfer  an  evil 
of  such  monstrous  proportions  to  continue  its  havoc,  and  thus  to 
necessitate  those  penal  institutions  which  everywhere  appear  as 
exponents  of  its  accursed  entail. 

The  State-prison,  having  formerly  been  a  heavy  expense  to  the 
State,  has  during  the  sixteen  years  of  Warden  Rice's  administra- 
tion been  in  a  condition  of  great  financial  prosperity.  Mr.  Rice 
has  managed  the  industries  as  well  as  the  discipline  ;  and  taking 
the  whole  sixteen  years,  with  an  average  of  one  hundred  and 
fifty  prisoners,  the  income  from  convict  labor  has  come  within  a 
very  small  fraction  of  meeting  all  current  expenses,  including 
salaries  of  officers.  Every  able-bodied  prisoner  works  at  some 
trade,  which  he  is  stimulated  to  become  master  of  so  that  he 
may  have  resources  within  himself  that  will  in  the  future  dimin- 
ish his  temptation  to  crime.  His  educational  and  religious  wants 
are  so  cared  for  under  the  direction  of  a  chaplain  and  a  school- 
master that  he  has  no  excuse  for  further  ignorance  or  wickedness. 
The  sanitary  arrangements  are  good,  food  plenty  and  wholesome, 
an  occasional  holiday  granted,  when  an  extra  good  dinner  is  given 
and  an  opportunity  afforded  for  social  intercourse  for  an  hour  or 
two  under  the  eye  of  the  officers  and  a  few  friends.  Personal 
cleanliness  is  insisted  on  as  indispensable  to  both  physical  and 
moral  health.  It  is  the  aim  of  the  administration  to  inspire 
courage  in  the  convicts,  to  lift  them  into  as  high  a  measure  of 

10 


146  STATE   OF  PRISONS,   ETC.  [BooK  n. 

manhood  as  is  possible  with  their  actual  surroundings,  and  to  fit 
those  whose  sentences  are  not  for  life  to  return  to  society  with 
habits  of  patient  industry,  a  remunerative  trade,  and  some  edu- 
cational acquirements,  —  controlled  by  principles  or  purposes  of 
integrity  and  sobriety,  and  stimulated  by  a  faith  and  hope  that 
will  help  them  through  a  great  many  unavoidable  difficulties  and 
discouragements. 

The  discipline  is  just  and  firm,  but  not  carried  out  in  a  spirit 
of  rigor.  The  aim  is  to  govern  as  little  as  possible,  and  never 
for  the  mere  sake  of  governing.  Officers  and  trade  instructors 
assume  that  the  convicts  will  conduct  themselves  in  an  orderly 
and  proper  manner.  Hence  there  is  little  necessity  for  punish- 
ment, and  little  use  is  made  of  it.  A  liberal  deduction  from 
the  sentence  is  allowed  for  good  conduct,  and  whatever  time  a 
convict  is  in  punishment  is  added  to  his  sentence.  This  deduc- 
tion from  and  addition  to  the  sentence  according  to  conduct  are 
found  adequate  in  most  cases  to  induce  even  the  reckless  to  con- 
form to  all  reasonable  requirements. 

The  reformatory  effect  of  the  discipline  is  marked  and  con- 
spicuous. Not  more  than  eight  per  cent  of  the  convicts  return 
to  the  prison  after  their  discharge,  and  perhaps  an  equal  number 
may  find  their  way  into  the  prisons  of  other  States  ;  which  leaves 
eighty-four  per  cent  as  the  proportion  who,  if  not  reformed,  are 
at  least  lifted  from  the  criminal  classes. 

The  duties  of  the  directors  of  the  State-prison  extend  also  to 
the  county  jails.  The  jails,  though  under  the  special  charge  of 
the  high  sheriffs  of  the  several  counties,  are  under  the  general 
direction  of  the  board  of  State-prison  directors.  There  is  thus  an 
approach  towards  a  unification  of  the  repressive  system  of  the 
State ;  and,  without  having  reached  the  desired  goal,  there  is  a 
steady  improvement.  In  five  of  the  fourteen  county  jails  produc- 
tive labor  has  been  introduced,  with  its  ever  attendant  blessings 
of  improved  discipline,  improved  behavior,  improved  character, 
and  pecuniary  profit.  Quite  a  revenue  is  realized  by  some  of  the 
counties.  Scholastic  and  religious  instruction  is  provided  for  the 
inmates,  and  reformatory  agencies  are  applied  in  the  discipline. 
The  directors  have  power  to  transfer  prisoners  from  counties 
where  no  labor  is  performed  in  the  jails  to  those  in  which  the 
jails  are  organized  with  labor. 

There  is  a  State  reform  school  near  Portland  with  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  inmates,  and  an  industrial  reform  school  for  girls  at 
Hallowell  with  about  one-fourth  that  number.  Both  appear  to 
be  well  supplied  with  all  needful  appliances  for  their  work,  which 
is  well  done,  and  yields  good  fruit  in  large  measure. 

There  is  an  asylum  at  Bath  for  the  children  of  soldiers  and  sail- 
ors who  lost  their  lives  in  the  late  "  war  for  the  Union."  A  num- 
ber of  orphan  asylums  and  other  institutions  of  a  child-saving 


PART  n.]  IN  VERMONT.  147 

character  are  found  in  the  State,  under  the  form  of  private  chari- 
ties, whose  names  even  I  am  unable  to  give,  and  of  course  can 
offer  no  details  of  their  work  ;  but  this  cannot  be  otherwise  than 
good  and  useful. 

Maine  has  well  provided  for  her  unfortunate  and  criminal  popu- 
lation. She  realizes  to  the  full  extent  the  responsibility  recog- 
nized in  the  act  of  placing  on  her  shield  the  word  "  DIRIGO."  She 
is  conservatively  progressive,  and  thus  has  been  making  radical, 
but  at  the  same  time  wise,  advance  in  her  penal,  reformatory, 
industrial,  and  humane  institutions.  She  believes  in  a  future  that 
will  have  realizations  far  in  advance  of  any  present  attainment ; 
but  she  believes  also  in  the  wisdom  of  the  old  Roman  maxim, 
especially  as  applied  to  social  reforms,  "Festina  lente," — hasten 
slowly. 


CHAPTER  XXXI.  —  NEW   ENGLAND   STATES    (concluded).  — 

VERMONT. 

THE  penal,  reformatory,  and  preventive  institutions  of   this 
State    are    a   State-prison,   a   State   house   of    correction, 
county  jails,  a  State  reform  school,  homes  for  destitute  children, 
and  orphan  asylums. 

The  State-prison,  situated  at  Windsor,  is  under  the  charge  of 
three  directors,  chosen  biennially  by  the  legislature,  and  a  super- 
intendent appointed  by  the  governor  of  the  State.  The  number 
of  convicts  at  present  in  confinement  is  one  hundred  and  seventy- 
five,  a  considerable  increase  upon  that  of  former  years.  The  dis- 
cipline is  administered  with  mingled  kindness,  firmness,  and  justice. 
The  commutation  law,  by  which  convicts  can  earn  a  remission  of 
a  part  of  their  sentence,  is  reported  as  having  a  benign  effect  upon 
them.  The  sole  industry  from  which  revenue  is  derived  is  shoe- 
making.  Ordinarily  the  Vermont  State-prison  pays  its  way  and 
earns  a  surplus;  but  for  the  past  two  years  (1877-78),  owing  to 
the  depressed  condition  of  trade,  it  has  gone  behindhand  to  the 
amount  of  a  few  thousand  dollars.  Secular  instruction  is  not 
required  by  law,  but  is  given  in  some  form  by  the  chaplain  and 
other  officers.  The  prison  has  a  library  of  five  hundred  or  six 
hundred  volumes,  and  a  small  yearly  appropriation  is  made  for 
it  by  the  legislature.  All  the  prisoners  who  can  read  have 
access  to  it,  and  it  is  much  used.  A  chaplain  is  on  the  prison 
staff,  who  discharges  the  customary  duties  of  his  office  in  preach- 
ing, visiting  the  sick,  instructing  the  ignorant,  encouraging  and 
counselling  the  fallen  and  the  erring,  and  helping  all  with  the 
truths  of  religion  and  the  suggestions  of  good  sense  to  self- 


148  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  n. 

respect,  self-control,  self-conquest,  and  self-regulation.  Music  is 
regarded  as  an  important  aid  to  reformation,  and  its  use  in  wor- 
ship and  its  practice  as  a  refining,  elevating,  and  moralizing  ele- 
ment is  encouraged  in  all  who  have  an  aptitude  for  it.  There  is 
no  organized  agency  to  extend  a  helping  hand  to  prisoners  on 
their  liberation ;  but  individuals  often  secure  employment  for 
them,  or  aid  them  in  other  ways. 

The  house  of  correction,  under  the  name  of  prison  workhouse, 
was  opened  only  a  few  months  ago.  The  Act  creating  this  insti- 
tution was  passed  in  1876.  It  first  states  the  object  to  be  the 
safe-keeping,  correction,  employment,  and  reformation  of  certain 
persons  ;  namely,  (i)  Those  above  the  age  of  sixteen  years,  con- 
victed of  offences  of  which  the  punishment  by  law  is  fine,  or  im- 
prisonment in  the  county  jail ;  (2)  Those  not  less  than  sixteen 
nor  more  than  twenty  years  of  age  at  the  time  of  their  conviction, 
who  have  been  convicted  of  offences  punishable  by  imprisonment 
in  the  State-prison,  when  the  court  is  of  the  opinion  that  the  cir- 
cumstances of  the  case  do  not  require  imprisonment  in  the  State- 
prison.  The  statute  further  provides  that  persons  in  jail  waiting 
trial  may,  at  their  own  request,  be  transferred  to  the  house  of  cor- 
rection, and  have  an  opportunity  to  earn  something  by  their  labor 
during  such  detention.  It  is  also  provided  that  all  persons  pun- 
ished by  fine  shall  have  an  opportunity  to  work  out  their  fines, 
each  prisoner  being  credited  thirty-three  cents  for  each  day's 
work  against  his  fine.  All  sentences  to  the  house  of  correction 
are  to  be  sentences  to  imprisonment  at  hard  labor.  Commodious 
buildings  have  been  erected  at  Rutland,  and  the  new  institution 
will  undoubtedly  prove  a  valuable  addition  to  the  prison  system  of 
Vermont. 

The  common  jails,  of  which  there  is  one  in  each  of  the  fourteen 
counties,  constitute  a  much  less  satisfactory  feature  in  the  penal 
system  of  the  State.  The  sheriff  of  the  county  is  the  jailer,  and 
has  the  entire  charge  and  responsibility  of  the  jail.  The  average 
number  confined  in  all  the  fourteen  jails  is  from  one  hundred  and 
twenty  to  one  hundred  and  forty,  and  of  these  about  one  in  six  is 
a  female.  In  the  smaller  counties  less  than  a  half-dozen  are  com- 
mitted to  jail  in  a  year,  while  the  two  counties  containing  the  most 
populous  towns  will  perhaps  furnish  a  jail  population  of  twenty 
inmates  each  the  year  round. 

The  reform  school  was  established  in  1865,  at  Waterbury;  was 
destroyed  by  fire  in  1874,  and  was  then  removed  to  Vergennes, 
where  ample  grounds  and  buildings  are  provided.  A  farm  of 
one  hundred  acres,  worked  chiefly  by  the  labor  of  the  boys,  is 
attached  to  the  school.  In  1876  a  girls'  department  was  opened 
in  a  separate  building,  but  within  the  same  grounds.  It  is  a  well- 
conducted  and  useful  institution. 

A  home  for  destitute  children  was  opened  in  1865,  at  Burling- 


PART  IL]  IN  NEW  YORK.  1 49 

ton.  It  was  begun  in  a  private  house,  but  on  account  of  the 
growing  number  of  inmates  and  applicants  it  soon  became  neces- 
sary to  provide  larger  accommodations,  and  the  marine  hospital 
was  purchased  and  devoted  to  the  uses  of  the  institution.  Through 
private  benevolence  a  permanent  fund  of  $50,000  has  been  secured 
for  it.  At  first  it  was  intended  only  for  the  destitute  children  of 
Burlington,  but  it  is  now  open  to  such  children  from  all  parts  of 
the  State.  Up  to  1872  one  hundred  and  ninety-eight  children 
had  been  received,  of  whom  ninety-eight  had  been  provided  with 
homes  by  adoption  or  indenture,  and  several  had  been  discharged, 
having  reached  their  majority.  No  doubt  an  equal  number  have 
been  received  and  provided  for  since  that  date.  The  value  of  the 
home  as  an  agency  preventive  of  crime  can  scarcely  be  computed, 
and  its  friends  and  promoters  may  well  rejoice  in  the  success  of 
their  noble  work. 

One  or  two  other  similar  establishments  have  been  founded  and 
maintained  by  Catholics  ;  but  I  am  unable  to  do  more  than  state 
the  fact  of  their  existence. 


CHAPTER  XXXII.  —  MIDDLE  STATES.  —  NEW  YORK. 

NEW  YORK  has  been  justly  named  the  empire  State  of  the 
American  Union.  Her  population  is  nearly  five  millions, 
and  her  capital  city  of  two  millions  is  the  metropolis  of  the  entire 
western  hemisphere. 

Prison  reform  has  been  made  the  order  of  the  day  for  this 
great  State.  In  view  of  an  approaching  constituent  convention 
to  revise  and  amend  the  constitution  of  New  York  in  1867,  a 
committee  of  the  New  York  Prison  Association,  consisting  of 
Francis  Leiber,  Theodore  W.  Dwight,  John  T.  Hoffman,  Charles 
J.  Folger,  William  F.  Allen,  and  others,  —  the  choice  men  of  the 
State  for  such  a  labor,  —  formulated  the  draft  of  a  prison  article, 
which  the  convention  incorporated  into  its  new  fundamental  law. 
The  constitution  as  a  whole  was  rejected  by  the  people,  and  the 
prison  article  was  buried  in  the  general  wreck.  Subsequently  a 
legislative  commission  was  created,  which  drew  up  some  special 
constitutional  amendments, — among  others,  one  on  prisons,  —  and 
these  amendments  by  popular  vote  became  at  length  a  part  of 
the  constitution  of  the  State. 

In  substance  the  provisions  of  this  article  are  as  follows  :  A 
superintendent  of  State-prisons  to  be  appointed  by  the  governor 
and  senate,  and  to  hold  office  for  five  years  ;  said  superintendent 
to  have  the  management  and  control  of  the  State-prisons,  to  ap- 


150  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  n. 

point  their  wardens,  chaplains,  and  physicians,  and  in  general  to 
have  all  the  powers  and  perform  all  the  duties  heretofore  possessed 
and  performed  by  the  board  of  inspectors  of  prisons.  The  clerks 
(financial  officers)  of  the  several  State-prisons  to  be  appointed  by 
the  comptroller,  and  the  subordinate  officers  of  each  by  its  war- 
dens, subject  to  the  approval  of  the  superintendent. 

The  chief  points  of  difference  between  the  articles  framed  by 
the  constitutional  convention  of  1867  and  by  the  legislative  com- 
mission of  a  later  date  are  :  i.  The  amendment  proposed  by  the 
convention  made  the  tenure  of  office  of  the  managers  of  prisons 
ten  years  ;  that  of  the  commission  limits  the  tenure  to  five  years 
for  the  superintendent.  2.  Under  the  amendment  of  the  conven- 
tion the  principal  officers  —  wardens,  physicians,  chaplains,  and 
clerks  —  were  to  hold  their  offices  during  good  behavior,  being  re- 
movable only  for  cause  and  after  an  opportunity  to  be  heard  in 
their  defence;  under  that  of  the  commission  the  first  three  hold  it 
at  the  pleasure  of  the  superintendent,  and  the  fourth  at  the  pleas- 
ure of  the  comptroller,  each  having  the  power  to  remove  them  by 
a  stroke  of  the  pen  with  or  without  cause.  3.  The  third  difference 
is,  that  under  the  convention's  article  the  subordinate  officers 
were  to  be  appointed  by  the  wardens  ;  under  the  commission's, 
the  wardens  are  to  nominate  and  the  superintendent  to  confirm. 
4.  The  amendment  of  the  commission  makes  no  provision  for  ex- 
tending the  powers  and  duties  of  the  superintendent  beyond  the 
State-prisons  at  any  time,  under  any  circumstances,  to  any  extent, 
or  for  any  purpose  ;  that  of  the  convention  provided  that  the  board 
of  managers  should  exercise  such  powers  and  perform  such  duties 
with  reference  to  the  common  jails  and  other  penal  institutions 
of  the  State  as  the  legislature  might  from  time  to  time  direct,  — 
thus  opening  the  way  without  further  amendment  of  the  consti- 
tution for  a  unification  of  the  whole  penal  system  of  the  State, 
whenever  public  opinion  might  demand  such  change. 

The  most  important  of  these  distinctions  is  the  second,  relating 
to  tenure  of  office  of  the  principal  officers  ;  the  convention  fixing 
a  good-behavior  tenure,  while  the  commission  makes  their  contin- 
uance in  office  to  depend  upon  the  arbitrary  will  or  even  the 
caprice  of  a  single  man,  if  he  chooses  to  allow  himself  to  be  con- 
trolled by  so  unworthy  a  guide.  Now  it  is  a  fact  known  and  read 
of  all  men,  that  the  supreme  force  which  has  blocked  the  way  of 
reform  in  our  penitentiary  system  is  instability  of  administration, 
consequent  upon  political  appointments.  The  intent  of  the  con- 
vention was  to  destroy  this  immense  obstructive  force,  and  its 
modus  operandi  was  a  permanent  prison  administration  in  the 
hands  of  competent  men  :  I  say  competent  men,  for  an  easy 
method  was  provided  for  weeding  out  the  incompetent.  The 
same  end  may  be  accomplished  by  the  plan  of  the  commission, 
and  it  may  not,  —  every  thing  will  depend  upon  the  man. 


PART  ir.]  IN  NEW  YORK.  151 

The  change  of  system  has  been  effected,  and  two  years  of 
the  administration  of  Mr.  Pilsbury  has  wrought  marvels  in  the 
industries  and  finances  of  the  three  State-prisons  for  men,  —  av- 
eraging in  the  aggregate  some  thirty-six  hundred  inmates.  From 
being  an  annual  charge  upon  the  State  treasury  of  nearly  or 
quite  half  a  million  of  dollars,  they  are  to-day  from  the  labor  of 
the  convicts,  besides  paying  every  dollar  of  current  expenses, 
turning  a  considerable  revenue  of  hard  cash  into  the  public  fisc. 
In  closing  his  second  annual  report  to  the  legislature  the  super- 
intendent says :  "  In  conclusion,  I  remark,  that  while  my  efforts 
have  been  largely  directed  to  financial  reform,  this  has  not  been 
regarded  as  the  sole  object  to  be  attained.  The  welfare  of  the 
prisoners  has  not  been  overlooked.  There  has  been  no  deterio- 
ration in  the  quantity  or  quality  of  the  food  and  clothing  provided 
for  them.  Religious  instruction  has  been  regularly  given  on 
every  Sunday,  besides  frequent  ministrations  at  the  cells.  Kindly 
treatment  is  not  inconsistent  with  strict  discipline,  and  no  un- 
called-for punishments  are  permitted.  While  a  large  proportion 
of  the  prisoners  will  doubtless  continue  their  criminal  career  after 
their  release,  instances  of  reformation  resulting  from  wholesome 
moral  influences  in  the  prisons  are  not  rare,  and  efforts  to  de- 
crease the  number  of  the  permanently-criminal  classes  will  not  be 
abated.  Much,  doubtless,  remains  to  be  done  in  the  way  of  ef- 
forts to  solve  the  problem  of  the  reformation  of  criminals,  espe- 
cially after  the  expiration  of  sentences  ;  but  without  intending  to 
reflect  upon  other  agencies  so  far  as  life  within  the  prisons  is 
concerned,  I  am  satisfied  that  the  employment  of  convicts  at 
labor  which  enables  them  to  maintain  themselves  is  one  of  the 
most  important  factors  in  any  efforts  to  reclaim  them." 

All  this  is  abundantly  confirmed  by  the  last  report  of  the  New 
York  Prison  Association  which  has  been  issued  from  the  press. 
There  is  no  doubt  that  as  the  labor  becomes  more  completely 
organized,  so  as  to  run  as  it  were  in  fixed  grooves,  greater  atten- 
tion will  be  given  to  the  intellectual  and  moral  culture  of  the 
prisoners. 

It  has  been  already  stated  that  there  are  in  New  York  three 
State-prisons  eo  nomine  for  men,  with  an  average  population  of 
thirty-six  hundred.  There  was  a  fourth,  a  woman's  prison  at 
Sing-Sing  under  the  same  administration  as  the  men's  ;  but  as  all 
the  accommodation  there  was  needed  for  the  men,  the  women  have 
been  removed  to  the  King's  County  penitentiary.  This  arrange- 
ment will  probably  be  only  temporary,  as  the  public  opinion  of 
the  State  is  rapidly  developing  in  favor  of  a  female  State-prison 
under  the  exclusive  management  of  women,  except  so  far  as  the 
general  powers  of  the  superintendent  may  be  exerted  therein. 

There  is  really  a  fourth  State-prison  for  the  younger  class  of 
male  prisoners  convicted  of  felonies  for  the  first  time.  It  how- 


152  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BooK  n. 

ever  bears  the  name  of  the  State  Industrial  Reformatory,  and  is 
under  the  management  of  a  special  board,  of  which  the  superin- 
tendent of  prisons  is  a  member  and  (I  believe)  chairman.  This 
establishment  has  been  sufficiently  described  in  one  of  the  chap- 
ters on  the  "  United  States  in  General."  The  principle  of  the 
indeterminate  sentence  is  being  worked  out  there  within  cer- 
tain limits ;  and  if  the  institution  prove  a  success,  as  there  is 
every  likelihood  that  it  will,  others  of  like  character  will  gradu- 
ally spring  up  in  the  other  States.  There  is  evidence  that  in 
some  localities  public  opinion  is  already  tending  that  way.  Of 
women-felons  in  King's  County  penitentiary  and  young  felons 
under  a  first  conviction  in  the  Elmira  reformatory,  together  with 
the  asylum  for  criminal  insane  at  Auburn,  the  number  is  from 
four  hundred  to  six  hundred. 

The  next  class  of  establishments  belonging  to  the  penal  system 
of  the  State  are  the  six  county  penitentiaries  under  the  control 
and  management  of  the  authorities  of  the  counties  in  which  they 
are  severally  situated,  but  receiving  prisoners  from  other  counties 
under  special  arrangements.  Sentences  here  range  from  a  few 
days  to  ten  years,  —  the  average  imprisonment  being  four  to  five 
months  ;  and  the  number  is  exceedingly  small  of  those  sentenced 
to  the  maximum  term.  The  whole  number  received  during  the 
year  1877  was  20,258,  and  the  average  daily  number  about  4,000. 
Of  these  one-fourth  are  committed  for  felonious  crimes  ;  so  that 
the  average  number  of  felons,  men  and  women,  confined  through- 
out the  year  in  the  prisons  of  New  York  may  be  set  down  at 
5,000.  That  2,000  of  the  20,000  received  were  under  twenty 
years  of  age  shows  how  important  is  the  question  of  a  prison  dis- 
cipline suited  to  young  offenders  ;  that  2,000  were  unable  to  read 
is  a  proof  of  the  connection  between  ignorance  and  crime,  and 
demonstrates  the  absolute  necessity  for  the  primary  instruction 
imparted  in  the  penitentiaries  ;  and  that  seventy  per  cent  con- 
fessed habits  of  intemperance  shows  a  dangerous  relationship 
between  inebriety  and  criminality,  and  demands  the  most  vigor- 
ous and  persistent  effort  to  check,  and  if  possible  extinguish,  a 
vice  found  to  be  so  fruitful  a  source  of  crime.  The  penitentiaries 
are  as  a  rule  fairly  managed  and  give  fair  results,  but  they  might 
be  improved.  The  tendency  of  public  opinion  is  towards  unifica- 
tion of  system  and  centralization  of  administration  as  respects 
all  the  institutions  of  the  State  having  to  do  with  crime. 

The  county  of  New  York  has  a  workhouse  prison  on  Black- 
well's  Island  for  the  treatment  of  drunkards,  disorderly  persons, 
and  misdemeanants  who  have  committed  the  more  trivial  offences. 
Its  average  population  is  from  nine  hundred  to  one  thousand. 

Next  come  the  county  jails,  of  which  there  is  one  in  every 
county  and  two  in  a  few  of  the  counties,  —  the  whole  number 
being  something  over  sixty.  The  records  in  most  of  these  jails 


PART  n.]  IN  NEW  YORK.  153 

are  very  imperfectly  kept,  and  any  figures  will  be  but  approximate 
estimates.  It  is  probable,  however,  that  there  may  be  an  aggre- 
gate annual  commitment  to  them  of  one  hundred  thousand ;  but 
these  are  very  far  from  representing  that  number  of  persons,  as 
the  pestilent  usage  exists  of  an  endless  repetition  of  short  sen- 
tences, which  swells  instead  of  diminishing  the  volume  of  crime. 
The  general  mal-arrangement  and  mal-administration  of  these 
county  jails  is  such  that  it  is  scarcely  worth  while  to  enter  into 
details.  It  is  more  to  the  purpose,  as  well  as  much  more  gratify- 
ing, to  be  able  to  state  that  a  growing  public  sentiment  favors  a 
reform  of  this  part  of  the  penal  system  of  the  State,  which  is 
likely  to  make  itself  felt,  at  no  distant  day,  in  improvements 
of  a  radical  character.  The  tendency  is  towards  a  total  separa- 
tion of  the  prisoners  awaiting  trial  and  those  under  sentence  as 
misdemeanants,  —  these  latter  being  placed  in  correctional  es- 
tablishments and  put  to  work,  where  they  will  have  something 
else  to  do  than  learn  crime-craft  and  plot  crime-commission. 

Provision  is  made  to  a  certain  extent  in  the  several  prisons 
(though  not  in  all  to  the  extent  to  be  desired),  for  the  education 
of  the  illiterate  prisoners  in  the  common-school  branches  ;  and  in 
most  of  the  prisons  there  are  libraries,  of  which  abundant  use  is 
made  by  the  inmates. 

Under  the  new  prison  system  adequate  provision  is  made  for 
aiding  and  caring  for  discharged  prisoners.  The  State  itself  has 
now  a  regular  agent  for  this  service,  who,  as  he  happens  to  be 
also  secretary  of  the  New  York  Prison  Association,  enjoys  every 
possible  facility  for  his  work,  which  is  largely  successful. 

The  reformatory  and  preventive  work  of  this  State,  the  latter 
of  which  especially  has  a  most  thorough  and  effective  organiza- 
tion in  the  metropolis,  has  been  perhaps  sufficiently  elucidated 
in  the  chapters  on  the  "  United  States  in  General," — with  one 
reserve,  however,  that  of  the  work  of  orphan  asylums  and  homes 
for  the  friendless  added  to  but  not  exclusive  of  the  child-saving 
institutions  already  mentioned.  Concerning  these  several  classes 
of  institutions  the  following  brief  statement  drawn  from  informa- 
tion contained  in  the  eleventh  annual  report  of  the  New  York 
Board  of  State  Charities  (1878)  is  submitted:  — 

The  number  of  such  institutions  in  the  State  of  New  York, 
(not  all  for  children,  but  all  preventive  of  crime)  is  147.  The 
amount  of  property  invested  in  this  work  is  in  round  numbers 
$15,000,000  j1  the  receipts  from  all  sources  during  the  year  1877 
were  f  3, 320,436,  and  the  expenditures  $3,144,696,  leaving  a  work- 
ing balance  to  begin  the  next  year  with  of  $  175,740.  The  whole 
number  of  inmates  on  hand  at  the  beginning  of  the  year  was 
18,612,  the  whole  number  received  during  the  year  18,169,  the 

1  A  small  fraction  of  this  is  estimated ;  much  the  greater  part,  however,  is  from 
actual  returns. 


154  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  n. 

whole  number  discharged  17,175,  and  the  whole  number  remain- 
ing at  the  end  of  the  year  19,606 ;  so  that  the  average  daily  num- 
ber during  the  year  must  have  been  between  18,000  and  19,000 
persons.  Of  the  19,606  on  hand  at  the  end  of  the  year  545  were 
males  of  all  ages  exceeding  sixteen  years,  and  3,362  were  females 
of  corresponding  ages  ;  8,365  were  boys  under  sixteen,  7,634  were 
girls  under  that  age ;  so  that  just  four-fifths  were  young  enough, 
though  many  were  not  old  enough,  to  be  received  into  reforma- 
tory institutions. 

No  one  can  thoughtfully  read  these  figures  without  being  pro- 
foundly impressed  with  the  vast  magnitude  of  New  York's  chari- 
ties, and  the  immense  amount  of  crime-prevention  which  those 
charities  must  effect. 


CHAPTER  XXXIII.  —  MIDDLE  STATES  (continued}.  —  NEW 

JERSEY. 

AT  a  meeting  convened  at  the  house  of  Benjamin  Franklin  in 
1787.  —  doubtless  for  the  purpose  of  creating,  or  rather  of 
reviving,  the  Philadelphia  Prison  Society,  —  Dr.  Rush,  who  like 
Franklin  was  one  of  the  lights  of  his  generation,  made  this  strik- 
ing remark,  the  more  striking  because  made  a  full  century  ago  : 
"  I  have  no  more  doubt  of  every  crime  having  its  cure  in  moral 
and  physical  influence  than  I  have  of  the  efficacy  of  the  Peruvian 
bark  in  curing  the  intermittent  fever  ;  the  only  difficulty  is  to  find 
out  the  remedy  or  remedies."  New  Jersey  was  long  apathetic 
on  this  question ;  but,  touched  by  argument  and  appeal,  she  has 
opened  her  eyes  to  the  truth  that  it  is  not  a  hopeless  endeavor 
to  win  back  even  the  criminal  to  virtue.  Within  the  last  dozen 
years  her  advance  has  been  greater  than  in  the  preceding  half 
century. 

The  public  institutions  of  the  State  which  are  strictly  penal 
are  (r)  the  State-prison,  and  (2)  the  county  jail ;  those  which  are 
chiefly  reformatory  are  (3)  the  State  reform-school  at  Jamesburg, 
and  (4)  the  girls'  industrial  school  at  Trenton. 

The  State-prison,  designed  for  the  higher  grade  of  offenders, 
contained  at  last  report  823  prisoners,  of  whom  365  were  under 
twenty-five  years  of  age,  and  122  were  recidivists.  When  built, 
in  1833,  it  was  designed  for  the  solitary  confinement  of  the  in- 
mates, but  the  system  was  expensive  and  in  several  respects  un- 
satisfactory. The  prison  became  overcrowded,  and  the  keeper 
was  obliged  to  confine  two,  three,  and  sometimes  four  convicts  in 
a  single  cell.  The  intended  entire  isolation  of  each  prisoner  was 
therefore  abandoned.  New  blocks  of  cells  were  built  giving  to 


PART  n.]  IN  NEW  JERSEY.  155 

every  inmate  a  separate  dormitory,  —  the  labor,  principally  shoe- 
making,  being  performed  in  large  and  airy  workshops. 

Since  1870,  when  the  management  of  the  industries  was  re- 
moved from  politics,  the  income  from  convict-labor  has  not  only 
met  all  expenses,  but  has  annually  paid  a  considerable  surplus 
into  the  State  treasury.  The  aggregate  net  profit  during  that 
time  approximates  $150,000. 

The  prisoners  are  allowed  to  earn  a  commutation  of  five  days 
per  month,  with  an  addition  of  one  day  per  month  for  each  suc- 
cessive year  of  good  conduct.  This  law  has  proved  an  effective 
stimulus,  in  many  cases  materially  shortening  the  term  of  con- 
finement. But  the  opinion  is  strongly  held  by  many  in  the  State, 
that  a  separation  of  the  inmates  into  grades,  with  the  incitement 
to  improvement  of  a  well-devised  mark-system  impartially  admin- 
istered, would  be  a  great  improvement  upon  the  present  plan. 
The  encouragement  which  such  an  arrangement  might  be  made  to 
offer  to  these  erring  men,  inducing  self-respect,  self-control,  correct 
deportment,  and  effective  labor,  till  these  become  habitual,  ought 
not  it  is  thought  to  be  longer  withheld.  A  prison  on  such  a  plan 
is  greatly  needed  to  supersede  the  use  of  county  jails  as  places  for 
the  confinement  of  persons  convicted  of  minor  offences.  The 
partially  indeterminate  sentence  of  the  New  York  law  of  1877, 
authorizing  the  discharge  of  prisoners  on  manifest  reformation 
and  fitness  for  citizenship,  is  a  great  step  in  criminal  legislation 
and  penitentiary  practice.  Such  are  the  opinions  held  by  the 
most  advanced  of  the  prison  reformers  in  New  Jersey. 

The  common  jails  are  under  the  control  of  the  respective 
boards  of  county  freeholders,  elected  by  the  people.  The  two 
most  populous  counties  have  each  a  penitentiary,  in  which  con- 
victs not  sentenced  to  the  State-prison  are  employed  at  breaking 
or  dressing  stone.  The  ordinary  county  jails  are  generally  com- 
fortable prisons,  but  are  the  subject  of  just  criticism  from  their 
universal  allowance  of  almost  unrestricted  intercourse  of  inmates 
of  the  same  sex.  The  young  and  the  old,  the  untried  and  the 
convicted,  and  in  some  cases  witnesses  detained  for  want  of  bail, 
mingle  during  the  day  in  one  common  hall.  In  one  jail  the  fe- 
males have  the  same  range  as  the  men. 

Thirty  years  ago,  on  the  recommendation  of  Governor  Daniel 
Haine.s,  the  legislature  of  New  Jersey  appropriated  money  and 
provided  for  the  appointment  of  commissioners  for  the  establish- 
ment of  a  house  of  refuge  for  delinquent  youth,  —  no  previous 
provision  having  been  made  for  such  in  any  establishment  separ- 
ate from  criminal  adults.  A  site  near  Princeton  was  purchased, 
and  the  foundation  walls  of  a  large  building  were  laid.  Unhap- 
pily the  enterprise  became  involved  in  the  political  strife  of  the 
day.  A  succeeding  legislature  arrested  the  work  ;  and  soon  after 
the  unfinished  structure,  the  collected  materials,  and  the  land 


156  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  n. 

were  sold  by  law.  But  the  attention  of  thoughtful  citizens  had 
been  fixed  upon  the  great  need  of  an  institution  to  give  proper 
training  rather  than  punishment  to  children  guilty  of  criminal 
acts.  Judges,  when  compelled  to  sentence  such  to  the  prisons, 
frequently  pointed  out  the  cruel  neglect  of  proper  legal  provision 
to  that  end.  In  1864  Governor  Joel  Parker  in  his  annual  mes- 
sage, by  a  few  brief  but  earnest  sentences,  again  presented  the 
subject  to  the  legislature.  This  resulted  in  the  appointment 
of  three  commissioners,  who,  after  inquiring  into  the  character 
and  influence  of  reformatory  institutions  in  other  States,  pre- 
sented a  report  urging  the  establishment  of  a  reform  school  for 
boys  upon  a  large  farm,  with  a  bill  to  carry  the  proposition  into 
effect.  This  was  passed  without  amendment  by  an  almost  unani- 
mous vote.  It  was  a  signal  triumph  of  philanthropy  over  partisan 
principles. 

A  farm  of  nearly  five  hundred  acres  was  purchased,  buildings 
were  erected,  and  in  September,  1867,  the  first  pupils  were  ad- 
mitted. The  open  farm-system  was  adopted,  which  has  proved 
eminently  satisfactory.  The  school  has  gradually  increased,  until 
in  1878  it  numbered  two  hundred  and  eighty-eight  pupils,  —  the 
average  for  the  year  being  two  hundred  and  seventy-seven.  More 
than  nine  hundred  scholars  have  passed  under  its  training ;  and 
though  its  friends  have  to  mourn  over  the  course  of  some  who 
have  subsequently  yielded  to  the  evil  influences  of  bad  parentage 
and  corrupt  association,  they  have  been  cheered  by  the  correct 
conduct  of  the  large  majority  in  different  departments  of  life. 

After  the  establishment  of  the  boys'  reform  school,  the  manifest 
impropriety  of  sending  young  girls  to  prison  for  pilfering  and 
other  violations  of  law  became  so  generally  acknowledged,  that 
in  1870,  on  the  recommendation  of  Governor  Randolph,  "The 
State  Industrial  School  for  Girls  "  was  provided  for  by  law,  to  be 
under  the  care  of  a  board  of  trustees  and  lady  managers.  A  small 
farm  was  purchased  just  out  of  Trenton,  buildings  erected,  and  a 
very  satisfactory  school  under  a  judicious  matron  established,  with 
from  thirty-five  to  forty  inmates.  Instruction  is  given  in  morals 
based  upon  religion,  in  letters,  and  in  housewifery ;  and  good 
homes  are  sought  for  graduating  pupils. 

The  city  of  Newark  has  a  home  for  truant  and  wayward  chil- 
dren who  come  under  the  care  of  the  police.  It  is  maintained  by 
the  city  council,  and  is  doing  a  beneficent  work,  having  about 
one  hundred  and  twenty-five  inmates  of  both  sexes.  They  have 
school  privileges,  and  are  instructed  in  various  modes  of  industry. 

Asylums  have  been  established  in  a  number  of  populous  dis- 
tricts of  New  Jersey  for  orphan  or  destitute  children.  When  of 
fit  age  they  are  transferred  to  suitable  families,  where  they  can 
be  trained  to  useful  citizenship.  Some  of  these  asylums  are  of  a 
denominational  character,  but  generally  they  are  the  outgrowth  of 


PART  ii.]  IN  PENNSYLVANIA  AND  DELAWARE.  157 

Christian  sympathy,  without  regard  to  sect  or  nationality.  There 
are  two  schools  in  Newark  under  the  care  of  benevolent  ladies, 
where  young  children  are  kept  through  the  day,  and  besides  the 
usual  instruction  are  provided  with  dinner  and  a  safe  play-place ; 
the  girls  are  taught  to  sew.  The  number  of  children  shielded  by 
these  various  institutions  has  not  been  ascertained,  but  the  pro- 
tection given  is  a  most  valuable  charity,  and  certainly  prevents 
much  crime  as  well  as  suffering.  To  reclaim  adult  criminals  is  a 
difficult  problem  ;  to  keep  the  children  from  taking  places  in  the 
sad  category  is  comparatively  easy.  A  State  which  fails  in  this 
work  is  as  derelict  to  its  interest  as  it  is  to  its  duty. 

I  cannot  close  without  going  back  for  a  moment  to  the  two 
State  reformatories,  and  adding  a  word  thereupon.  The  boys 
are  divided  up  into  families,  and  they  show  their  appreciation 
of  the  plan  by  not  running  away.  All  the  appliances  of  refor- 
mation are  employed  in  this  school.  It  is  well-governed,  well- 
taught,  well-trained,  and  well-managed  in  all  respects.  It  is 
based  on  the  idea  of  a  Christian  home,  with  the  steady  pres- 
sure of  kind,  moral,  religious,  and  social  influences  inspiring  and 
directing  all  its  discipline. 

The  " Girls'  Industrial "  is  charming.  All  the  influences  here  are 
holy,  purifying,  saving.  Let  one  example  suffice.  Some  months 
ago  a  very  bad  girl  was  in  confinement  under  punishment,  but 
not  so  far  off  as  to  prevent  her  hearing  remarks  made  in  the  school- 
room. In  an  address  to  the  girls  by  the  matron  she  caught  the 
words,  that  "  God  was  more  willing  to  give  the  Holy  Spirit  to 
them  that  ask  him,  than  parents  are  to  give  good  gifts  to  their 
children,"  and  that  by  taking  heed  to  his  teachings  we  are  ena- 
bled to  overcome  our  evil  habits  and  propensities.  She  was 
startled,  touched,  melted.  These  words  applied  to  her  conscience 
brought  her  to  repentance  and  amendment  of  life,  which  has 
been  fully  proved  and  made  manifest  by  her  uniform  good  con- 
duct and  obedience  since. 


CHAPTER    XXXIV.  —  MIDDLE    STATES    (concluded).  —  PENN- 
SYLVANIA ;   DELAWARE. 

PENNSYLVANIA  has  two  State-prisons,  called  the  eastern 
and  western  penitentiaries ;  a  large  city  prison  in  Philadel- 
phia ;  two  houses  of  correction,  one  at  Philadelphia,  the  other  at 
Claremont,  near  Pittsburg ;  the  common  jail  system  as  in  the 
other  States  ;  and  three  reformatories  for  juveniles,  two  in  Phila- 
delphia within  the  same  walls,  one  being  for  white  children,  the 
other  for  colored.  There  is  also  a  reformatory  in  the  western 


158  STATE  OF  PRISONS,    ETC.  [BooK  ir. 

part  of  the  State,  on  a  farm,  some  fifteen  or  twenty  miles  from 
Pittsburg. 

Pennsylvania  justly  claims  a  pre-eminent  position,  which  has 
been  willingly  accorded  to  her  by  the  rest  of  the  world,  for  her 
penitentiary  studies  and  penitentiary  work.  She  has  exercised  a 
potential  influence  on  the  public  opinion  and  public  action  of  the 
world  in  the  penitentiary  domain ;  and  she  may  well  feel  proud  of 
her  achievements  and  her  influence. 

The  eastern  penitentiary,  situated  in  one  of  the  suburbs  of  Phila- 
delphia, has  a  world-wide  fame.  No  penal  institution  anywhere  is 
more  widely  known  or  more  honorably  celebrated  than  that  which, 
grandly  majestic,  crowns  the  gentle  elevation  that  has  received 
the  name  of  Cherry  Hill.  It  is  the  only  institution  in  America  in 
which  to-day  the  cellular  system  is  applied  in  its  integrity  ;  and 
even  here  the  system  has  of  late  years  received  a  rude  shock 
from  such  overcrowding  as  made  it  necessary  to  put  two  inmates 
in  many  of  the  cells,  which  were  never  intended  to  receive,  and 
never  ought  to  have  received,  more  than  one  each.  At  the  prison 
congress  of  New  York  in  1876,  Mr.  Richard  Vaux,  president  of 
the  board  of  directors,  made  the  following  statements  in  regard  to 
this  establishment :  — 

"  The  system  of  discipline  now  used  in  the  eastern  penitentiary  of  Penn- 
sylvania is  properly  called  the  individual-treatment  system,  and  is  certainly 
a  system  which  has  been  followed  by  great  success.  Each  man  comes 
there  from  his  own  acts,  and  these  are  personal  to  himself,  and  we  contend 
that  he  should  be  treated  as  his  personal  characteristics  require.  The 
prisoners  do  not  work  or  eat  together,  and  do  not  see  each  other ;  but 
they  can  see  visitors  almost  without  restriction.  The  trade-master  is  the 
most  important  officer  of  the  prison.  Every  convict  is  taught  a  trade,  is 
taught  to  read  and  write,  is  restrained  from  conversation  with  his  fellow- 
convicts,  but  is  allowed  to  talk  to  any  one  that  comes  to  see  him.  The 
surgeon  is  required  to  visit  all  prisoners,  sick  or  well,  on  the  principle  that 
1  an  ounce  of  prevention  is  worth  a  pound  of  cure.'  We  have  no  arms  of 
any  kind,  except  upon  the  night  watchman.  No  gunpowder  is  kept  in  the 
prison.  In  thirty  years'  experience  we  have  never  heard  a  pistol-shot  in 
the  prison,  and  no  convict  has  ever  been  wounded  there.  Dogs  are  kept 
on  watch  at  night  as  assistants  to  the  guards.  They  simply  bark  if  any 
thing  is  wrong,  —  that  is,  when  they  hear  any  unusual  noise.  Manufac- 
turing material  is  bought  at  market  prices,  and  the  goods  manufactured 
are  sold  at  the  same ;  so  that  there  is  no  unfair  competition  with  manu- 
facturers who  employ  honest  men.  The  convicts  are  allowed  pay  for  over- 
time. One  man  supported  a  wife  and  family  outside  of  prison  by  pay  for 
over-work  done  while  in  prison.  The  prisoners  cost  about  thirty-four  cents 
a  day  per  capita.  Labor  is  not  farmed  out  nor  let  out  by  contract.  We 
are  not  self-supporting,  and  I  trust  we  never  shall  be.  When  a  prison 
becomes  self-supporting,  it  is  just  what  prisons  are  not  intended  to  do." 

In  answer  to  a  question,  Mr.  Vaux  said  that  they  had  cases  of 
insanity,  idiocy,  and  imbecility,  but  these  were  not  produced  by 
the  discipline  of  the  institution. 


PART  ii.]  IN  PENNSYLVANIA  AND  DELAWARE.  159 

In  a  pamphlet  on  "  Crime-Cause,"  recently  published  by  Mr. 
Vaux,  he  thus  states  the  grounds  on  which  he  defends  the 
system :  — 

"  The  friends  of  the  separate  method  assert  that  incarceration  being  the 
condition  on  which  punishment  is  to  be  applied,  it  should  follow  the  phi- 
losophy of  criminal  jurisprudence,  which  separates  the  person  charged  with 
crime  from  society,  tries  him  as  an  individual  separated  from  the  society 
he  has  wronged,  and  inflicts  the  penalty  of  incarceration  because  it  still 
separates  him  from  association  with  society ;  that  as  punishment  is  to 
improve,  reform,  and  restore  him  again  to  association  with  his  fellows,  it 
should  be  directed  to  his  individual  needs,  as  curative  remedies  are  ad- 
dressed to  the  individual  sufferer;  and  that  any  attempt  to  apply  those 
influences  which  tend  to  produce  reform  or  improvement  in  the  individual 
must  be  directed  to  each  individual  as  his  case  demands,  and  the  result  of 
this  application  of  punishment  intended  to  be  inflicted  on  the  individual 
during  his  incarceration,  and  that  it  cannot  be  successfully  administered 
except  the  convict  is  disassociated  from  all  those  who  are  like  himself  under 
punishment  for  crimes ;  and  also  that  trade  knowledge  and  secular  and 
moral  teachings  are  more  certainly  effectual  when  received  by  a  convict 
separated  from  others,  because  convict  association  is  a  resisting  power 
against  improvement,  rather  than  aid  to  its  reception.  It  may  be  further 
stated  as  at  least  probable  that  all  the  influences  which  it  is  claimed  are 
either  necessary  or  essential  for  the  reform,  improvement,  or  restoration  of 
those  convicted  for  crimes  are  either  moral  or  mental ;  the  physical  are 
only  incidental.  It  is  certainly  most  probable  that  the  administration  of 
these  influences  on  individuals  in  classes  is  less  likely  to  reach  the  cases 
of  individuals  than  if  they  were  directed  to  each  person  separately,  and  free 
from  the  consequences  of  association  with  the  depraved,  debased,  or  incu- 
rably vicious.  The  tendency  in  class  administration  of  these  restoring  or 
reforming  applications  is  to  negative  by  association  the  larger  part  of  the 
proposed  or  promised  benefits.  While  it  is  true  that  the  natural  longings 
are  for  social  intercommunication,  it  does  not  appear  probable  that  con- 
victs are  in  the  best  condition  to  receive  the  benefits  of  punishment  during 
incarceration,  while  they  are  satisfying  this  natural  longing  with  the  com- 
panionship of  either  a  crime-class,  or  the  elements  which  constitute  it.  Is 
not  this  separation  then  from  the  society  of  convicts,  if  it  is  the  normal 
condition  of  our  nature,  part  of  a  proper  punishment  for  the  wrongs  inflicted 
by  the  individual  convict  on  the  aggregate  society  out  of  which  he  comes 
for  punishment  ?  " 

The  western  penitentiary  was  established  and  for  more  than 
half  a  century  conducted  on  the  plan  of  cellular  separation  ;  but 
for  the  last  ten  years  the  separate  or  individual  treatment  system 
has  been  replaced  by  the  associated,  with  of  course  cellular  sepa- 
ration at  night.  The  authorities  are  delighted  with  the  change, 
and  they  claim  that  the  prison  has  gained  every  way,  —  in  disci- 
pline, moral  tone,  moral  power,  and  in  the  cheerfulness,  alacrity, 
obedience,  self-respect,  and  manhood  of  the  prisoners  as  well  as 
in  the  financial  results  attained ;  so  that  the  hope  is  entertained 


I6O  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  ir. 

that  the  prison  will  soon  become  a  source  of  revenue  to  the  State 
instead  of  being  a  drain  upon  its  treasury.  Progress  is  the  word 
in  the  western  penitentiary,  and  excellent  work  is  done  there 
for  both  the  material  and  moral  improvement  and  well-being  of 
the  convict  population.  Their  best  interests  both  for  this  world 
and  the  next  are  held  steadily  in  view,  and  sought  after  with  well 
directed  and  well  applied  zeal. 

Both  houses  of  correction,  that  in  the  east  and  that  in  the  west, 
are  well  managed  and  useful  institutions.  That  at  Claremont, 
Allegheny,  has  been  and  continues  to  be  pre-eminently  successful 
in  a  financial  point  of  view.  Last  year  (1878),  with  an  average 
convict  population  of  from  five  hundred  to  six  hundred  and  av- 
erage imprisonment  of  less  than  three  months,  the  cash  income 
from  prison  labor,  after  paying  all  expenses,  yielded  a  net  profit 
of  nearly  nineteen  thousand  dollars. 

The  reformatories  do  good  work  and  show  good  results. 

Of  the  county  jails  I  am  unable  to  speak  with  knowledge,  but 
with  the  exception  of  the  few  on  the  cellular  system  a  guess 
might  be  safely  risked  that  they  are  "  no  better  than  they  should 
be."  Indeed,  official  reports  show  them  to  be  in  a  bad  condition. 

The  work  of  "  patronage  "  (aid  to  liberated  prisoners),  though 
not  all  to  be  desired,  is  well  organized  and  produces  good  fruit, 
both  in  the  east  and  the  west. 

Partisan  politics,  which  is  the  bane  of  prison  administration  in 
all  the  other  States,  has  never  made  itself  felt  as  a  disturbing  ele- 
ment in  Pennsylvania.  Hence  the  tenure  of  office  in  her  prisons 
is  during  good  behavior ;  and  the  consequence  is  that  both  the 
eastern  and  western  penitentiaries  enjoy  the  advantage  of  experi- 
enced and  competent  staffs ;  and  there  is  on  their  part  a  sincere 
and  earnest  purpose  for  reformation,  which  is  much  aided  by  a 
regular  and  even  organized  visitation  of  the  prisoners  by  the 
members  of  the  Philadelphia  and  Pittsburg  prison  societies,  —  a 
visitation  which  in  the  case  of  the  former  has  the  sanction  of 
law  and  may  be  claimed  as  a  legal  right. 

DELAWARE  is  the  smallest  State  in  the  Union,  and  the  most 
backward  in  its  prison  system  and  administration.  It  has  no 
State-prison,  only  county  jails,  the  principal  of  which  serves  the 
purposes  of  such  an  establishment.  Though  adjacent  to  Penn- 
sylvania, which  from  its  foundation  has  been  celebrated  for  hu- 
manity, Delaware  still  retains  —  not  merely  as  agents  of  discipline 
but  in  punishment  of  crime  —  the  pillory  and  the  whipping-post. 
She  finds  her  account  in  their  retention;  for  after  one  or  two 
doses  the  criminal  almost  invariably  escapes  into  one  or  other  of 
the  neighboring  States  of  Maryland,  Pennsylvania,  or  New  Jer- 
sey, which  he  can  do  in  a  couple  of  hours  from  almost  any  point 
in  his  own. 


PART  11.]  IN  MICHIGAN  AND    WEST  VIRGINIA.  l6l 


CHAPTER  XXXV.  —  WESTERN  STATES.  —  MICHIGAN;  WEST 

VIRGINIA. 

MICHIGAN  is  among  those  of  our  American  States  which 
are  most  actively  and  intelligently  reaching  out  in  the  direc- 
tion of  social  progress,  including  prison  reform,  and  indeed  giving 
special  prominence  to  this  department  of  the  science  of  society. 
The  several  classes  of  institutions  in  this  department  are:  i.  A 
State-prison.  2.  Two  houses  of  correction.  3.  County  jails. 
4.  A  juvenile  reformatory.  5.  A  State  public  school  for  destitute 
and  dependent  children.  6.  Sundry  other  preventive  agencies. 

The  State-prison  is  the  principal  penal  institution.  It  was 
created  in  1839,  a  few  years  after  the  admission  of  the  State  into 
the  Union.  The  annual  report  for  1878,  by  the  warden,  Mr.  Wil- 
liam Humphrey,  is  a  monumental  document  showing  that  the 
prison  has  an  able  and  vigorous  head,  and  that  he  is  aided  by  a, 
staff  of  willing  and  zealous  under-officers.  The  income  from 
prison  labor  and  the  expenditures  for  all  ordinary  wants  of  the 
institution  about  balance  each  other.  The  exact  figures  are : 
earnings,  ninety-two  thousand  three  hundred  and  seventy-eight 
dollars  ;  expenses,  ninety-three  thousand  two  hundred  and  ten 
dollars.  The  industries  are  the  manufacture  of  furniture,  wag- 
ons, agricultural  implements,  cigars,  and  boots  and  shoes.  The 
labor  is  let  to  contractors.  Prominence  is  given  to  educational 
agencies.  A  good  library  is  provided.  A  chaplain  of  extraor- 
dinary qualifications  as  to  zeal,  industry,  devotion,  and  good  sense 
ministers  to  the  spiritual  wants  of  the  convicts.  Much  and  wise 
attention  is  paid  to  sanitary  matters ;  no  less  than  fifty  bath-tubs 
are  provided,  all  in  separate  rooms.  A  commutation  law,  wisely 
administered,  relieves  from  the  necessity  of  much  punishment, 
and  physical  force  is  as  far  as  possible  replaced  by  moral  forces 
in  the  discipline. 

There  are  two  houses  of  correction,  —  one  municipal,  in  the  city 
of  Detroit ;  the  other  of  the  State,  in  the  town  of  Ionia.  The 
former  has  had  an  existence  of  nearly  twenty  years  and  is  already 
historical.  It  receives  both  men  and  women,  but  the  two  depart- 
ments are  entirely  separate.  In  educational  advantages  it  stands 
pre-eminent  among  American  prisons.  In  industrial  development 
and  success  it  probably  has  no  superior,  and  the  labor  has  always 
been  managed  by  the  institution  without  the  intervention  of  con- 
tractors. Though  a  short-term  prison,  its  earnings  have  largely 
exceeded  its  expenses.  The  discipline  is  firm  and  vigorous,  but 
at  the  same  time  just  and  humane  :  the  use  of  moral  rather  than 
physical  force  is  the  rule. 

The  State  house  of  correction  at  Ionia  was  opened  in  1877. 

ii 


1 62  STATE   OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BooK  II. 

It  is  for  male  prisoners  only,  —  young  fellows  between  the  ages 
of  sixteen  and  twenty-five,  and  misdemeanants  sentenced  for  not 
less  than  ninety  days.  It  is  a  solid  structure  of  fine  architectural 
appearance,  with  six  hundred  and  twenty-four  cells,  and  all  need- 
ful appointments  for  comfort,  safety,  health,  work,  religious  and 
scholastic  instruction,  etc.  Considering  all  these  advantages,  — 
solidity,  beauty,  and  manifold  appliances,  —  it  may  well  be  pro- 
nounced a  model  of  economy  in  building,  as  the  whole  cost  will 
not  have  exceeded  three  hundred  thousand  dollars.  This  institu- 
tion holds  out  good  promise,  but  as  yet  has  no  history. 

The  State  has  seventy  counties,  and  a  common  jail  in  nearly 
every  county,  with  an  aggregate  average  population  of  about  three 
hundred  prisoners,  and  a  force  for  superintendence  of  some  one 
hundred  and  fifty  officials.  It  is  the  old  story, — no  work,  no  in- 
struction, no  discipline,  no  uniformity  of  structure,  the  buildings 
varying  architecturally  from  the  log-pen  to  the  imposing  stone 
edifice,  and  in  cost  from  one  hundred  dollars  to  sixty  thousand 
dollars.  Here  are  found  in  intimate  and  continuous  association 
the  old  offender  and  the  wayward  youth,  —  the  former  relating  his 
exploits,  the  latter  drinking  in  the  fatal  poison  and  burning  with 
desire  for  similar  adventures.  The  novice  thus  goes  out  with  all 
the  knowledge  of  the  accomplished  rascal  save  that  which  comes 
from  experience,  which  time  will  give  without  much  delay.  Still, 
Michigan  is  thinking,  planning,  and  working  for  a  reform  of  her 
county  jail-system,  which  she  will  accomplish  sooner  or  later. 

A  great  change  has  been  made  in  the  State  reform  school.  It 
was  formerly  a  prison  ;  it  is  now  a  Christian  home.  It  was 
formerly  a  congregate  establishment ;  it  is  now,  if  not  wholly  yet 
largely,  on  the  cottage  plan.  Formerly  it  was  surrounded  by  a 
strong  prison  enclosure  and  furnished  with  prison  appliances  for 
security  and  discipline  ;  now  no  unsightly  obstruction  shuts  out 
the  beautiful  world  from  view,  and  all  bolts  and  bars,  cells  and 
whips  have  been  discarded  and  cast  away.  Formerly  escapes 
were  not  infrequent ;  now  the  love  of  home  keeps  the  inmates 
within  its  enfolding  and  sheltering  arms.  The  elements  of  true 
progress  and  permanent  reformation  are  assured  to  the  institution 
by  cultivating  in  the  boys  self-respect,  manliness,  truth,  and  honor, 
and  by  maintaining  a  true  family  government  built  upon  and  ce- 
mented by  mutual  esteem  and  confidence.  In  fine,  the  influence 
of  the  reformatory  in  reclaiming  these  children  from  vice  and 
starting  them  in  the  right  direction  abundantly  appears  in  the 
after  life  of  the  great  majority  of  them. 

Of  the  agencies  strictly  preventive  of  crime  the  most  important 
is  the  State  public  school  for  destitute  and  dependent  children,  at 
Cold  water.  It  has  been  in  operation  some  half-dozen  years,  and 
receives  children  from  all  parts  of  the  State  from  the  age  of  four 
to  sixteen  years.  It  has  accommodation  for  three  hundred  boys 


PART  n.]  MICHIGAN  AND    WEST  VIRGINIA.  163 

in  ten  cottages,  forming  with  the  other  necessary  buildings  a 
beautiful  little  village  of  itself.  It  is  not  intended  to  furnish  a 
permanent  home  to  its  inmates,  but  to  care  for  and  educate  them 
during  the  period  of  helplessness  in  an  atmosphere  healthy  and 
good  until  proper  homes  can  be  found.  Its  history  is  still  short, 
but  most  interesting.  It  has  already  accomplished  immense  good, 
but  its  benefits  are  destined  to  multiply  and  increase  through  the 
coming  generations.  So  successful  has  it  proved  that  the  legis- 
lature of  Michigan  at  its  last  session  determined  immediately  to 
establish  a  similar  institution  for  neglected  and  dependent  girls. 

A  preventive  institution  of  great  potency  is  found  in  the  State 
agency  for  the  care  of  juvenile  offenders^  consisting  of  agents 
appointed  by  the  governor,  one  for  each  county,  to  act  under  the 
direction  of  the  board  of  public  charities.  The  machinery  is  too 
extended  and  complicated  for  explanation  in  a  work  of  this  char- 
acter, and  I  must  content  myself  with  the  bare  statement  of  the 
fact  that  such  an  agency  exists,  and  has  shown  itself  to  be  one  of 
great  potency  for  good. 

Numerous  preventive  agencies  of  a  private  character  are  found 
in  various  parts  of  the  State,  such  as  industrial  schools,  children's 
homes,  homes  for  the  friendless,  orphan  asylums,  etc. ;  but  little 
more  than  a  catalogue  of  those  known  to  me,  with  the  briefest 
description,  can  be  attempted. 

i-  St.  Vincent's  Orphan  Asylum,  Roman  Catholic,  at  Detroit, 
established  some  thirty  years  ago,  exclusively  for  girls  who  are 
either  orphans,  or  whose  parents  have  abandoned  them.  The 
older  inmates  are  put  to  trades,  or  provided  with  good  homes 
where  they  may  earn  an  independent  and  honest  living.  The 
institution  has  a  capacity  for  two  hundred  children,  and  is  under 
the  care  of  the  Sisters  of  Charity ;  its  revenue  and  expenditures 
amount  to  about  $6,500  per  year. 

2.  A  Roman  Catholic  home  for  orphan  children  at  Normal, 
where  some  twenty  to  thirty  are  well  cared  for ;  and,  when  of  the 
proper  age,  provided  with  suitable  homes. 

3.  St.  Anthony's  Male  Orphan  Asylum,  also  Roman  Catholic, 
at  Detroit,  under  the  care  of  the  Sisters  of  the  Immaculate  Heart, 
has  been  in  existence  about  twelve  years,  and  is  limited  to  boys 
of  five  to  twelve  years  of  age.    The  asylum  provides  for  an  average 
of  ninety  to  one  hundred  boys,  and  seeks  to  find  homes  for  them 
in  families  as  fast  as  practicable. 

4.  The  Protestant  Orphan  Asylum,  at  Detroit.     This  has  an 
income  of  about  $4,000  from  donations  and  membership  fees.     It 
has  accommodations  for  about  fifty  children,  orphan  or  homeless. 

5.  The  Woman's  Hospital  and  Foundling's  Home,  at  Detroit, 
Protestant,  provides  for  about  thirty  foundlings  during  the  year, 
besides  about  seventy-five  or  eighty  children  born  in  the  institu- 
tion each  year.     It  expends  some  $4,000  annually. 


164  STATE  OF  PR/SON'S,  ETC.  [BooK  n. 

6.  The  Home  for  the  Friendless,  at  Detroit,  Protest :int,  betide 
ichel  tor  adults,  has  ^eneiallv  in  it  -  cart  about  forty  children,  and 
affords  ;iiil   l«>  some  Q&e  bundled  .in. I  :.evenfv   live  dmiu",  the  yeai. 

This  institution  expends  about  $5,500  pei  .innnin. 

7.  Hpuse  of  Providence  and  Lymg-in  Asylum,  at  Detroit,  Roman 

Catholic,  established  ID  [869,  haa  usually  aboni  lili  \  clnldien  in 
it.  care.  It  receives,  beside  those  bom  in  the  house,  abandoned 
child  n  MI  ii|)  to  five  years  old.  Sonic  MX  bundled  and  til!  y  01  seven 
hundred  have  been  so  received  and  cared  l«>r  sinee  the  bouse  \va  , 
opened.  The  current  expenses  are  about  $4,500  pei  \en 

8.  The  Industrial  School,  Protestant,  al   Detroit.     The  managers 

of  this  school  are  educating,  clothing,  and  furnishing  a  daily  din 

MCI  to  children  whose  parentl  are  ton  p«>ni  to  clothe  them  j>n)perly 
for  school.  Al)OUt  tWO  hundred  pom  ^  Inldien  attend  in  tbeeniirse 

of  the  year,  and  great  good  is  accomplished. 

WEST  VIRGINIA  has  no  child-saving  institutions,  whether  of  the 
reformatory  or  preventive  kind  ;  at  least  none  nndei  State  manage 
ment.  Of  its  county  jails  I  know  nothm:;,  but  it  is  safe  i<>  believe 
that  they  are  not  models.  Its  Stale  prison  is  managed  by  Warden 
Bridges  with  intelligence,  vigor, and  hmnaniiv.  tts earnings,  \\-iih 
two  hundred  and  fifty  convicts,  nearly  meet  expenses,  II  there 
are  points  in  its  administration  which  deserve  criticism,  there  are 
others  that  merit  strong  commendation. 


CHAPTER  XXXVI.  —  WESTERN  STATES  (continued).  —  OHIO. 

THIS   is   a  great   State,   and    greatly    Intent    <>n    penitent urv 
reform.      The   repressive    institutions    heie    are    a    State 
prison,  two  houses  of   correction,   and   the  county  jails,   which 

id  of  repressin-   i  at  her  foster  ciime. 

'I'b.'  State-prison  is  in  the  city  of  Columbus,  the  capital,  and 
contains   at  present,  and  has  for  some  years  contained,  a  dailv 

average  <>i  more  than  sixteen  hundred  inmates,  The  bo.n.i  of 
state  charities  curtly  cemark,  that  m  saying  this  they  say  ail  that 

is  necessary;  that,  in   presence  <>f  such   numbers,  it   is  useless  t<> 

add  anv  thin-  further.  This  is  a  well  nieiiled  cm. me  .-I  MI.  h  a 
vast  agglomeration  of  criminals  in  one  mass.  The  tiisl  icloim 
needed  here  is  to  cut  this  pi  i  .on  up  into  four  prisons  at  least. 
This  is  what  in  effect  the  boa  id  is  aiming  t<»  accomplish,  not 
dncclly  but  indirectly,  as  we  shall  sec. 

The  tWO  houses  of   collection,  under   the    name   ol    woikhonsc-. 
are  at  Cincinnati  and  Cleveland.       Thcv  are  both  municipal  insli 


PART  n.]  IN  OHIO.  165 

tutions.  There  seems  to  be  nothing  special  calling  for  remark  in 
the  condition  or  working  of  the  first,  except  that  the  average  daily 
number  of  prisoners  during  1878  was  four  hundred  and  fifteen, 
and  that  the  expenses  were  greatly  in  excess  of  the  earnings. 
The  Cleveland  workhouse  embraces  two  distinct  institutions  ;  one 
is  a  house  of  correction  for  adults,  the  other  a  house  of  refuge 
and  correction  for  children  and  youths.  In  the  matter  of  labor 
and  finances  the  Cleveland  establishment  makes  a  very  different 
showing  from  that  at  Cincinnati.  The  adult  department  here 
shows  an  excess  of  earnings  over  expenditures  in  the  sum  of 
$840  ;  while  even  the  children's  department  (under  the  name  of 
house  of  refuge  and  correction)  has  more  than  half  paid  its  way 
from  the  labor  of  the  inmates.  This  result  is  distinctly  claimed 
as  due  to  the  fact  that  the  labor  is  managed  by  the  institution 
and  not  let  to  contractors,  who  always  take  the  lion's  share  of  the 
profits.  The  average  number  during  the  year  in  the  adult  depart- 
ment was  three  hundred  and  one,  and  in  the  child  department  one 
hundred  and  twenty-seven.  Both  institutions  appear  to  be  admi- 
rably managed,  and  to  be  accomplishing  excellent  work.  The 
board  of  managers  claim  that  they  have  satisfactory  evidence  that 
ninety-five  per  cent  of  the  children  who  pass  through  the  house  of 
refuge  turn  out  well.  This  is  a  very  large  proportion,  and  it  is  to 
be  hoped  that  there  is  no  error  in  the  statistics.  They  are  to  be  a 
thousand  times  congratulated  if  they  have  achieved  such  a  result. 
I  do  not  pretend  to  call  it  in  question,  but  a  percentage  far  below 
that  would  win  warm  eulogy  on  their  administration. 

The  county  jails  may  be  passed  with  the  single  remark  that, 
while  heretofore  they  have  been  mostly  mere  herding  halls  for  the 
accumulation  of  all  possible  forms  of  evil  both  as  regards  inmates 
and  management,  more  recently  several  new  jails,  erected  in  ac- 
cordance with  suggestions  of  the  board  of  State  charities,  have 
provided  for  the  classification  of  prisoners  and  for  adequate  drain- 
light,  air,  water,  etc.  The  introduction  into  this  class  of  prisons 
of  the  cellular  regime  is  under  consideration. 

Before  leaving  this  department  of  prison  work,  some  notice  may 
be  fitly  taken  of  certain  propositions  suggested  and  urged  by  the 
board  of  State  charities.  The  first  is  the  establishment  by  the 
State  of  a  number  of  district  prisons  for  the  reformatory  treatment 
of  minor  offenders,  tramps,  drunkards,  etc.  The  second  is  the 
erection  of  a  State  reformatory  prison  for  young  felon  criminals 
on  the  plan  of  the  State  industrial  reformatory  at  Elmira,  N.  Y., 
described  in  a  former  chapter  of  this  work.  A  third  is  the  found- 
ing of  a  prison  for  incorrigibles,  that  is.  criminals  who  after  a  sec- 
ond or  third  conviction  show  no  disposition  to  reform.  The  State 
of  Ohio  would  do  well  to  heed  the  counsels  of  these  gentlemen,  who 
are  men  of  ability  and  practical  judgment,  and  who  have  broadly 
and  keenly  studied  this  whole  question. 


1 66  STATE   OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  11. 

The  juvenile  reformatories  in  Ohio  are  houses  of  refuge  at 
Cincinnati,  Cleveland,  and  Toledo  ;  a  reform  farm-school  for  boys 
at  Lancaster  ;  and  a  girls'  industrial  home  at  Delaware.  It  would 
be  obviously  impossible  to  give  a  full  description  of  all  or  any  of 
these  institutions.  Brief  mention  has  been  made  of  that  at  Cleve- 
land. Of  that  at  Toledo  I  can  say  nothing  because  I  know  nothing. 
The  house  of  refuge  for  boys  and  girls  at  Cincinnati,  and  the  reform 
farm-school  for  boys  at  Lancaster,  are  old  and  well  known  estab- 
lishments. They  are  respectively  on  the  congregate  and  family 
plans,  and  have  both  until  quite  recently  been  conducted  by  two 
distinguished  and  able  gentlemen,  —  Mr.  Monfort  and  Mr.  Howe; 
each  thoroughly  convinced  of  the  superiority  of  his  own  system. 
I  acknowledge  myself  a  partisan  of  the  cottage  plan  ;  yet  I  find  it 
hard  to  say  which  of  these  two  has  achieved  the  better  results. 
Both  have  accomplished  a  noble  work ;  both  done  excellent  ser- 
vice to  their  State  and  their  country. 

The  girls'  industrial  home  at  Delaware  is  an  institution  organ- 
ized on  the  family  plan.  It  has  been  in  operation  some  eight  or 
ten  years,  but  was  reorganized  one  year  ago.  No  change,  how- 
ever, was  made  in  the  management,  the  staff  remaining  as  before. 
An,  advisory  board  of  ladies  has  been  added  to  the  directorship, 
from  whose  counsel  and  co-operation  much  good  is  expected.  It 
is  proposed  that  two  classes  of  girls  be  eliminated  from  the  home 
and  placed  in  other  institutions :  I.  Young  girls  ordinarily  quite 
inoffensive,  who  do  not  need  the  discipline  of  such  an  establish- 
ment and  ought  not  to  be  subjected  to  the  judicial  procedure 
necessary  to  their  commitment.  2.  Older  girls  who  have  been 
corrupted  and  hardened  by  prostitution,  whose  presence  must  be 
a  peril  to  the  younger  inmates. 

The  preventive  agencies  in  Ohio  are  neither  few  nor  unimpor- 
tant ;  but  we  can  only  glance  at  them.  Foremost  among  them 
must  be  named  the  district  and  county  children's  homes,  a  class 
of  institutions  peculiar  to  Ohio  and  most  excellent  in  conception 
and  practice.  The  county  establishments  of  course  are  founded 
and  managed  by  the  counties ;  the  district  homes  by  two  or  more 
counties  united  for  the  purpose,  the  number  of  counties  however 
never  to  exceed  four.  There  are  now  in  operation  seven  county 
homes  and  one  district  home  embracing  two  counties.  Their  av- 
erage capacity  is  one  hundred  children  ;  average  annual  cost  per 
capita  ninety-five  dollars.  Four  additional  county  homes  are  in 
process  of  construction,  and  several  others  projected  but  not  yet 
commenced.  The  homes  are  designed  for  homeless,  neglected, 
or  dependent  children,  who  would  otherwise  be  thrown  upon  the 
care  of  the  county  poor-houses  or  forced  into  beggary  or  pilfering. 
Experience  approves  the  plan  as  affording  an  effective  care  at  a 
cost  not  much  if  any  in  excess  of  the  average  cost  of  poor-house 
inmates  ;  and  it  is  generally  popular  in  the  State.  The  work  done 
is  admirable,  and  so  are  the  results  achieved. 


PART  IL]  IN  OHIO.  1 67 

A  magnificent  refuge  or  home  (not  of  the  sort  just  named 
however)  for  friendless  children  exists  in  Cincinnati,  founded  and 
largely  maintained  through  the  efforts  of  a  great-hearted  citizen, 
Mr.  Murray  Shipley,  who  is  himself  a  member  of  the  board  of 
State  charities.  I  think  our  President,  Rutherford  B.  Hayes, 
takes  an  interest  in  this  institution.  There  is  another  somewhat 
similar  in  character  and  aim  in  Cleveland,  called  the  Cleveland 
Industrial  School,  under  the  care  of  a  Mr.  Waterton,  who  holds 
the  somewhat  odd  notion  (in  which  I  am  rather  inclined  to  side 
with  him)  that  if  the  country  had  more  "/<?rw-atories  "  she  would 
need  fewer  "  reformatories."  He  gave  this  account  of  his  institu- 
tion at  the  Prison  Congress  of  St.  Louis :  — 

"  In  the  city  of  Cleveland  there  had  been  a  ragged  school.  It  died  just 
after  giving  birth  to  the  industrial  school.  This  school  soon  had  pupils 
without  a  home  ;  but  God  worked  on  the  minds  of  good  men  and  women, 
and  a  home  was  provided.  Both  boys  and  girls  are  received.  The  insti- 
tution is  governed  as  nearly  as  may  be  like  a  large  family,  and  the  religion 
which  can  be  spelled  in  four  letters  —  LOVE  —  is  taught.  The  first  step 
is  to  gain  the  confidence  of  the  children ;  the  rest  is  easy.  In  seventeen 
years  over  five  thousand  children  have  been  received,  of  whom  a  large  part 
have  been  placed  in  good  families.  Every  thing  has  been  paid  for  by 
voluntary  donation.  All  belongs  to  the  Lord,  and  cannot  be  sold ;  so  that 
the  poor  and  destitute  children  of  Cleveland  have  an  entailed  estate, 
valued  at  a  large  sum,  which  cannot  be  taken  from  them." 

It  is  seven  years  since  these  words  were  spoken,  and  doubtless 
the  record  would  to-day  swell  to  seven  thousand.  What  a  glo- 
rious work ! 

So  far  as  I  have  been  able  to  learn,  —  and  my  information, 
comes  from  trustworthy  sources,  —  Ohio  has  twelve  orphan  asy- 
lums. Of  these  six  are  Roman  Catholic,  with  an  aggregate 
average  population  last  year  (1878)  of  908  inmates;  five  are 
Protestant,  with  a  population  for  the  same  year  of  815  ;  and  one 
Jewish,  with  227  inmates.  This  would  be  a  very  large  number  of 
Israelitish  orphans  for  the  State  of  Ohio  ;  but  the  inmates  appear 
to  be  drawn  from  the  Western  and  South-western  States,  as  the 
funds  for  its  support  are  derived  from  contributions  of  Israelites 
resident  in  those  States.  The  total  average  number  of  inmates  in 
all  the  asylums  of  the  State  is  within  a  fraction  of  two  thousand. 
The  six  non-Catholic  institutions  are  wholly  supported  by  volun- 
tary charitable  contributions  ;  the  Catholic,  partly  by  private  char- 
ity and  partly  by  different  religious  orders.  The  aggregate  value 
of  real  estate  owned  and  occupied  by  these  orphan  asylums 
amounts  to  nearly  a  million  of  dollars.  Two  of  them  have  perma- 
nent endowments  to  the  aggregate  amount  of  one  hundred  and 
fifty  thousand  dollars.  This  would  make  the  cash  cost  of  each 


1 68  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  ir. 

child  per  annum  about  seventy  dollars ;  the  balance  of  cost  must 
be  made  up  by  the  children's  earnings.  The  children  in  these 
several  institutions  are  instructed  in  the  common  branches  of  an 
English  education,  in  farm-work,  horticulture,  and  divers  indus- 
trial occupations.  They  are  placed  in  good  homes  as  fast  as 
practicable.  The  whole  number  of  children  cared  for  and  trained 
in  these  various  establishments  from  the  start  appears  to  be  a 
little  in  excess  of  fifty  thousand.  Who  can  estimate  the  amount 
of  crime  prevented,  of  virtue  confirmed,  of  misery  and  shame 
averted,  of  happiness  secured,  and  of  wealth  added  to  the  State 
through  these  abundant  labors  of  godlike  charity  ? 


CHAPTER  XXXVII.  —  WESTERN  STATES  (continued). — 
INDIANA. 

A  BAND  of  earnest  workers  in  this  State  are  pushing  the 
question  of  prison  reform  with  great  intelligence  and  energy, 
but  they  have  just  met  with  an  untoward  check.  After  persistent 
efforts  continued  through  many  years,  these  gentlemen  (and  ladies 
too,  for  the  ladies  are  no  less  interested  and  no  less  active)  had 
succeeded  in  securing  the  passage  of  an  act  by  the  legislature 
materially  modifying  and  improving  the  prison  system  of  the 
State.  The  governor  stood  ready  to  give  the  bill  his  assent ;  but 
the  engrossing  clerks  failed  to  get  it  copied  in  time  for  him  to  put 
his  signature  to  it  within  the  constitutional  period,  and  thus  it 
failed  to  become  a  law.  It  was  like  losing  a  prize  after  winning 
it  and  having  it  in  your  hand.  But  these  noble  workers  will  nei- 
ther lose  heart  nor  relax  their  zeal,  but  will  be  ready  to  present 
their  project  anew  to  the  legislative  assembly  when  it  meets  again 
two  years  hence.  Possibly  public  opinion  will  have  been  so  edu- 
cated and  strengthened  in  the  mean  time  that  they  will  be  able  to 
offer  it  in  an  advanced  form,  so  that  nothing  will  be  lost  but 
something  gained  by  the  delay.  Providence  commonly  works 
more  wisely  for  us  than  we  do  for  ourselves. 

The  repressive  and  reformatory  system  of  Indiana  includes 
three  State-prisons,  two  for  men  and  one  for  women  ;  common 
jails  in  all  the  counties;  and  two  reformatories,  one  for  boys,  the 
other  for  girls. 

The  two  male  State-prisons  are  at  Jeffersonville  and  Michigan 
City,  — the  extreme  southwest  and  northwest  angles  of  the  State, 
—  those  sentenced  from  the  southern  portion  being  sent  to  the 
former,  those  from  the  northern  to  the  latter.  The  two  pris- 
ons are  under  two  different  boards  of  directors  and  the  female 


PART  n.]  IN  INDIANA.  169 

prison  under  still  another  ;  so  that  even  for  the  State-prisons 
there  are  three  distinct  administrations  with  no  common  bond 
between  them.  Truly  this  may  be  called  decentralization  with  a 
vengeance.  The  labor  of  the  men's  prisons  is  let  to  contractors. 
The  northern  prison  has  been  in  recent  years  self-supporting  ;  the 
southern  prison  was  so  formerly,  but  of  late  has  come  short  from 
lack  of  demand  for,  the  prisoners'  work.  Both  these  prisons  are 
at  present  overcrowded  and  put  to  much  inconvenience;  and  a 
demoralizing  influence  is  exerted  upon  the  convicts  by  putting 
beds  in  the  corridors,  and  in  many  cases  placing  two  prisoners  in 
the  same  cell,  such  cell  being  intended  and  only  barely  sufficient 
for  one.  The  cat,  by  inferential  not  express  permission  of  law, 
is  more  or  less  used  as  a  disciplinary  punishment.  The  directors 
of  the  State-prison  south  in  their  last  report  oppose  it  with  vigor  ; 
they  call  it  rightly  "  an  instrument  of  torture,  a  relic  of  the  dark 
ages  and  of  human  slavery ;"  they  take  notice  that  "  the  husband 
has  no  longer  the  right  to  chastise  his  wife,  the  master  his  appren- 
tice, nor  the  guardian  his  ward,"  and  that  flogging  has  been  abol- 
ished in  the  army  and  navy ;  they  do  not  believe  that  society  or 
the  public  service  has  suffered  by  these  changes,  nor  that  the 
spirit  of  the  age  any  more  than  humanity  or  patriotism  demands 
the  reinstatement  of  the  lash.  Their  whole  report  is  wise,  catho- 
lic, and  just,  but  cannot  be  further  cited  in  these  pages.  At  the 
same  time  justice  requires  the  additional  statement  that  in  both 
prisons  moral  forces  are  much  more  used  and  much  more  relied 
on  than  formerly,  and  are  largely  replacing  punishments  which 
affect  the  body  mainly  and  the  mind  only  through  the  body,  —  an 
influence  which  as  often  makes  worse  as  better. 

The  women's  prison  at  Indianapolis,  under  the  care  of  Mrs. 
Sarah  J.  Smith,  is  truly  a  model  institution.  The  average  number 
of  inmates  is  about  fifty.  The  intent  is  reformation  seriously  en- 
tertained and  diligently  pursued,  and  the  result  is  —  REFORMATION. 
Nearly  all  are  saved.  No  escapes  and  only  one  recommittal  in 
five  years,  —  the  whole  life  of  the  institution.  The  success  is 
without  a  parallel  in  prison  annals,  and  the  whole  is  the  achieve- 
ment of  genuine  Christian  love  and  Christian  work.  The  Indiana 
women's  State-prison,  wholly  managed  by  women,  has  already  made 
another  in  Massachusetts;  and  will  make  a  third  and  a  fourth 
and  a  fifth,  and  so  on  in  rapid  succession,  in  the  other  States. 

The  boys'  reformatory  at  Plainfield  is  a  State  institution  under 
the  name  of  House  of  Reformation.  It  is  after  the  model  of  the 
reform  farm-school  of  Ohio,  and  is  on  the  family  plan  ;  but  the 
families  contain  fifty  members  each.  The  average  number  of 
inmates  exceeds  four  hundred.  Their  labor  is  chiefly  on  a  farm 
of  two  hundred  and  twenty  acres ;  but  in  winter  many  are  en- 
gaged in  the  cane-seating  of  chairs  and  some  other  mechanical 
occupations.  A  portion  of  each  day  is  spent  in  lesson-learning, 


STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  II. 

except  when  the  farm-work  presses.  There  is  a  commodious 
chapel,  and  the  children  are  faithfully  instructed  in  religious 
and  moral  duties.  The  institution  accomplishes  in  a  fair  degree 
the  object  for  which  it  was  created. 

The  girls'  reformatory  is  in  the  same  building  with  the  women's 
prison  but  entirely  separated  from  it,  and  the  inmates  of  the  two 
never  meet.  The  average  number  of  girls  under  treatment  does 
not  vary  much  from  one  hundred  and  fifty.  Both  are  under  the 
same  administration,  and  the  success  in  the  juvenile  department 
may  be  stated  in  nearly  the  same  words  as  in  the  adult  depart- 
ment. What  is  especially  remarkable  is  that  a  slightly  higher 
percentage  of  the  old  criminals  are  reformed  than  of  the  young. 
Another  observation  of  a  very  striking  character  I  think  it  proper 
to  add  here.  When  the  first  instalment  of  women  —  between 
twenty  and  thirty,  I  believe  —  was  sent  from  the  State-prison 
south  to  the  women's  prison,  they  were  accompanied  by  the 
chaplain,  an  excellent  and  faithful  man.  In  transferring  to  Mrs. 
Smith  her  new  charge  he  said  in  substance :  "  Do  not  expect  too 
much  from  these  women ;  they  are  corrupt  to  the  core,  and  har- 
dened like  the  nether  millstone.  I  doubt  whether  you  will  be 
able  to  reform  one  of  them."  Well,  those  women  are  saved  al- 
most to  the  last  one,  and  to-day  they  are  in  good  places  earning 
a  good  living  by  honest,  faithful  work.  And,  I  repeat,  this  has 
been  achieved  by  surrounding  them  with  the  same  sort  of  influ- 
ences which  the  Saviour  of  the  world  in  his  day  brought  to  bear 
on  the  vile,  the  erring,  and  the  lost.  Since  writing  the  above 
sentence,  I  have  received  from  the  superintendent  a  letter,  in 
which  she  says  :  "  We  are  greatly  encouraged  by  the  success  of 
our  prison  work ;  it  only  proves  the  power  of  the  gospel  when 
carried  to  the  poor  outcast." 

There  are  no  strictly  preventive  institutions  in  Indiana  founded 
and  maintained  by  the  State,  but  a  number  of  such  exist  in  the 
form  of  private  charities.  There  are  eight  Protestant  orphan 
asylums,  —  some  of  them  receiving  deserted  children  as  well,  — 
situated  in  various  parts  of  the  State,  with  an  average  daily  popu- 
lation of  between  three  hundred  and  four  hundred.  One  of  these 
is  for  colored  children.  There  are  probably  other  orphan  asylums 
under  the  care  of  the  Catholic  Church  which  have  not  come  to  my 
knowledge.  There  are  also  "  homes  for  the  friendless,"  carried 
on  through  private  benevolence,  at  Indianapolis,  Fort  Wayne, 
Terre  Haute,  Evansville,  and  Richmond,  all  of  which  receive, 
care  for,  and  place  in  good  homes  deserted  children. 


PART  n.]  IN  ILLINOIS. 


CHAPTER  XXXVIII.  —  WESTERN  STATES  (continued). — 

ILLINOIS. 

THERE  are  in  Illinois  two  State  penitentiaries,  a  State 
reform  school,  and  one  hundred  and  two  county  jails, 
besides  the  house  of  correction  maintained  by  the  city  of  Chi- 
cago. In  this  enumeration  the  "  calabooses  "  belonging  to  the 
smaller  cities,  and  the  station  houses  of  the  'police  department 
of  Chicago  are  not  included.  The  city  of  Peoria  has  also  re- 
cently established  a  work-house  prison,  concerning  which  I  have 
no  information. 

The  jails  of  this  State  are  perhaps  somewhat  superior  in  their 
construction  to  those  of  most  other  States.  During  the  past 
two  years  twenty-five  new  jails  have  been  built  at  an  estimated 
cost  of  about  $750,000,  including  sheriffs'  residences  attached 
to  them.  Many  of  the  old  jails,  however,  are  still  in  existence  ; 
and  the  new  ones,  which  are  built  for  the  most  part  on  the  corri- 
dor plan,  with  double  rows  of  stone  or  iron  cells,  back  to  back, 
allow  of  great  freedom  of  communication  between  prisoners,  and 
afford  no  facilities  whatever  for  prison  labor.  In  the  essential 
features,  therefore,  of  prison  discipline  the  vast  sums  of  money 
expended  represent  no  real  advance.  For  several  years  the 
State  board  of  public  charities  have  advocated  the  cellular  sys- 
tem of  imprisonment  for  prisoners  under  short  sentences  and  the 
substitution  of  district  prisons  for  county  jails,  but  they  have  not 
yet  succeeded  in  securing  the  necessary  legislation.  The  estab- 
lishment of  district  prisons  would  not  only  bring  a  larger  number 
of  prisoners  together,  and  admit  of  the  introduction  of  a  system 
of  compulsory  labor,  but  it  would  transfer  the  custody  of  prisoners 
under  sentence  for  crime  to  the  State  itself,  whose  laws  are  vio- 
lated, and  whose  duty  it  is  to  punish  the  violation  of  laws  enacted 
by  itself. 

The  penitentiary  at  Joliet,  near  Chicago,  is  one  of  the  largest 
prisons  in  the  country.  The  number  of  convicts  confined  here 
is  over  sixteen  hundred,  but  for  want  of  sufficient  cell-rooms 
many  of  them  contain  two  prisoners.  Reformatory  discipline 
has  no  enemy  so  obstructive  as  these  huge  agglomerations  of 
criminals.  The  cells  are  occupied  only  by  night  and  on  Sun- 
days ;  during  the  day  the  men  are  at  work  in  association  in  large 
shops.  The  female  prisoners,  of  whom  there  are  less  than 
thirty,  are  kept  in  the  upper  story  of  the  centre  building.  This 
penitentiary,  in  its  external  appearance  and  in  all  its  appoint- 
ments, is  very  superior,  and  excites  the  admiration  of  every 
visitor.  I  do  not  mention  this  in  eulogy,  for  I  think  such  costly 
and  ornate  edifices  altogether  unsuitable  for  the  reception  and 


1/2  STATE   OF  PRISONS,   ETC.  [BOOK  n. 

treatment  of  criminals.  Make  prisons  as  beautiful  in  form  as 
you  please;  but  let  them  be  plain,  solid,  and  secure,  —  simplex 
munditiis.  The  warden,  Major  R.  W.  McClaughey,  ranks  deserv- 
edly high  as  a  capable,  humane,  and  'efficient  prison  officer.  The 
prison  is  not  quite  self-sustaining,  but  nearly  so.  The  labor 
of  the  convicts  is  leased  to  contractors,  and  several  branches  of 
manufacturing  are  carried  on  within  the  prison  wall,  —  such  as 
boot  and  shoe-making,  saddlery  and  harness-making,  cooperage, 
stone-cutting,  iron-founding,  making  cigars,  etc. 

All  the  moral  forces  within  reach  are  brought  to  bear  upon 
these  bad  men  and  women  (the  proportion  of  the  latter  to  the 
former  being  only  two  per  cent)  to  make  them  better,  —  abbre- 
viation of  sentence  for  good  conduct ;  a  well-organized  system  of 
industrial  labor ;  a  firm  but  humane  and  thoughtful  discipline ; 
the  faithful  Sunday  instructions  and  week-day  pastoral  labors  of 
chaplains  (Catholic  as  well  as  Protestant)  ;  the  prison-school ;  the 
prison  library  ;  prison  Sunday-school ;  and  an  active  and  efficient 
agency  under  the  name  of  a  "  Christian  Asociation  "  composed  of 
convicts,  which  appears  to  be  divided  into  two  sections,  and  to  hold 
two  meetings  after  the  morning  preaching-service  every  Lord's  day. 
An  average  of  more  than  three  hundred  prisoners  join  the  soci- 
ety every  year.  The  names  of  a  few  have  to  be  dropped  from 
the  roll  from  time  to  time  as  unworthy,  but  the  large  majority 
appear  to  "run  well."  Nine-tenths  of  the  members  are  under 
thirty  years  when  they  are  enrolled,  and  much  the  larger  portion 
are  the  "prodigal"  boys.  The  chaplain  speaks  of  the  library  as 
"  the  pride  of  the  prison."  It  contains  over  six  thousand  well- 
chosen  books.  The  prison-school  appears  to  be  doing  an  excel- 
lent work.  Many  of  the  convict  pupils  make  as  rapid  progress 
as  the  average  of  outside  scholars  ;  and  one  is  mentioned  who 
did  not  know  his  letters  when  he  entered,  yet  in  three  months  he 
had  advanced  to  the  Third-Reader  class.  The  directors  in  their 
report  make  a  vigorous  assault  on  the  principle  of  life  sentences. 
They  also  make  the  rather  uncommon  statement  that  the  earn- 
ings of  the  women  are  fully  equal  to  that  of  the  same  number 
of  men. 

The  penitentiary  at  Chester  on  the  Mississippi  River,  south 
of  St.  Louis,  is  new  and  not  yet  completed.  In  its  construction 
the  labor  of  convicts  is  employed.  It  will  be  equal  in  size  to  the 
prison  at  Joliet,  and  in  some  respects  superior  to  it  in  plan.  One 
feature  of  the  new  penitentiary  will  be  an  asylum  for  insane  con- 
victs outside  of  the  main  prison-wall,  like  that  at  Auburn,  New 
York. 

The  house  of  correction  at  Chicago,  under  the  control  of  Mr. 
Charles  E.  Felton,  an  experienced  and  very  able  prison  superin- 
tendent of  unusual  force  of  character,  is  a  prison  for  the  punish- 
ment of  violations  of  city  ordinances.  The  terms  of  sentence 


PART  n.]  IN  WISCONSIN.  173 

accordingly  are  short ;  the  average  sentence  is  not  more  than 
twenty-two  days.  In  spite  of  this  disadvantage  the  prison  gives 
gratifying  financial  results,  and  the  labor  of  the  inmates,  with  the 
money  received  for  the  board  of  county  prisoners,  very  nearly 
meets  all  the  cost  of  maintenance.  The  number  of  prisoners 
received  in  a  year  is  about  six  thousand. 

The  State  reform  school  at  Pontiac  is,  by  the  decision  of  the 
supreme  court  of  the  State,  a  piison  for  juvenile  offenders.  No 
boy  can  be  received  except  under  sentence  of  a  court,  nor  can 
any  boy  be  retained  during  his  minority,  but  all  must  be  dis- 
charged on  the  expiration  of  the  sentence.  All  the  inmates 
have  been  committed  for  crimes,  and  for  periods  varying  from 
one  month  to  ten  years.  The  average  sentence  is  one  year  and 
nine  months.  Under  the  decision  of  the  supreme  court,  the 
institution  fails  to  meet  the  design  of  its  originators  and  best 
friends ;  but  the  internal  discipline  is  like  that  of  a  reform 
school,  and  the  authorities  are  allowed  to  discharge  boys  on 
ticket-of-leave. 

No  agency  exists  in  this  State  for  the  aid  of  discharged  con- 
victs, nor  is  there  any  voluntary  society  to  take  the  place  of  a 
State  agency. 

Illinois  has  a  board  of  public  charities,  charged  with  the  duty 
of  annual  visitation  and  inspection  of  all  county  jails  and  alms- 
houses  within  her  borders,  but  the  board  has  no  authority  or 
power  beyond  that  of  inspection  and  report.  The  reform  school 
is  under  the  supervision  of  this  board,  but  the  penitentiaries 
are  not. 


CHAPTER    XXXIX.  —  WESTERN    STATES    (continued).  — 

WISCONSIN. 

r  I  ^HERE  are  four  classes  of  prisons  in  this  State ;  namely, 
JL  State-prison,  house  of  correction,  county  jails,  and  city 
lock-ups.  The  average  number  of  convicts  in  the  State-prison 
during  the  year  1878  was  337  ;  the  total  number,  503.  The  aver- 
age number  in  the  Milwaukee  house  of  correction,  116;  entire 
number  during  the  year,  963.  The  number  in  the  various  county 
jails  on  the  third  day  of  October,  1878,  was  121 ;  the  total  number 
during  the  year  was  4,665.  The  State  board  of  charities  have  a 
general  oversight  of  all  these  institutions,  and  are  expected  to  visit 
them  at  least  once  during  the  year.  The  State-prison  is  under 
the  control  of  a  board  of  three  directors,  who  are  appointed  by 
the  governor  of  the  State  and  confirmed  by  the  senate.  The 
appointments  are  for  six  years,  —  one  going  out  of  office  every 


STATE   OF  PRISONS,   ETC.  [BooK  n. 

two  years,  but  being  eligible  to  re-appointment.  The  warden 
and  clerk  of  the  prison  are  appointed  by  the  directors  for  three 
years  ;  all  other  officers  and  assistants  are  appointed  by  the  war- 
den, subject  to  the  approval  of  the  directors,  and  are  removed  at 
the  pleasure  of  the  warden.  One  or  more  of  the  directors  visit 
the  prison  monthly,  and  the  full  board  quarterly  ;  the  governor 
and  the  State  board  of  charities  visit  at  their  discretion.  The 
Milwaukee  house  of  correction  is  under  the  control  of  the  board 
of  supervisors  of  that  county,  and  the  county  jails  are  managed 
by  the  supervisors  of  their  respective  counties. 

The  discipline  of  the  State-prison  is  both  deterrent  and  re- 
formatory. The  only  disciplinary  punishment  employed  is  con- 
finement in  a  dark  cell,  and  this  is  seldom  resorted  to.  No 
corporal  punishment  is  inflicted  for  a  violation  of  prison  rules. 
Sentences  are  shortened  by  good  behavior.  The  conduct  of  the 
prisoners  is  generally  good.  A  Protestant  chaplain  is  employed 
who  gives  his  entire  time  to  the  institution ;  he  has  the  direc- 
tion of  the  school  and  the  charge  of  the  library.  A  Catholic 
chaplain  is  employed  to  make  monthly  visits  for  the  benefit  of 
the  adherents  of  that  faith.  The  regular  chaplain,  in  his  labors 
for  the  moral  and  spiritual  improvement  of  the  prisoners,  is  as- 
sisted by  volunteer  aid  from  the  philanthropic  citizens  of  the 
village  in  which  the  prison  is  located. 

Of  two  hundred  and  thirteen  admitted  to  the  prison  last  year 
(1878)  thirty  could  neither  read  nor  write;  sixteen  could  read, 
but  not  write ;  and  one  hundred  and  sixty-seven  could  read  and 
write,  although  many  could  do  so  but  indifferently.  There  is 
marked  improvement  under  the  instruction  received  while  in 
prison.  There  is  a  library  for  the  instruction  and  improvement 
of  the  prisoners,  containing  nearly  one  thousand  volumes.  The 
females  in  the  prison  are  less  than  two  per  cent  of  the  whole 
number.  The  labor  of  the  prison  is  mostly  let  to  contractors, 
and  is  chiefly  employed  in  shoe-making ;  it  has  been  employed 
in  this  way  only  for  the  past  two  or  three  years.  Thus  far  the 
change  appears  to  work  well,  and  certainly  has  been  a  success  pe- 
cuniarily, rendering  the  prison  self-sustaining  ;  while  previously 
large  appropriations  were  annually  made  from  the  State  treasury 
to  meet  current  expenses.  The  sanitary  state  of  the  prison  is 
good,  and  although  many  of  the  convicts  are  received  in  a  more 
or  less  diseased  condition  incident  to  a  vicious  life,  the  average 
health  is  as  good  as  it  is  outside  of  the  prison.  The  chief  cause 
of  crime  in  Wisconsin  is  intemperance. 

The  death- penalty  was  abolished  in  this  State  more  than 
twenty-five  years  ago,  and  there  is  no  general  desire  for  its  restor- 
ation. Statistics  show  that  this  State  will  compare  favorably 
with  any  in  the  Union  so  far  as  capital  crimes  are  concerned. 

There  has  never   been  imprisonment  for  debt  in  Wisconsin, 


PART  IL]  IN  WISCONSIN.  175 

and  the  idea  of  resorting  to  it  would  not  be  tolerated  for  a 
moment. 

The  reformation  of  the  prisoners  is  made  a  primary  object  of 
their  treatment  while  in  prison,  and,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  many  of 
them  leave  the  prison  better  men  than  when  they  entered  it. 

A  prisoners'  aid  association  has  recently  been  organized,  com- 
prising among  its  officers  and  members,  many  of  the  best  men  in 
the  State,  and  it  bids  fair  to  become  a  very  useful  institution. 

The  county-jail  system  of  Wisconsin  will  probably  compare 
favorably  with  that  of  most  of  the  other  States  of  the  Union ; 
but  the  whole  system  there,  as  elsewhere,  is  a  relic  of  barbarism, 
and  is  a  disgrace  to  the  civilization  of  America. 

The  industrial  school  for  boys  at  Waukesha  is  a  model  institu- 
tion. Wisconsin,  in  proportion  to  its  population,  has  an  extremely 
small  number  of  convicts  in  her  State-prison.  There  may  be 
several  reasons  for  this,  but  it  is  believed  by  intelligent  citizens 
there  that  one  very  strong  reason  is  that  the  industrial  school 
for  boys  takes  the  material,  to  a  great  extent,  of  which  criminals 
are  made,  and  makes  good  citizens  of  it.  No  question  is  made 
of  the  fact  that  hundreds  who  pass  through  and  out  of  the  indus- 
trial school,  and  take  their  places  as  good  citizens,  would  have 
found  their  way  to  the  State-prison  had  it  not  been  for  this  insti- 
tution. The  average  daily  number  in  the  school  exceeds  four 
hundred ;  the  whole  number  under  treatment  last  year  was  five 
hundred  and  twenty-seven.  The  family  system  is  employed,  and 
works  satisfactorily. 

An  industrial  school  for  girls  has  recently  been  opened  in  Mil- 
waukee. It  contains  about  fifty  inmates. 

There  is  no  State,  city,  or  county  orphan  asylum  n  Wisconsin. 
There  are,  however,  in  the  city  of  Milwaukee  five  orphan 
asylums,  —  four  under  Catholic  and  one  under  Protestant  control. 
These  are  private  corporations,  organized  under  special  charters. 
They  are  supported  mainly  by  voluntary  contributions,  with  occa- 
sional grants  of  money  from  the  State  or  the  county  in  which 
they  are  situated.  They  contain  an  aggregate  average  number 
of  about  three  hundred  inmates.  There  are  also  two  orphan 
asylums  in  the  western  part  of  the  State,  both  Catholic,  —  one 
at  La  Crosse,  the  other  at  Sparta, — with  an  aggregate  average 
of  sixty  to  seventy  inmates.  They  take  orphan  children,  feed, 
clothe,  educate,  and  instruct  them  in  some  useful  occupation ; 
and  then  find  for  them  suitable  homes.  They  are  doing  great 
good,  and  are  recognized  as  valuable  institutions. 

There  is  also  an  orphan  asylum  at  Green  Bay,  under  Episcopal 
control ;  and  one  at  Racine,  —  founded  by  a  liberal  and  wealthy 
citizen,  a  Mr.  Taylor,  in  accordance  with  the  provisions  of  his 
will,  —known  as  the  "  Taylor  Orphan  Asylum."  These  are  both 
excellent  institutions,  and  well  managed. 


STATE   OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  n. 

A  word  in  regard  to  the  house  of  correction  at  Milwaukee. 
This  prison  is  for  the  reception  and  treatment  of  vagrants,  dis- 
orderly persons,  able-bodied  paupers,  and  persons  convicted  of 
minor  offences.  The  inmates  of  the  house  of  correction  are  kept 
at  work  in  association  by  day  under  the  rule  of  silence,  and  sleep 
in  separate  cells  at  night.  The  whole  number  imprisoned  in  1878 
was  1045,  and  the  average  number  during  the  year  was  116. 
With  a  population  of  some  fifteen  hundred  thousand,  the  aver- 
age number  of  inmates  in  the  State-prison  during  the  past  year 
was  337  ;  the  number  of  persons  confined  in  the  jails  of  the 
State,  August  I,  1878,  deducting  the  insane  (which  is  probably  a 
fair  average  for  the  year)  was  121  ;  the  average  number  in  the 
Milwaukee  house  of  correction  during  the  year  was  116,  —  mak- 
ing a  total  of  574. 

The  amount  of  cash  earnings  for  the  year  was  nearly  sufficient 
to  cover  all  expenses,  notwithstanding  that  the  average  term  of 
imprisonment  was  only  fifty-five  days. 

It  will  interest  and  gratify  the  opponents  of  the  death-penalty 
to  read  the  following  statements,  taken  from  Governor  Wash- 
burne's  annual  message  to  the  legislature  of  Wisconsin  in  1873  : 

"  Since  the  abolition  of  the  death-penalty,  twenty  years  ago,  there  have 
been  tried,  convicted,  and  sentenced  to  the  penitentiary  for  life  seventy-one 
persons  in  all.  Of  that  number  thirty-six  now  remain,  the  rest  having 
either  died,  been  pardoned,  or  discharged  by  proper  authority.  There 
can  be  no  doubt  that  the  change  in  the  law  has  rendered  punishment 
much  more  certain,  and  I  but  express  the  opinion  of  those  who  have  most 
carefully  considered  the  question,  as  well  as  my  own,  when  I  state  that  but 
for  that  change  in  the  law  at  least  one  half  of  those  heretofore  convicted 
would  have  escaped  all  punishment,  so  difficult  is  conviction  when  the 
penalty  is  death.  In  the  five  years  that  elapsed  from  1848  to  1853  I 
have  no  knowledge  of  more  than  one  person  having  suffered  the  extreme 
penalty  of  the  law.  This  was  not  because  of  lack  of  offences,  but  of  the 
extreme  difficulty  of  conviction. 

"  In  the  year  1854  the  number  of  convictions  for  the  crime  of  murder 
was  three  ;  in  1855,  three  ;  in  1856,  three  ;  in  1857,  three  ;  in  1858,  five  ; 
in  1859,  none;  in  1860,  two;  in  1861,  none;  in  1862,  two;  in  1863, 
eight;  in  1864,  none;  in  1865,  five  ;  in  1866,  one;  in  1867,  four;  in 
1868,  five;  in  1869,  two;  in  1870,  four;  in  1871,  three;  in  1872,  one. 
I  have  taken  some  pains  to  learn  what  the  conduct  has  been,  since  dis- 
charged from  prison,  of  those  convicted  of  the  crime  of  murder  who  have 
been  pardoned,  and  I  have  failed  to  learn  of  any  instance  where  the  party 
had  rendered  himself  amenable  to  the  law.  On  the  contrary,  so  far  as 
known,  they  have  proved  honest  and  peaceable  citizens,  extremely  care- 
ful and  circumspect  in  their  intercourse  with  their  fellow-men." 


PART  u.]  IN  MINNESOTA. 


CHAPTER  XL.  —  WESTERN  STATES  (continued).  —  MINNESOTA. 


institutions  bearing  directly  or  indirectly  on  criminality 
-L       are  the  State-prison,  the  juvenile  reformatory,  the  county 
jails,  and  the  orphan  asylums,  with  other  preventive  agencies. 

The  State-prison  is  at  Stillwater.  The  system  is  that  of  Auburn, 
as  indeed  that  of  all  our  State-prisons  is,  except  the  one  at  Phila- 
delphia; namely,  associated  labor  by  day  and  cellular  separation  by 
night.  The  average  number  is  a  little  over  two  hundred.  The 
prison  is  governed  by  a  board  of  three  directors,  two  of  whom  are 
of  the  dominant  political  party,  and  one  of  the  other  leading  party 
in  the  State.  The  income  from  convict  work  pays  half  the 
current  cost  of  the  prison.  The  labor  is  let  to  contractors.  The 
industries  are  wooden-ware,  barrels,  sashes,  doors,  cabinet-work, 
and  carpentry.  The  average  hours  of  labor  are  eleven  per  day, 
which  is  more  than  in  any  other  prison  I  know  ;  and  too  many, 
I  think.  The  discipline  is  firm  but  humane  ;  a  kindly  and  pa- 
ternal influence  is  brought  to  bear  on  the  convicts.  Cheerfulness 
prevails  to  a  remarkable  degree  ;  in  this  respect  they  appear 
like  laborers,  working  for  wages.  Bodily  afflictions  are  not  used  ; 
even  in  punishment  the  dignity  of  manhood  is  respected.  By 
industry  and  good  conduct  prisoners  can  earn  a  deduction  of  six 
days  per  month  from  their  terms  of  sentence,  and  for  every  day 
so  earned  they  are  credited  with  an  amount  equal  to  that  paid  by 
the  contractor  to  the  State  for  a  convict  day's  work,  which  at 
the  present  time  is  forty-five  cents.  During  the  last  year  the 
sum  of  $6,498  was  so  earned.  Substantially  that  law  governs 
the  prison  ;  very  little  else  is  needed.  On  the  Fourth  of  July, 
Thanksgiving  day,  and  Christmas  an  extra  good  dinner  is  fur- 
nished, and  large  liberty  of  recreation  and  converse  is  allowed, 
not  only  without  injury,  but  with  advantage  to  the  discipline. 
Rehabilitation  follows  by  law  a  continuous  course  of  unexcep- 
tionable behavior  through  the  entire  term  of  imprisonment. 
The  utmost  cleanliness  is  enforced.  Bathing  is  required  as  a 
duty.  Luxuries  are  not  provided,  but  the  food  is  of  good  quality, 
well  cooked  and  served,  and  in  abundant  quantity.  Variety  of  food 
is  provided  in  order  to  a  healthy  tone  of  the  digestive  organs. 
The  services  of  both  Protestant  and  Catholic  chaplains  are  em- 
ployed ;  but  there  is  no  prison  school,  —  a  grave  and  unaccount- 
able omission,  where  so  much  else  is  done  and  well  done. 
However,  a  library  is  provided  which  is  freely  used. 

Minnesota  is  a  new  country,  and  the  major  part  of  her  county 
jails  are  of  a  primitive  sort,  but  in  several  of  the  larger  cities 
they  are  creditable  buildings,  however  defective  the  management 
may  be. 

12 


STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  n. 

The  State  reform  school  for  children  of  both  sexes  is  an  excellent 
institution,  on  the  family  plan,  —  one  of  the  best  in  the  country. 
It  is  on  a  farm  of  sixty-three  acres,  near  St.  Paul,  with  large  fruit 
and  vegetable  gardens,  the  whole  worked  by  the  boys.  There 
are  also  a  tin-shop,  a  shoe-shop,  and  a  tailor's  shop,  in  which  the 
children  learn  and  work  at  these  trades  ;  but  the  school-room  is 
the  great  workshop.  The  inmates  are  well  fed,  well  clad,  well 
taught,  and  well  cared  for  in  every  way.  They  are  allowed  plenty 
of  play,  yet  they  have  plenty  of  work  as  well,  —  both  head-work 
and  hand-work.  Home  influences  are  those  chiefly  relied  on. 
Rewards  and  punishments  are  of  the  natural  kind  ;  the  dark 
cell  is  never  used,  and  all  the  ordinary  appliances  of  prison  disci- 
pline are  put  aside.  Religious  instruction  is  carefully  imparted  ; 
our  obligations  to  God,  our  accountability  to  him,  and  our  duties 
to  our  fellow-men,  together  with  the  noble  rewards  which  attend 
a  life  of  virtue  and  the  awful  penalties  of  a  life  of  vice  and  crime, 
are  continually  held  up  as  motives  to  the  conquest  of  evil  passions 
and  a  patient  continuance  in  well-doing. 

As  regards  strictly  preventive  agencies,  the  official  "  Statistics 
of  Minnesota  for  1878  "  show  that  there  are  five  orphan  asylums, 
with  a  probable  average  population  of  more  than  one  hundred  and 
thirty,  and  involving  an  annual  cost  of  $12,000  to  $15,000.  It 
is  not  unlikely  that  there  may  be  others,  with  more  homes  for 
destitute  and  exposed  children  founded  and  maintained  by  pri- 
vate charity ;  but  of  these,  if  there  are  any,  I  know  nothing,  and 
can  make  no  report. 


CHAPTER  XLI.  —  WESTERN  STATES  (continued}.  —  IOWA. 

THIS  State  is  wide  awake  on  the  question  of  prison  discipline 
and  reform,  and,  though  "  not  having  as  yet  attained,"  it 
is  continually  "  going  on  unto  perfection."  It  may  be  fairly 
pronounced  one  of  the  banner  States  of  the  Union  in  its  peni- 
tentiary system  and  administration.  This  system  embraces  two 
State-prisons,  common  jails  in  most  of  the  ninety-eight  counties, 
and  one  State  reform  school. 

The  principal  State-prison  possesses  the  advantage  of  having 
for  its  head,  in  Major  Craig,  a  wise,  able,  and  faithful  warden; 
in  fact,  a  model  prison-officer  in  all  respects.  It  is  his  aim  to 
secure  order,  industry,  and  obedience,  by  winning  the  confidence 
of  his  prisoners  and  inspiring  them  with  hope.  They  are  shown 
that  his  relation  to  them  is  not  one  of  choice  but  of  duty,  and 
that  whatever  he  requires  or  forbids  is  no  mere  exhibition  of  his 
power  or  their  weakness,  but  is  all  done  for  their  own  good  as 


PART  ii.]  IN  IOWA. 

well  as  that  of  society.  They  are  recognized  as  men,  —  offenders 
certainly,  but  still  men,  — entitled  to  and  accorded  just  such  treat- 
ment as  their  conduct  logically  challenges.  Authority  is  never 
exercised  to  show  its  existence,  but  only  for  purposes  of  need- 
ful discipline.  Firmness,  patience,  justice,  and  impartiality  are 
the  qualities  most  constantly  and  conspicuously  displayed  by  the 
administration.  Refractory,  contumacious  prisoners  have  become 
extremely  rare,  and  punishment  of  any  sort  equally  so.  The  lash 
has  been  banished  in  secula  seculorum.  When  punishment  be- 
comes necessary,  the  mildest  forms  are  sufficient.  A  few  hours 
in  a  darkened  cell,  carrying  the  ball  and  chain  an  hour  or  two, 
and  withdrawal  of  the  liberty  to  attend  Sunday-school  are  among 
the  severest  disciplinary  inflictions.  Of  these,  strange  as  it  may 
appear,  the  last  is  reported  as  the  most  effective.  Better  than  all 
forms  of  punishment  are  kindness  and  appeals  to  manhood  and 
conscience.  These  agencies  are  the  rule  ;  all  others  the  rare  ex- 
ception. In  the  voluntary  obedience  of  its  inmates  the  Iowa 
penitentiary  stands  in  the  front  rank  of  American  prisons. 

A  controlling  factor  in  the  discipline  is  the  prison  library. 
Every  prisoner  is  advised  and  encouraged  to  fill  up  his  leisure 
hours  in  reading  books.  Such  employment  serves  the  double 
purpose  of  storing  the  convict's  mind  with  information  and  divert- 
ing his  thoughts  from  brooding  moodily  over  his  condition. 

The  Sunday-school  has  proved  itself  to  be  in  the  Iowa  State- 
prison  one  of  the  most  potent  agencies  in  its  government  and 
discipline.  Of  the  many  hundreds  of  convicts  who  have  been 
under  Major  Craig's  care  there  is  scarcely  one  upon  whom  it 
has  not  sensibly  operated  to  repress  his  evil  passions,  and  to 
quicken  and  fortify  his  better  purposes.  There  is  no  compulsion 
as  to  attendance,  but  at  least  four-fifths  are  always  there.  Among 
other  leading  citizens,  male  and  female,  who  assist  is  one  of  the 
justices  of  the  Supreme  Court.  As  Lord  Hathaway  and  Sir 
Roundell  Palmer  taught  Sunday-school  classes  for  forty  years  at 
Westminster  Abbey,  so  has  Judge  Beck  long  instructed  a  class 
of  convict  scholars.  No  "  lower  depth "  is  so  deep  that  the 
hand  of  the  Master  cannot  reach  down  to  it ;  and  Judge  Beck  has 
been  for  these  many  years  the  willing  bearer  to  the  prisoner  of 
Heaven's  living  and  saving  messages. 

Another  most  effective  instrumentality  in  convict  reformation 
has  been  found  in  the  prison  school,  held  every  night  after  the 
day's  work  is  over.  A  regular  school-house  has  been  erected 
within  the  prison  walls,  which  is  furnished  with  all  the  best  ap- 
pliances for  common-school  instruction.  There  is  always  moral 
power  in  pleasant  surroundings.  So  it  has  been  found  here. 
The  classes  which  nightly  meet  there  have  felt  the  softening,  hu- 
manizing influence  of  that  cheerful  school-house,  brightly  lighted 
with  gas,  and  furnished  with  desks  and  seats  of  the  most  approved 


ISO  STATE   OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  ir. 

pattern.  It  brings  back  school  days  of  "  auld  lang  syne ; "  it 
speaks  of  the  good-will  of  the  State  to  its  erring  children  ;  it 
leads  even  criminals  to  feel  that  they  can,  and  to  resolve  that  they 
will,  begin  life  over  again.  The  impulse  given  to  the  school  by 
the  new  house  was  magical.  The  effect  upon  the  temper  and 
manners  of  the  men  was  as  marked  as  on  their  intellectual 
progress. 

The  chaplain's  work  is  broadly,  wisely,  vigorously,  and  success- 
fully pursued. 

Of  the  food  of  the  prisoners  Major  Craig  remarks,  and  our  best 
and  wisest  prison  governors  therein  agree  with  him :  "  An  ill-fed 
person  is  in  a  mood  for  mutiny.  Hunger  will  incite  rebellion 
that  only  death  itself  can  subdue,  if  it  be  not  appeased.  It  follows, 
therefore,  that  the  food  of  convicts  should  be  both  wholesome  and 
sufficient,  —  this  for  merely  disciplinary  reasons.  But  humanity 
requires  that  it  should  be  good  and  ample.  Condemned  to  '  hard 
labor,'  compliance  with  the  sentence  would  be  impossible  if  the 
convicts  were  but  poorly  and  insufficiently  fed.  Hence  I  have 
deemed  it  among  the  most  important  duties  imposed  upon  the 
warden  to  exercise  all  needful  diligence  and  care  in  procuring  the 
various  kinds  of  food  for  the  prisoners.  Of  the  kinds  used  only 
the  best  that  is  attainable  is  bought,  believing  it  to  be  alike  a 
wise  economy  and  a  humane  duty.  Of  meat-food,  well-fattened 
beef  is  the  principal.  Pork  is  also  liberally  furnished,  with  occa- 
sional supplies  of  fish.  Light  bread,  made  of  the  flour  of  both 
wheat  and  corn,  is  supplied  to  the  full  extent  of  the  demand. 
Coffee  is  furnished  twice  a  day.  The  national  holidays  are 
signalized  to  these  unfortunates  by  a  generous  dinner  compris- 
ing chickens,  sweetened  bread,  and  some  seasonable  fruit ;  and 
whatever  the  fruit  may  be  in  kind  it  must  be  the  best  in  quality, 
and  in  quantity  equal  to  the  requirements  of  the  most  exacting 
appetite." 

The  common-jail  system  in  this  State,  as  in  the  others,  needs 
radical  reforms  ;  needs,  rather,  revolutionizing. 

A  State  reform  school  was  established  eleven  years  ago,  the 
results  of  which  have  been  satisfactory. 


CHAPTER  XLII.  —  WESTERN  STATES  (continued).  —  KANSAS  ; 

COLORADO. 

KANSAS  has  no  reformatory  institutions,  only  a  State-prison 
and  county  jails.     The  average  daily  number  of  inmates  in 
the  former  is  about  four  hundred  and  fifty.     The  labor,  counting 
that  which  is  expended  in  completing  the  prison  building,  fully 


PART  n.]  IN  KANSAS  AND  COLORADO.  l8l 

meets  all  current  expenses.  The  labor  is  managed  by  the  State. 
This  system  is  preferred  in  Kansas,  as  contractors  are  seldom 
found  to  take  any  interest  in  the  reformation  of  their  men,  their 
great  aim  being  to  make  as  much  money  out  of  them  as  possible. 
The  supreme  idea  of  the  discipline  in  the  Kansas  prison  is  to 
make  better  men  of  those  sent  to  it,  and  at  the  same  time  so  to 
administer  it  as  to  deter  others  from  that  which  will  send  them 
there.  The  idea  of  Warden  Hopkins  is,  that  if  you  make  the 
discipline  corrective  you  thereby  make  it  repulsive,  since  cor- 
rection is  naturally  repugnant  to  the  human  heart. 

Chapel  services  are  performed  by  the  chaplain  every  Sunday. 
All  are  required  to  attend  ;  but  after  this  service  a  prisoners' 
meeting  is  held,  at  which  all  who  wish  may  remain  and  participate. 
A  prison  school  has  been  organized,  in  which  primary  instruction 
is  given  to  all  who  need  it.  The  prison  is  supplied  with  a  well- 
selected  library.  The  prisoners  share  in  their  earnings  to  the 
amount  of  one  dollar  a  month,  conditioned  on  the  observance  of 
the  prison  rules.  Abbreviation  of  sentence  and  restoration  to 
citizenship  may  also  be  earned  by  good  conduct.  Such  trades 
are  taught,  so  far  as  possible,  as  may  be  practised  in  the  State 
after  discharge.  Sedentary  trades  are  excluded  so  far  as  may 
be.  Violations  of  prison  rules  are  always  noticed  in  some  man- 
ner, but  punishments  are  avoided  in  every  case  where  the  same 
result  can  be  reached  by  other  means. 

I  have  no  special  information  touching  the  county  jails  of 
Kansas  ;  but  it  is  fair  to  conclude  that  no  great  loss  will  come 
of  this  ignorance. 

As  already  stated,  Kansas  has  no  reformatory  institutions  for 
juveniles,  but  she  has  in  contemplation  the  organization  of  such 
an  establishment  at  an  early  day.  However,  she  has  preventive 
institutions,  though  not  eo  nomine.  There  are  two  orphan  asy- 
lums, a  Catholic  and  a  Protestant,  which  are  doing  much  for  the 
destitute  and  dependent  children  for  whom  they  are  intended. 
Good  homes  are  secured  for  all  their  wards  when  they  reach  the 
proper  age,  and  they  are  watched  over  with  a  kindly  vigilance 
after  their  discharge. 

There  is  another  preventive  institution  at  Leavenworth,  under 
the  name  of  "  Home  for  Friendless  Women."  Much  good  has 
been  accomplished  by  its  agency  ;  it  has  been  the  means  of  saving 
many  from  a  criminal  life. 

COLORADO  is  the  youngest  of  the  American  sisterhood  of  States, 
having  been  admitted  into  the  Union  in  1876.  Its  prison  system 
however  is  not  entirely  new,  as  of  necessity  it  had  prisons  while 
still  in  a  territorial  condition.  But  its  penitentiary  affairs  are  yet 
in  an  inchoate  and  formative  rather  than  a  complete  and  per- 
fected state.  At  the  same  time,  enlightened  views  in  the  main 


1 82  STATE   OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BooK  n. 

seem  to  be  entertained  by  those  in  authority,  and  much  zeal  and 
activity  are  displayed  in  pushing  matters  forward.  There  is  no 
doubt  therefore  that  rapid  progress  will  be  made,  and  that  Colo- 
rado will  in  the  course  of  a  few  years  be  in  possession  of  a  prison 
system  that  will  be  a  credit  to  the  intelligence  and  humanity  of 
the  State.  In  his  last  annual  message  the  governor  makes  two 
important  recommendations :  one,  that  a  juvenile  reformatory  be 
immediately  created  ;  the  other,  that  life-sentenced  men  should 
become  entitled  to  a  pardon  after  an  unexceptionable  prison 
record  of  fifteen  years.  He  does  not  think  it  either  right  or 
wise  to  extinguish  hope  in  the  breast  of  any  human  being.  The 
board  of  directors  and  the  warden  unite  in  recommending  that 
a  permanent  chaplain  be  appointed  who  should  also  serve  as 
teacher  to  the  illiterate  prisoners. 


CHAPTER  XLIII.  —  WESTERN    STATES    (concluded). — 
NEBRASKA. 

r  I^HE  prison  system  of  this  State  embraces  only  the  State- 
-I-  prison  and  the  county  jails.  It  is  held  in  Nebraska  as 
strongly  as  anywhere  that  prisons  are  for  the  protection  of  society 
against  crime  ;  but  it  is  believed  that  this  protection  may  be 
accomplished  either,  first,  by  depriving  criminals  of  their  liberty, 
or,  secondly,  by  effecting  their  reformation.  They  do  not  deny 
that  criminals  should  be  punished,  but  they  protest  against  making 
the  punishment  vindictive.  They  hold  with  Paul  that  vengeance 
belongs  to  God  and  to  him  alone,  since  he  alone  is  omniscient. 
Hence  they  give  prominence  to  the  reformatory  element  in  pun- 
ishment. It  is  made  a  primary  aim  of  the  State-prison  to  educate 
the  head  and  heart,  to  reform  and  elevate  the  prisoners  ;  and  so 
to  make  them  feel  that  they  can  win  back  what  they  have  lost, 
and  be  prepared  socially  and  morally  to  re-assume  citizenship  and 
enter  anew  upon  the  honorable  duties  of  free  life.  The  incentives 
to  good  conduct  are  diminution  of  sentence,  appeals  to  manhood, 
and  Christian  sympathy  and  kindness ;  a  schoolmaster,  a  prison 
school,  and  plenty  of  good  books  come  in  as  helps.  God's  Word 
is  preached  in  the  chapel  and  studied  in  the  cell.  A  Bible-class 
is  held  every  Sunday,  in  which  the  prisoners  take  a  lively  interest. 
Vocal  music  is  taught,  and  from  the  prison  vaults  songs  of  Zion 
ascend  daily.  Instructive  lectures  are  from  time  to  time  delivered 
to  the  prisoners.  A  debating  society  has  been  formed  by  them 
and  meets  weekly.  Religious  and  literary  papers  of  unexception- 
able character  are  supplied  for  their  reading.  The  lash  is  abolished, 


PART  11.]  IN  NEBRASKA.  183 

and  so  is  the  striped  prison-garment.  Disciplinary  punishment 
is  almost  unknown.  The  spirit  of  the  treatment  is  shown  in  the 
following  extract  from  a  speech  made  by  the  warden,  Mr.  Wyman, 
in  the  National  Prison  Congress  of  New  York,  in  1876 :  — 

"The  first  thing  the  warden  of  a  penitentiary  should  look  at  is  the 
reformation  of  the  man.  Begin  the  day  he  comes  in.  I  am  in  charge  of 
the  Nebraska  penitentiary,  where  we  take  Indians.  I  have  six  Indians  all 
under  life-sentences.  When  they  came  there  they  could  not  read.  Now 
they  can  all  write  respectable  letters,  and  some  of  them  very  fine  letters. 
I  have  had  all  classes  of  men.  Suppose  I  and  my  predecessors  had  had 
no  idea  of  reform  ;  suppose  we  had  had  the  idea  that  a  prison  is  for 
punishing,  and  nothing  else,  —  those  men  would  go  out  as  bad  as  they 
came  in,  and  probably  worse.  The  idea  of  a  prison  superintendent  should 
be  to  make  the  men  better.  The  man  put  at  the  helm  of  the  ship  should 
understand  his  duty.  He  should  know  what  his  men  require,  and 
should  make  his  work  a  study ;  and  when  he  finds  that  it  is  for  their 
benefit  to  have  a  certain  thing,  it  is  his  duty  to  administer  it  without 
regard  to  public  opinion.  That  is  the  way  the  prison  warden  should 
stand,  —  not  fettered  by  public  opinion,  but  should  manage  his  prison 
with  a  conscience  and  with  a  view  to  making  his  men  better.  Now  I 
propose  not  to  be  too  personal  in  the  matter,  but  to  give  you  a  few 
ideas  of  how  the  prison  of  which  I  have  charge  is  conducted.  We 
have  but  a  small  number  of  prisoners,  —  less  than  eighty.  We  have  not 
a  dark  cell  in  the  prison.  We  sometimes  go  three  months  without  pun- 
ishing a  prisoner.  The  best  men  I  have  to  assist  me  are  my  convicts, 
whom  I  have  encouraged.  I  have  men  there  that  I  would  be  proud  to 
bring  into  this  congress.  Not  but  that  they  came  there  bad  men ;  they 
had  a  fair  education,  had  fallen  into  the  snare,  and  got  into  the  peni- 
tentiary. But  they  are  now  better  men  than  perhaps  one  tenth  part  of  the 
men  who  are  outside  and  have  not  been  caught.  Now  when  you  say  to 
me  that  the  majesty  of  the  law  must  be  upheld,  I  reply,  *  Very  good,  very 
good ;  but  how  is  it  to  be  upheld  ?  Simply  by  punishment  ?  By  using 
the  dark  cell,  the  lash,  the  thumbscrew  ? '  There  is  no  better  way  to  up- 
hold the  majesty  of  the  law  than  to  make  the  prisoner  a  good  man,  and 
let  him  vindicate  it  when  he  goes  out.  I  might  talk  considerably  on  this 
matter,  because  I  am  interested,  because  I  love  the  work  I  am  engaged 
in ;  and  I  won't  have  the  man  around  me  who  does  not  like  it." 

Of  the  county-jail  system  and  its  administration  I  can  say 
nothing  because  I  know  nothing. 

Nebraska  is  a  new  State  with  a  small  population,  and  has  not 
as  yet  any  reformatory  institutions. 


1 84  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  n. 


CHAPTER  XLIV.  —  PACIFIC  STATES.  —  CALIFORNIA. 

CALIFORNIA  is  the  Queen  State  of  the  Pacific  coast  beyond 
the  Rocky  Mountains,  —  a  State  as  distant  from  Massachu- 
setts as  Berlin  is  from  Boston.  Thirty  years  ago  she  had  scarcely 
ten  thousand  inhabitants,  and  San  Francisco  was  an  insignificant 
village ;  to-day  she  approaches  a  million,  and  the  little  hamlet  has 
become  an  imperial  city,  the  metropolis  of  an  empire,  —  one  of 
the  greatest  and  busiest  marts  of  commerce  on  the  face  of  the 
globe.  There  she  sits  in  queenly  majesty  and  grandeur,  with  her 
thousand  miles  of  sea-coast,  and  gold  enough  in  her  mountains  to 
supply  the  world  with  coin. 

California  has  lately  framed  and  adopted  a  new  constitution. 
It  is  severely  criticised  both  there  and  throughout  the  Union. 
As  regards  the  points  of  attack  I  know  nothing,  and  therefore  say 
nothing.  But  it  contains  one  article,  in  six  sections,  which  places 
her  in  the  forefront  of  all  States  on  the  North  American  conti- 
nent in  the  matter  of  prison  reform. 

Section  first  creates  a  board  or  commission  of  five  prison  di- 
rectors to  be  appointed  jointly  by  the  governor  and  senate,  and  to 
hold  office  for  ten  years  ;  one  going  out  at  the  end  of  every  second 
year.  They  may  be  removed  for  cause  after  a  full  hearing  before 
the  governor,  but  not  otherwise. 

Section  second  places  the  State-prisons  in  the  hands  of  this 
board,  and  authorizes  the  legislature  to  invest  it  with  such  powers 
and  charge  it  with  such  duties  as  it  may  see  fit  as  regards  the 
other  penal,  reformatory,  and  preventive  institutions  of  the  State. 
It  thus  provides  for  the  unification,  whenever  the  legislature 
may  think  proper,  of  the  whole  system  and  series  of  institutions 
looking  to  the  repression  and  prevention  of  crime,  and  the  cen- 
tralization of  the  powers  of  government  and  administration  in 
the  hands  of  the  board. 

Section  third  gives  authority  to  the  board  to  appoint  the  warden 
and  clerk  (or  financial  officer)  of  any  and  all  State-prisons,  with 
power  to  remove  them,  but  only  for  misconduct,  incompetency,  or 
neglect  of  duty  ;  thus  making  their  tenure  of  office  for  life  or 
during  good  behavior.  It  further  empowers  the  board  to  deter- 
mine the  number  and  functions  of  the  other  officers  of  the  prisons, 
and  authorizes  the  warden  to  appoint  and  remove,  in  his  discre- 
tion, all  subordinate  officers,  subject  of  course  to  his  general 
responsibility  to  the  board.  It  thus  gives  to  the  officer  on  whom 
it  places  the  sole  responsibility  for  the  general  management  of 
the  prison  the  power  to  make  that  responsibility  effective. 

Section  fourth  provides  that  the  members  of  the  board  shall 
receive  no  salary  for  the  services  rendered  by  them,  but  shall 


PART  IL]  IN  CALIFORNIA.  185 

simply  be  paid  back  moneys  expended  in  the  discharge  of  their 
official  duties.  This,  at  first  blush,  might  be  thought  a  policy 
unwise  and  penurious.  Perhaps  it  might  be  vindicated  against 
both  charges,  if  the  motive  be  considered  which  prompted  it.  In 
the  first  place,  it  was  no  doubt  intended  to  prevent  a  scramble  for 
the  office  by  fourth  and  fifth-rate  politicians.  Next,  although  it 
will  exclude  some  men  eminently  qualified  for  the  service,  there 
must  in  a  great  State  always  be  men  who  do  not  need  the  salary, 
and  yet  who  would  be  willing  to  serve  from  the  double  motive  of 
honor  and  public  spirit ;  in  other  words,  for  humanity  and  the 
good  opinion  of  their  fellow-citizens.  Look  at  the  immense  ser- 
vices of  this  sort  rendered  by  the  unpaid  magistracy  of  England, 
which  could  not  be  bought  for  millions  of  money. 

Section  fifth  authorizes  the  legislature  to  pass  such  laws  as  may 
be  necessary  further  to  define  and  regulate  the  powers  and  duties 
of  the  board,  the  warden,  and  the  clerk,  and  to  carry  into  effect 
the  provisions  of  the  whole  article.  This  section  provides  the 
machinery  for  securing  a  prison  bureau,  with  a  secretary  or  chief 
at  its  head  on  a  salary  sufficient  to  obtain  ability  and  experience 
of  the  highest  order  in  the  country,  —  and  none  other  is  admissi- 
ble in  such  a  position  without  the  sacrifice  of  interests  vital  to  the 
well-being  of  the  State. 

Section  sixth  provides  that  after  the  first  day  of  January,  1882, 
the  labor  of  the  convicts  shall  not  be  let  out  by  contract  to  any 
person,  copartnership,  company,  or  corporation  ;  and  that  the 
legislature  shall  by  law  provide  for  the  working  of  convicts  for 
the  benefit  of  the  State. 

Such,  then,  is  the  actual  fundamental  law  of  California  in  rela- 
tion to  this  great  question.  It  is  difficult  to  see  how,  in  a  govern- 
ment like  ours,  prison  management  could  be  more  effectually 
removed  on  paper  from  the  domain  of  party  politics.  It  remains 
only  that  the  execution  be  carried  out  in  the  spirit  of  the  theory 
with  intelligence  and  vigor. 

I  will  add  but  a  few  lines  on  the  state  of  the  prison  question  as 
it  exists  at  this  moment  in  California.  There  is  one  State-prison 
in  actual  operation,  with  a  population  of  1,318  ;  but  a  second  or 
branch  prison  is  in  process  of  construction.  There  is  neither 
resident  medical  officer,  nor  stated  chaplain  ;  but  an  able  non- 
resident physician  prescribes  for  the  sick  prisoners,  and  religious 
services  are  regularly  held  every  Sunday,  conducted  in  turn  by  the 
clergymen  of  San  Francisco.  A  prison-teacher  is  employed,  who 
gives  lessons  daily  to  the  prisoners  under  age,  of  whom  the  num- 
ber exceeds  two  hundred.  There  is  a  house  of  correction  for  mis- 
demeanants and  young  criminals  convicted  of  felonies  in  the  city 
of  San  Francisco,  under  control  of  the  municipal  authorities. 
Terms  of  sentence  here  range  from  three  months  to  three  years. 
Each  county  has  its  own  common  jail,  in  charge  of  the  sheriff  of 


1 86  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC..  [BooK  n. 

the  county,  whose  term  of  office  is  for  four  years.  The  jails  are  for 
prisoners  awaiting  trial  on  a  charge  of  felony,  for  persons  detained 
as  witnesses  in  criminal  cases,  and  for  those  under  sentence  as 
misdemeanants.  They  are  not  model  prisons.  The  larger  cities 
have  station  houses  or  lock-ups,  in  charge  of  the  chief  of  police. 
These  are  for  persons  waiting  trial  for  misdemeanors,  or  exami- 
nation on  charge  of  felony  ;  or  for  those  convicted  of  a  violation 
of  police  regulations,  and  sentenced  for  a  few  days,  one  or  more. 
There  is  an  industrial  school  near  San  Francisco,  but  it  does  not 
appear  to  be  of  great  account. 

One  of  the  most  energetic,  active,  and  useful  among  the  pris- 
oners' aid  societies  of  America  is  the  California  prison  commis- 
sion, of  which  the  Rev.  James  Woodworth  is  secretary. 

California  seems  well  provided  with  child-saving  institutions  in 
the  form  of  orphan  asylums  and  homes  for  the  neglected  and 
exposed  waifs  of  society.  The  legislature,  too,  is  liberal  in  its 
contributions  to  the  support  of  these  institutions.  For  every 
orphan  by  the  loss  of  both  parents  it  allows  one  hundred  dollars 
a  year  to  the  institution  having  charge  of  it ;  and  for  every  or- 
phan by  the  loss  of  one  parent,  seventy-five  dollars.  Altogether 
the  number  of  these  institutions  exceeds  twenty,  and  the  number 
of  inmates  is  over  two  thousand.  Nearly  three-fourths  of  the 
children  are  in  Catholic,  forty-six  in  Jewish,  and  the  remainder  in 
Protestant  asylums.  The  amount  paid  by  the  State  for  their  sup- 
port is  about  $150,000  ;  the  balance  is  made  up  from  earnings  of 
the  inmates,  private  contributions,  and  revenues  from  endow- 
ments. The  good  accomplished  is  immeasurable  and  in  manifold 
directions.  It  would  be  interesting  to  enter  into  details,  but  lack 
of  space  is  an  insuperable  bar. 


CHAPTER  XLV.  —  PACIFIC  STATES  (concluded).  —  OREGON  ; 

NEVADA. 

OREGON  is  twin  sister  to  California,  though  much  behind  her 
in  population,  trade,  mineral  resources,  and  their  natural 
results,  —  large  towns  and  large  wealth.    This  State  has  at  present 
but  two  classes  of  institutions  that  deal  directly  with  crime,  —  a 
State-prison  and  a  system  of  county  jails. 

The  State-prison  will  compare  well  with  those  of  many  of  the 
older  States.  The  system  is  that  known  as  the  congregate,  and 
the  State  lets  the  time  and  labor  of  a  portion  of  the  convicts, 
furnishing  buildings  and  water-power  to  contractors,  but  control- 
ling the  prisoner  throughout  his  work.  The  penitentiary  building 


PART  IL]  IN  OREGON  AND  NEVADA.  1 87 

is  well  constructed,  with  central  octagon  and  two  wings,  abundantly 
lighted,  and  having  the  cells  in  two  double  tiers  down  the  centre  of 
each  wing.  Each  cell  is  QX  6  X  8  feet,  containing  432  cubic  feet  of 
space,  and  has  two  inmates,  —  a  bad  system  ;  worse,  in  important 
respects,  than  larger  associated  wards.  The  general  management 
is  kindly  but  firm.  A  system  of  small  rewards,  merit-marks,  etc. 
is  in  use,  but  not  arranged  in  any  very  systematic  or  at  all  in  the 
progressive  way.  The  men  are  worked  in  gangs  under  the  eye  of 
a  guard  upon  the  walls,  but  not  in  charge  of  sub-officers  to  work 
with  them  and  hear  their  conversation  ;  nor  are  they  subject  to 
control  or  supervision  in  these  respects  in  the  factories.  The 
punishments  are  the  cancellation  of  merit-marks,  shackles  (sel- 
dom used),  and  throwing  a  stream  of  water  from  a  hose  upon  the 
exposed  body,  which  must  be  extremely  severe  if  not  positively 
cruel,  and  therefore  objectionable.  The  subject  here,  as  too  often 
elsewhere,  kept  most  prominently  before  the  public  and  the  prison 
officials  is  the  financial  one  :  given  a  prison,  how  can  it  be  made 
to  cost  the  least  possible  sum  consistent  with  discipline  and 
health  ?  There  have  not  been  wanting  voluntary  efforts  towards 
the  religious  training  and  education  of  the  inmates,  and  these  in 
some  years  seem  to  have  been  well  organized  and  efficient  ;  but 
the  people  of  Oregon,  as  of  some  other  States,  do  not  yet  seem  fa- 
miliar with  the  idea  of  a  prison  in  which,  in  the  interest  of  public 
security  and  real  economy,  the  reformation  of  the  criminal  takes 
precedence  of  every  present  pecuniary  consideration. 

I  take  a  few  sentences  from  the  last  report  of  the  warden,  who 
appears  to  be  an  able,  practical,  and  energetic  man.  He  says  : 
"  No  immoral  conduct  on  the  part  of  prisoners,  officers,  or  em- 
ployes is  allowed.  Profanity,  card-playing,  and  intemperance  are 
strictly  forbidden.  Prisoners  are  taught  the  meaning  of  the  word 
'penitentiary'  to  be  a  house  of  correction,  in  which  offenders  are 
confined  for  punishment  and  reformation,  and  that  its  object  is 
both  the  protection  of  society  and  the  amendment  of  the  criminal. 
I  have  endeavored  to  make  the  prisoners  better  men,  and  if  pos- 
sible to  fit  them  for  becoming  on  their  release  good  citizens,  able 
and  inclined  to  earn  an  honest  livelihood  instead  of  preying  upon 
the  community." 

No  adequate  provision  is  made  for  the  discharged,  nor  is  there 
any  prison  society  or  prison  agent  in  the  State. 

In  common  with  the  other  States  of  the  Union,  Oregon  has  the 
system  of  county  jails,  which  many  of  the  citizens  of  that  State 
regard  as  legalized  schools  for  fostering,  instead  of  prisons  for 
repressing,  vice  and  criminality.  These  jails  are  in  many  cases 
unsafe  and  unhealthy,  and  in  no  case  do  they  admit  of  classifica- 
tion. Other  means  of  repressing  or  preventing  crime  will  largely 
fail,  so  long  as  this  limbo  is  tolerated.  What  is  needed,  in  Oregon 
as  elsewhere,  is,  first,  a  system  of  detention  houses  for  the  safe- 


1 88  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  n. 

keeping  of  prisoners  waiting  trial ;  and,  second,  a  union  of  several 
contiguous  counties  for  the  purpose  of  establishing  proper  district 
prisons,  in  which  classification,  separation  at  night,  and  industrial 
labor  by  day  shall  be  primary  conditions. 

,Of  reformatory  or  preventive  agencies  Oregon  as  yet  appears 
to  have  none.  There  have  been  efforts  made,  twice  during  the 
past  eight  years,  to  interest  the  public  in  the  condition  of  aban- 
doned, neglected,  and  vicious  boys  ;  and  in  1872  a  statute  was 
enacted  which  authorized  the  establishment  of  a  reform  school. 
Causes,  which  need  not  now  be  explained,  have  hitherto  delayed 
the  execution  of  this  Act.  But  there  are  not  wanting  signs  of  a 
new  pressure  upon  the  public  for  proper  preventive  and  reforma- 
tory institutions,  —  a  pressure  of  social  forces  and  increased  pop- 
ulation. Should  the  course  of  events  and  an  awakened  public 
sentiment  demand  an  institution  and  assure  a  wise  unpartisan 
administration  of  it,  the  statutory  provisions  are  ample  for  the 
creation  and  maintenance  of  a  reform  school  or  farm. 

As  regards  preventive  institutions,  there  are  two  orphan  asy- 
lums at  the  chief  city,  Portland,  which  receive  also  neglected  and 
deserted  children  as  well  as  orphans.  One  of  these  is  unde- 
nominational ;  the  other  under  the  care,  and  for  the  children,  of 
the  Episcopal  Church.  The  Catholics  also  make  some  provision 
for  destitute  and  orphaned  children.  There  is,  further,  an  orphan 
asylum  at  Salem,  the  capital,  which  has  usually  a  dozen  inmates, 
with  accommodation  for  twenty-five. 

NEVADA  is  on  the  Pacific  slope,  but  not  on  the  Pacific  ocean. 
Of  the  three  Pacific  States  it  is  the  newest  and  the  smallest.  It 
has  a  State-prison  and  county  jails  ;  that  is  all.  Notwithstanding 
repeated  efforts  I  have  been  able  to  obtain  nothing  later  than 
1 874,  except  a  short  paragraph  in  the  annual  message  of  the  gov- 
ernor, under  date  of  January  6,  1879.  All  he  says  pertinent  to  the 
purpose  of  the  present  work  is  :  "  There  are  now  one  hundred  and 
forty-eight  convicts  in  the  State-prison.  Important  improvements 
have  been  made  ;  the  prisoners  have  been  humanely  treated,  and 
the  discipline  has  been  excellent." 


CHAPTER  XLVI.  —  SOUTHERN  STATES.  —  TEXAS;  LOUISIANA. 

I  HAVE  not  been  able,  after  using  all  diligence  to  that  end,  to 
obtain  any  recent  information  concerning  the  prisons  and 
prison  administration  of  Texas.     The  Rev.  Benjamin  A.  Rogers, 
who  had  attended  the  international  prison  congress  of  1872,  held 


PART  IL]  IN  TEXAS  AND  LOUISIANA.  189 

at  London,  as  commissioner  from  that  State,  submitted  to  the 
national  Congress  o*f  Baltimore,  in  1873,  a  report  on  the  then  con- 
dition of  prison  work  in  his  State.  Condensed,  what  he  said  was 
this :  That  Texas  has  one  State-prison  and  a  jail  in  nearly  every 
county;  that  he  cannot  give  the  number  of  prisoners  in  the  jails, 
or  even  in  the  penitentiary,  for  the  lessees  had  refused  to  answer 
any  of  his  questions,  though  his  request  was  seconded  by  the 
governor  of  the  State ;  that  the  penitentiary  and  its  discipline 
were  in  the  hands  of  the  lessees  ;  that  the  discipline  is  deterrent 
only ;  that  the  agencies  of  the  discipline  are  labor,  the  dungeon, 
the  lash,  and  the  stocks,  —  all  liberally  used  ;  that  there  is  no  pro- 
vision of  law  for  the  instruction  of  the  prisoners  beyond  that  in 
industrial  labor,  and  none  given  in  fact,  since  the  business  of  the 
lessees  is  to  make  money  out  of  the  convicts  regardless  of  higher 
aims  ;  that  within  the  prison  walls  various  manufactures  are  car- 
ried on,  but  that  this  does  not  hinder  much  convict  labor  being 
performed  outside,  as  the  lessees  are  allowed  to  put  the  prisoners 
on  the  railroads  of  the  State ;  that  this  is  a  bad  system,  since  it 
encourages  attempts  to  escape,  which  are  often  successful,  thus 
cheating  society  of  its  security,  and  subjecting  the  convicts  when 
recaptured  to  unnecessary  suffering,  and  sometimes  resulting  in 
their  being  shot,  and  so  leading  to  a  waste  of  life  without  neces- 
sity, and  therefore  without  right;  that  the  hundred  county  jails  in 
the  State  are  a  hundred  dens  of  suffering,  crime,  and  infamy,  in 
which  the  criminal  and  the  innocent  of  all  ages  and  both  sexes  are 
herded  together  like  cattle,  —  a  hundred  schools  of  vice  and  shame, 
a  hundred  plague-spots  on  the  body-politic,  a  hundred  elements 
and  sources  of  disgrace  to  the  religion  and  civilization  of  the  State ; 
that  with  nearly  a  thousand  prisoners  in  the  penitentiary,  there 
are  not  fit  accommodations  for  half  that  number  ;  that  with  thou- 
sands of  suffering  paupers,  there  is  not  a  poor-house  in  the  State ; 
and  that  with  thousands  of  orphans,  destitute  and  neglected  chil- 
dren, tramps,  and  wretched  outcasts  falling  into  crime,  there  is 
not  an  asylum,  children's  home,  or  house  of  reform  in  all  the 
State. 

On  his  return  from  the  London  Congress,  Mr.  Rogers  prepared 
a  lecture,  in  which  he  exposed  with  severe  but  kindly  criticism 
the  abominations  of  the  existing  jail  and  penitentiary  systems, 
which  he  delivered  in  various  cities,  and  especially  at  the  State 
capital  before  the  legislature  and  the  citizens.  The  result  was 
the  awakening  of  a  wide  interest  in  the  question,  and  the  forma- 
tion of  a  "  Prison  Reform  Association  of  the  State  of  Texas,"  one 
of  whose  avowed  objects  was  "  the  promoting  such  legislation  as 
shall  reform  the  present  prison  system*  and  prison  discipline  of  the 
State."  The  Association  numbered  among  its  members  some  of 
the  best  and  most  influential  citizens,  among  whom  were  the  gov- 
ernor, secretary  of  state,  State  treasurer,  attorney-general,  comp- 


1 90  STATE   OF  PRISONS,   ETC.  [BOOK  n. 

troller,  judges  of  the  supreme  court,  and  leading  members  of  the 
bar  in  different  parts  of  the  State.  The  journals  of  the  State,  of  all 
parties,  took  a  warm  interest  in  the  reform  and  gave  to  the  cause 
a  united  and  earnest  advocacy.  The  Association  prepared  three 
bills  and  submitted  them  to  the  legislature :  one  providing  for  a 
reorganization  of  the  county-jail  system  ;  another  for  a  new  peni- 
tentiary to  be  conducted  substantially  on  the  Irish  or  Crofton  sys- 
tem ;  and  the  third  proposing  a  "  county  farm  "  for  every  county 
in  the  State,  with  a  poor-house,  house  of  correction,  and  reform 
school.  These  bills  got  so  far  as  to  be  referred  to  legislative  com- 
mittees. What  the  upshot  was  I  have  never  learned.  Mr.  Rogers 
was  called  to  another  field,  and  left  the  State;  and  the  proba- 
bility is  that  the  whole  thing  died  out  of  mind.  Without  some 
one  or  more  earnest  and  energetic  persons  to  push,  many  a  good 
purpose  perishes. 

The  lessees  of  the  Texas  State-prison  —  Messrs.  Ward,  Dewey, 
&  Co.  —  sent  an  agent  to  the  national  Prison  Congress  of  St.  Louis 
in  1874,  charged  with  submitting  to  that  body  an  extended  account 
of  the  organization  and  management  of  that  institution.1  In  this 
report  the  prison  is  represented  as  a  vast  hive,  or  rather  many 
hives,  of  busy  industry.  The  lessees  claim,  that,  besides  paying 
all  expenses  of  the  prison,  they  indemnify  the  State  in  an  annual 
bonus  of  $15,000;  that  they  conduct  the  establishment  on  true 
reformatory  principles,  relying  on  moral  forces  mainly  (encourage- 
ments, rewards,  counsels,  appeals  to  manhood,  etc.),  and  having 
but  little  recourse  to  compulsory  agencies  ;  that  numerous  handi- 
crafts (a  dozen  or  more)  are  carried  on  in  the  prison  ;  that  the 
convict  who  knows  a  trade  is  set  to  work  at  it  if  possible,  and 
the  convict  who  does  not  is  permitted  to  choose  the  trade  he  pre- 
fers, if  it  is  one  pursued  in  the  prison  ;  that  every  prisoner  who 
works  well  and  behaves  well  has  two  dollars  a  month  placed  to  his 
credit,  etc. 

Since  the  publication  of  the  transactions  of  the  St.  Louis  Con- 
gress I  have  received  communications  from  highly  respectable 
sources,  which,  while  admitting  some  truth  in  the  report  of  the 
lessees,  nevertheless  aver  that  it  is  largely  a  fancy  piece.  I  have 
never  been  in  Texas,  and  aver  nothing ;  only  that  I  have  several 
times  written  for  reports  and  have  obtained  no  response. 

LOUISIANA.  —  I  am  quite  unable  to  give  any  account  of  peni- 
tentiary affairs  in  this  State.  Within  the  last  half-dozen  years  I 
have  addressed  repeated  letters  to  the  authorities  of  the  State- 
prison  and  house  of  refuge,  and  to  successive  governors  of  the 
State,  asking  for  reports  and  information,  without  eliciting  a  sin- 

1  No  doubt  this  movement  was  prompted  by  the  paper  of  Mr.  Rogers,  printed  in 
the  transactions  of  the  Baltimore  Congress,  and  whose  substance  is  given  above.  It 
is  a  "  counter-blast,"  like  that  of  King  James  against  tobacco. 


PART  IL]  IN  GEORGIA.  191 

gle  line  or  syllable  of  reply.  Whatever  inference  this  silence  may 
bear,  the  reader  can  draw  as  well  as  the  writer.  At  all  events 
such  as  I  have  I  must  give,  which  is  —  nothing  ! 


CHAPTER  XLVII.  —  SOUTHERN  STATES  (continued). — 
GEORGIA. 

THE  lease  system  of  convict  labor  seems  to  be  carried  to  its 
last  limit  —  its  ultima  thule — in  Georgia;  and  where  that 
system  prevails  it  is  useless  to  write  about  other  things.  Indeed, 
there  is  little  else  to  write  about,  for  it  overshadows,  swallows  up, 
every  thing  else.  It  is  the  destruction  of  the  penitentiary  system 
of  imprisonment  properly  so  called,  which  the  world  has  been 
struggling  to  attain  for  a  century  and  more  with  but  limited  suc- 
cess. A  penitentiary  system  is  one  which  produces,  or  aims  to 
produce,  penitence,  —  sorrow  for  past  offences,  and  an  amended 
life  in  the  future.  But  how  can  a  system  like  that  of  Georgia 
accomplish  any  such  end  ?  Look  at  it ;  put  it  in  the  balance  ; 
weigh  it.  There  are  in  round  numbers  twelve  hundred  convicts 
in  the  State-prison.  These  are  leased  to  three  companies  called 
Penitentiary  Companies  Nos.  L,  II.,  and  III.  There  are  at  pres- 
ent fourteen  convict  camps,  but  they  may  be  indefinitely  multi- 
plied ;  they  are  already  widely  dispersed,  but  they  may  be  carried 
to  the  utmost  extremities  of  the  State.  Even  now  it  takes  an 
officer  a  whole  month  to  visit  all  the  convict  camps  and  spend 
only  a  few  hours  in  each.  He  could  not  accomplish  the  circuit  in 
a  month,  and  make  even  an  approach  to  an  examination  of  the 
condition  of  these  many  and  distant  stations.  And  how  long 
would  the  reader  guess  these  leases  have  to  run  ?  From  April  I, 
1879,  to  April  i,  1899!  The  warden,  in  his  report  for  last  year 
(1878),  proposes  to  the  legislature  the  passage  of  an  act  "  requiring 
all  who  control,  manage,  boss,  and  guard  convicts  to  take  and 
subscribe  to  an  oath  not  to  ill-treat  or  abuse  convicts  in  any  man- 
ner not  warranted  by  law."  As  if  the  law  allowed  the  ill  treat- 
ment or  abuse  of  convicts  !  But  let  that  pass  as  a  slip  of  the  pen. 
Any  man  with  half  an  eye  can  see  the  fearful  conclusion  wrapped 
up  in  that  strange  proposition,  and  any  tyro  in  logic  can  draw  it. 
Laws  are  made  to  forbid  and  punish  wrongs  which  have  already 
become  flagrant.  By  the  side  of  such  a  proposition,  and  in  view 
of  what  it  points  to,  how  feeble — I  will  not  say  contemptible  — 
does  this  declaration  which  flowed  from  the  same  pen  appear j 
"  I  tolerate  corporal  punishment  only  when  absolutely  necessary." 
Who  but  the  lessee  is  to  judge  of  that  necessity?  And  how  is 


STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  ir. 

the  warden  to  know  what  is  going  on  in  his  fourteen  camps  scores 
and  perhaps  hundreds  of  miles  from  his  central  office? — for 
Georgia  is  a  little  empire.  His  non-toleration  is  no  more  than  a 
spider's  web  in  the  path  of  an  enraged  bull. 

The  doctrine  is  broached  in  the  warden's  report  that  "  when 
a  criminal  is  tried,  convicted,  and  sentenced  for  the  commission 
of  a  crime,  the  public  can  exact  no  further  accountability  from  him 
for  the  crime  ;  the  law  has  spent  its  force  in  imposing  the  penalty. 
Having  paid  the  penalty,  his  relations  to  the  public  so  far  as  the 
law  is  concerned  are  such  as  if  the  crime  had  never  been  com- 
mitted. The  law  having  spent  its  force  in  convicting  and  sen- 
tencing him,  he  at  once,  on  entering  the  prison,  becomes  subject 
to  new  laws,  —  the  laws  for  the  government  and  control  of  the 
prison  itself."  Possibly  the  warden  may  belong  to  that  class  of 
thinkers  of  whom  a  celebrated  Italian  cardinal,  in  answer  to  a 

question,  once  said,  "  Yes,  Signor is  a  splendid  orator :  true, 

he  never  knows  what  he  is  talking  about ;  but  then  he  says  it  so 
beautifully !  "  But  if  he  does  "  know  what  he  is  talking  about," 
then  he  lays  down  a  remarkable  proposition  which  bears  a  no  less 
remarkable  conclusion :  society,  the  State,  exhausts  its  legal 
power  in  pronouncing  the  penalty,  and  has  nothing  to  do  with  its 
execution.  Twice  in  the  above  short  citation  formal  proclamation 
is  made  of  this  strange  view.  It  follows  that  the  prison  authori- 
ties can  do  by  the  sentenced  criminal  as  they  please,  —  keep  him 
within  the  prison  walls,  lease  him  to  railroad  contractors,  or,  if 
they  so  elect,  send  him  to  the  mines  of  Siberia ! 

When  the  prisoner's  term  of  sentence  has  been  completed  and 
his  time  of  release  is  come,  the  State  conducts  him  to  the  prison 
gate  and  turns  him  loose  without  a  dollar  in  his  pocket  or  a  mile 
of  transportation  provided,  although  the  lessees  pay  the  whole 
cost  of  his  imprisonment  and  compensate  the  State  for  his  labor 
at  the  rate  of  twenty-five  dollars  a  year.  Let  the  warden  be  com- 
mended as  well  as  censured  where  he  deserves  it,  —  as  he  certainly 
does  when  he  denounces  such  ill-judged  penuriousness,  and  shows 
that  it  is  "  saving  at  the  spile  and  spending  at  the  bung  "  by  well 
nigh  forcing  the  prisoner  back  into  crime. 

Prior  to  the  meeting  of  the  Prison  Congress  of  St.  Louis  in 
1874,  a  number  of  persons  wrote  to  me  accompanying  their  com- 
munications with  fearful  recitals,  and  asking  me  to  expose  and 
denounce  the  Georgia  system  of  convict  labor.  But  none  of  them 
would  permit  the  use  of  their  names,  and  as  a  matter  of  course  I 
remained  silent  Some  weeks  ago  a  letter  on  the  subject  appeared 
in  the  "  New  York  Tribune,"  from  one  of  its  staff  correspondents 
whose  respectability  and  trustworthiness  were  vouched  for  by  the 
editor.  The  writer  states  that  the  lease  system  has  existed  in 
Georgia  for  ten  years.  The  convicts  are  let,  he  says,  for  a  term 
of  years  to  business  firms  and  private  persons,  who  employ  them 


PART  11.]  IN  GEORGIA.  !Q3 

in  different  parts  of  the  State.  The  law  provides  for  a  medical 
officer  and  chaplain  to  minister  to  their  bodily  and  spiritual  wants  ; 
but  the  convict  camps  soon  became  so  numerous  and  so  widely 
scattered  as  to  render  the  services  of  these  officers  ineffectual, 
and  their  appointment  was  discontinued.  Thereafter,  for  medical 
and  moral  ministrations  the  convicts  became  wholly  dependent  on 
the  lessees.  The  law  requires  that  the  warden  visit  and  inspect 
all  the  camps  monthly.  This  also  became  impossible,  because  of 
the  number  and  distance  of  the  camps  from  each  other  and  from 
the  central  office.  The  convicts  thus  passed  from  the  direct 
jurisdiction  of  the  State  into  the  hands  of  private  citizens  whose 
sole  interest  in  them  is  that  of  making  money.  The  execution  of 
the  criminal  laws  was  transferred  from  the  responsible  ministers 
of  the  State  to  men  whose  responsibility  was  nil,  and  whose  sole 
known  and  recognized  qualification  was  that  they  had  put  in  the 
highest  bids  for  the  prisoners'  muscular  power  at  the  auction  of 
the  convict  leases. 

The  average  percentage  of  escapes  is  large  beyond  precedent. 
Indeed,  the  statements  of  the  correspondent  on  this  point  are  al- 
most beyond  belief.  The  law  provides  a  penalty  of  two  hundred 
dollars  for  every  escape  through  negligence,  unless  the  convict  is 
recaptured  and  returned  to  work  within  sixty  days.  Yet  not  a 
dollar  has  been  recovered  by  the  State  for  all  these  hundreds  of 
fugitives.  But  the  most  deplorable  result  of  the'  system  is  the 
frightful  mortality  in  the  convict  camps.  In  the  Richmond 
County  camp,  last  summer  (1878),  the  mortality  was  forty  per 
cent  in  four  months,  or  ten  per  cent  a  month.  In  the  other 
camps  the  death-rate,  though  less,  has  still  been  appalling. 

In  some  of  the  camps,  says  the  correspondent  of  the  "Tribune," 
men  and  women  have  been  found  chained  together  in  the  same 
sleeping  bunks.  Many  of  the  female  convicts  were  reported  last 
November  to  be  far  advanced  in  pregnancy.  Twenty-five  illegiti- 
mate children,  born  in  prison,  are  to-day  in  the  penitentiary  at 
Atlanta. 

Looking  upon  the  above  statements  as  almost  past  belief,  I 
addressed  a  letter  and  enclosed  the  article  to  a  respectable  and 
trustworthy  citizen  of  Georgia,  and  asked  him  "  whether  these 
things  were  so  ?  "  He  replies  in  the  following  terms  :  "  In  refer- 
ence to  the  '  Tribune '  letter,  you  wish  to  know  whether  the  state- 
ments of  the  correspondent  give  the  true  condition  of  our  State 
convicts  under  the  lease  system.  I  answer  without  hesitation 
that  they  do  not.  The  letter  is  incorrect  in  many  respects,  but 
the  true  and  the  false  are  so  ingeniously  woven  together  that  it  is 
well  calculated  to  mislead.  .  .  .  The  mortality  is  not  so  great 
as  one  would  infer  from  the  letter,  and  it  is  really  caused,  not 
by  cruelty,  but  by  the  necessary  defects  of  any  lease  system  ; 
for  example,  the  location  of  various  camps,  the  defective  hygiene, 

13 


1 94  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  i         [BOOK  n. 

the  habits  of  the  negro  convicts,  and  above  all  the  lack  of  a 
general,  fixed,  and  efficient  system  of  government  and  discipline 
of  a  large  convict  force  under  the  very  best  lease  system.  The 
lease  system  could  hardly  be  worse  than  it  is  in  some  respects. 
It  is  not  its  cruelty,  so  far  as  Georgia  is  concerned,  for  all  men  here 
know  that  the  charge  of  cruelty  has  been  sustained  in  very  few 
instances.  On  the  contrary,  the  trouble  in  most  cases  is  too  great 
lenity  and  too  much  freedom,  —  in  fact,  lack  of  punishment.  The 
grand  defect  of  the  system  is  the  absence  of  one  responsible  head 
to  govern,  control,  and  respond.  The  system  is  irresponsible,  — 
there  is  the  trouble  with  it.  With  three  companies  of  lessees, 
each  having  several  members,  and  the  State's  responsibility  turned 
over  to  them,  you  can  see  the  result.  Individual  responsibility  is 
neither  realized,  nor  expected  to  be  realized." 

There  is  the  condemnation  of  the  system,  —  sweeping,  funda- 
mental, unanswerable.  It  is  a  satisfaction  to  know  that  the  leg- 
islature of  Georgia  will  meet  in  July  (1879),  and  tnat  a  bill  is 
pending  before  it  which  provides  for  a  prison  board  to  take  charge 
of  the  entire  convict  system  of  the  State.  The  system  so  proposed 
is  very  similar  to  the  one  prepared  by  the  New  York  prison  asso- 
ciation, submitted  to  the  constitutional  convention  of  1866-67,  and 
by  it  incorporated  into  the  amended  constitution  ;  the  same  which, 
by  the  action  of  the  late  California  convention  and  the  vote  of 
the  people  thereon,  has  been  made  a  part  of  the  fundamental 
law  of  that  State.  It  is  greatly,  I  might  say  "  devoutly,"  to  be 
hoped  that  the  legislature  will  pass  the  bill,  and  so  provide  the 
State  with  the  best  prison  system  so  far  known  on  this  continent, 
and  at  the  same  time  redeem  her  good  name  ;  which,  if  the  actual 
system  stands,  and  those  leases  remain  effective  for  twenty  years, 
will  be,  long  before  their  termination,  a  reproach  throughout  the 
civilized  world. 

It  is  not  pleasant,  but  intensely  painful,  to  write  thus.  But 
my  task  is  to  set  wide  open  the  world's  prisons  to  the  world's 
gaze ;  and  whether  I  write  of  America  or  the  distant  Orient,  the 
most  civilized  or  the  least  civilized  countries,  my  sole  aim  is 
truth,  and  such  reforms  as  truth,  by  God's  blessing,  may  effect. 


CHAPTER  XLVIII.  —  SOUTHERN  STATES  (continued}. — 
FLORIDA  ;  SOUTH  CAROLINA. 

THE  same  lease  system  of  convict  labor  prevails  in  Florida 
as  in  Georgia.     Money  is  therefore  the  burden  of  the  song. 
The  whole  prison  population  is  let  to  one  lessee,  who  takes  the 
prisoners  where  and  works  them  as  he  pleases ;  though  all,  or 


PART  11.]  IN  FLORIDA  AND  SOUTH  CAROLINA.  195 

nearly  all,  appear  to  be  working  at  a  place  called  Live  Oak,  on  the 
lessee's  turpentine  farm.  He  pays  all  expenses  of  transportation 
and  care  of  the  convicts,  and  receives  from  the  State  $100  a  year. 
The  adjutant-general  of  Florida,  who  appears  to  be  in  charge  of 
the  State-prison  and  other  public  institutions  of  the  State,  con- 
trasts with  evident  satisfaction  the  financial  condition  of  the 
prison  since  1877,  under  the  lease  system,  with  what  it  had  been 
previously,  "  when  the  expenses  each  year  greatly  exceeded  the 
income."  Speaking  of  the  present  plan,  he  says  :  "  It  will  require 
time  and  experience  to  give  confidence  to  those  who  would  work 
the  convicts,  before  the  State  will  be  able  to  receive  a  profit  from 
their  labor.  I  feel  confident  that  a  few  years'  experience  will 
prove  that  their  labor  can  be  made  profitable  to  the  State."  This 
is  the  goal  towards  which  all  efforts  seem  directed. 

The  prison  statistics  are  made  out  after  a  most  extraordinary 
fashion.  Thus  the  whole  number  in  prison,  January  I,  1877,  is 
set  down  as  71,  and  the  same  number  is  given  as  that  of  the 
whole  population  for  December  31,  1877;  while,  in  immediate 
connection,  120  is  given  as  the  greatest  number  in  that  year,  and 
100  as  the  smallest  number  for  the  same  year!  Again,  71  being 
set  down  as  constituting  the  whole  population  on  the  last  day  of 

1877,  no  is  given  as  the  number  of  prisoners  on  the  first  day  of 

1878,  an  increase  of  39  in  one  day  !     Further,  the  report  bearing 
date  December  31,  1878  (presumably,  for  the  figures  read  1879), 
states    that   "  during   the  present   year  the  mortality  has   been 
greater  than  any  former  year."     Yet  the  tables  record  13  as  the 
number  of  deaths  in   1878,  and  18  as  the  number  for  1877.     If 
on  the  whole  a  guess  might  be  hazarded,  I  should  imagine  that 
twenty  per  cent  would  approximate  the  proportion  of  deaths,  and 
ten  per  cent  that  of  escapes,  to  the  average  prison  population  ; 
in  other  words,  from   one-fourth  to  one-third  of   the  prisoners 
either  died  or  ran  away.     There  can  be  little  doubt,  however,  that 
we  have  the  exact  truth  in  the  statement  of  the  adjutant-general 
that  the  prisoners  returning  from  work  on  the  railroad  "  were  in 
a  most  deplorable  condition  ; "  especially  when  we  read,  in  the 
report  of  the  medical  officer,  the  further  statement,  that  of  29 
received   19  were  sick  with  chronic  dysentery,  which  in  several 
cases  was  complicated  with  typhoid  fever,  and  still  further,  that 
8  died  in  a  "  short  while." 

SOUTH  CAROLINA.  —  The  same  story  over  again,  but  only  in 
part ;  since  about  two-thirds  of  the  prisoners  work  within  the 
prison  walls,  and  only  one-third  are  leased  to  work  outside  to 
some  half-dozen  different  parties  —  companies  and  individuals  — 
in  various  parts  of  the  State.  The  earnings  of  the  prisoners  do 
not  appear  to  be  large,  the  cash  receipts  from  all  sources  being 
less  than  $3000  ;  although,  of  course,  the  keep  of  the  220  out  on 


196  STATE   OF  PRISONS,   ETC.  [BooK  n. 

lease  must  be  added.  The  mortality  here,  too,  is  frightful  ;  being 
1 08  deaths  in  an  average  of  between  500  and  600  convicts.  The 
number  of  escapes  was  60.  The  escapes  and  the  deaths  together 
for  1878  were  about  one-fourth  of  the  average  prison  population. 
The  medical  officer  attributes  the  enormous  percentage  of  deaths 
to  the  total  absence  of  artificial  heat  in  the  cells  during  the 
winter  months.  Nothing,  so  far  as  appears,  is  done  for  the  men- 
tal or  moral  improvement  of  the  prisoners. 


CHAPTER   XLIX.  —  SOUTHERN   STATES    (continued}.  —  MIS- 
SISSIPPI ;  ALABAMA. 

AT  the  national  Prison  Congress  of  Baltimore,  held  early  in 
1873,  General  Eggleston,  president  of  the  board  of  State- 
prison  directors  for  Mississippi,  submitted  a  report  on  peniten- 
tiary matters  in  that  State,  which  was  both  interesting  and 
encouraging.  Things  appear  to  have  been  at  that  time  in  a 
hopeful  way.  A  part  of  the  convicts  were  then  worked  by  the 
State  within  the  prison  premises,  and  a  part,  for  the  want  of  ac- 
commodations, were  leased  to  be  worked  on  railroads  and  planta- 
tions. An  excellent  warden,  Mr.  Loomis,  was  in  charge.  A  new 
cell-house,  it  was  thought,  would  be  built,  and,  when  completed, 
would  afford  ample  space  for  housing  and  working  all  the  prisoners 
on  the  prison  grounds.  The  directors,  the  warden,  and  appar- 
ently the  public  were  against  the  leasing  system  and  in  favor  of 
keeping  all  the  prison  population  within  the  prison  enclosure,  and 
working  them  on  State  account.  Prison  reform,  upon  the  princi- 
ples adopted  by  the  Cincinnati  and  London  congresses,  seems 
at  that  time  to  have  been  the  watchword  in  Mississippi.  Blows 
and  stripes  had  been  abolished  by  law,  and  milder  punishments 
substituted  ;  especially  good  conduct  and  industry  were  fostered 
by  the  chance  thereby  afforded  of  considerably  abbreviating  the 
terms  of  sentence.  The  effect  was  very  striking.  Out  of  more 
than  four  hundred  convicts  within  the  prison  walls  the  warden 
had  found  it  necessary  to  punish  only  two.  The  prisoners,  in- 
stead of  being  as  before  morose  and  discontented,  had  become 
remarkably  cheerful  and  orderly.  The  sentiment  of  self-respect 
had  taken  root  in  them.  They  had  come  to  feel  that  they  were 
largely  a  self-governing  community.  A  show  of  devotion  was 
visible  at  the  ministrations  of  the  chapel.  A  Sunday-school  was 
established  and  prosperously  maintained  in  the  prison.  Literary 
instruction  and  recreation  were  provided  for  the  convicts  in  the 
creation  of  a  library.  On  Christmas  day  the  prisoners  were  al- 


PART  n.]  IN  MISSISSIPPI  AND  ALABAMA.  197 

lowed  the  use  of  the  prison  hall  and  free  communication  with 
each  other.  The  superintendent  studied  the  tastes  and  aptitudes 
of  the  prisoners,  and  as  far  as  possible  adapted  their  work  there- 
to. Thus  he  acquired  a  strong  personal  influence  over  them. 
He  excited  in  them  a  spirit  of  emulation  and  friendly  rivalry. 
The  result  of  all  these  agencies  and  efforts  had  been  a  degree  of 
contentment,  heartiness,  diligence,  and  an  amount  and  quality 
of  work  quite  unknown  before.  The  above  applied  only  to  those 
working  within  the  walls ;  but  it  was  hoped  and  expected  that  all 
would  be  brought  there  within  a  brief  time,  that  is,  as  soon  as 
the  contemplated  new  cell-house  should  be  finished,  and  that  so 
a  complete  system  of  improved  and  reformatory  prison  discipline 
would  be  inaugurated  and  firmly  established. 

Without  going  into  a  detailed  history  of  events  since  then,  it  is 
enough  to  say,  that,  according  to  my  apprehension,  things  have 
retrograded  and  not  advanced.  A  communication  has  been  kindly 
made  to  me  by  a  high  officer  in  the  executive  department  of  the 
State  government,  from  which  it  appears  that,  under  a  law  of  the 
State  since  enacted,  the  principal  part  of  the  labor  of  the  State- 
prison  is  now  leased  out,  that  is,  hired  to  lessees,  who  assume  all 
expenses,  and  agree  to  pay  the  State  so  much  per  capita  yearly 
for  the  convicts  ;  they  are  employed  chiefly  in  building  railroads. 
This  system,  it  is  observed,  has  been  found  to  work  well  as  a 
mere  matter  of  economy.  No  doubt  of  it.  It  is  a  gratification 
to  be  told  that,  if  considered  in  the  light  of  a  reformatory  measure, 
there  is  a  difference  of  opinion,  and  that  the  public  mind  has  not 
yet  settled  on  a  decided  conviction  one  way  or  the  other.  There 
is  hope,  therefore,  that  it  may  come  in  the  end  to  a  right  con- 
clusion. 

Of  the  county  jails  I  know  only  this,  also  stated  in  the  letter  of 
my  correspondent ;  namely,  that  under  a  recent  law  persons  con- 
victed of  minor  offences  may  be  leased  in  the  same  way,  and  put 
to  work  on  some  public  improvement  in  their  counties.  This  Act 
is  of  recent  date,  and  its  practical  operation  has  not  yet  been  fully 
tested.  But  it  all  comes  to  this,  that  every  man  or  boy  who  has 
committed  an  offence  in  Mississippi,  great  or  small,  may  be  leased 
for  a  term  of  years  or  of  months  to  a  firm,  a  corporation,  or  an 
individual  planter,  and  by  such  association  or  person  may  be  used 
as  an  agency  for  making  money. 

There  are  no  reformatory  institutions  in  this  State. 

ALABAMA.  —  I  have  little  to  report  on  penitentiary  affairs  in 
this  State,  and  that  little  far  from  satisfactory.  In  the  years 
1873-74,  under  the  administration  of  Warden  Willis,  a  vigorous 
effort  was  made  to  throw  off  the  lease  system,  and  replace  it  by 
farm-work  and  industrial  labor.  When  Mr.  Willis  took  charge  in 
1873,  most  of  the  convicts  appear  to  have  been  leased  to  Messrs. 


198  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BooK  n. 

Rucker  &  Co.,  to  work  on  a  railroad.  He  reports  that  he  "  had 
them  all  brought  to  the  prison,  owing  principally  to  the  fact  that 
their  condition  was  such  that  unless  they  were  better  cared  for 
they  would  all  soon  die."  However,  this  attempt  to  change  a  bad 
system  of  convict  labor  to  a  good  one  would  seem  to  have  miscar- 
ried. At  all  events  the  leasing  plan  is  now  in  full  operation,  for  the 
four  hundred  convicts  at  present  under  sentence  are  leased  to  no 
less  than  ten  different  parties,  —  five  individual  lessees,  and  five 
firms  or  companies  j1  and  they  appear  to  be  widely  scattered  over 
different  parts  of  the  State.  That  tells  the  whole  story,  and  it  is 
useless  to  speak  of  discipline,  reformatory  or  otherwise  ;  for  disci- 
pline, properly  so  called,  is  impossible.  We  sometimes  hear  the 
expression  "  how  not  to  do  it  "  used  in  reference  to  some  work 
that  ought  to  be  done.  But,  in  looking  over  the  report  of  the 
Alabama  penitentiary  for  1878,  one  can  scarcely  resist  the  impres- 
sion that  the  great  effort  has  been  "  how  not  to  tell  it ; "  and  it 
has  certainly  been  eminently  successful.  However,  legislators 
would  not  be  likely  to  scan  very  closely  the  processes  by  which 
the  money  was  made  when  told  that  convict  labor  had  produced 
$35,000  (net)  to  the  State,  though  they  might  be  inclined  to  in- 
quire somewhat  critically  why,  when  $35,000  was  earned,  only 
$16,000  was  paid  over.  It  is  curious  to  read  in  "Table  A"  — 
headed  "  showing  resources  and  expenditures  for  the  fiscal  year 
ending  September  30,  1878"  —  the  first  item  in  these  words, 
"  amount  earned  by  convict  labor  from  all  sources,"  and  then  to 
find  for  Table  C  this  caption,  "  showing  amount  earned  by  con- 
vict labor,  and  not  included  in  Table  A  for  the  fiscal  year,  etc.," 
with  two  items  of  earnings,  one  of  $6,000,  and  the  other  of 
$10,000. 

But  this  is  wasting  the  reader's  time  as  well  as  my  own,  and  I 
withdraw  the  hand. 


CHAPTER   L.  —  SOUTHERN   STATES   (continued). — ARKAN- 
SAS ;   MISSOURI. 

I  HAVE  a  communication  from  an  honored  and  valued  friend, 
resident  at  the  capital  of  this  State,  from  which  are  gleaned  the 
following  items  relating  to  its  prison  system  and  administration  : 
There  are  no  juvenile  reformatories  and  no  preventive  institu- 
tions under  that  name  in  Arkansas.     The  State  penitentiary  and 
county  jails  constitute   the  whole   machinery  employed  for  the 
punishment  and  repression  of  crime.     The  penitentiary  has  been 

1  In  one  instance  as  small  a  number  as  ten  are  let  to  a  party. 


PART  n.]  IN  ARKANSAS  AND  MISSOURI. 


199 


sometimes  managed  by  the  State,  and  sometimes  leased  to  par- 
ties who  took  charge  of  and  managed  it  for  their  own  use  and 
benefit.  The  latter  system  is  now  in  use.  The  lessee  employs 
the  prisoners  in  making  brick  near  Little  Rock,1  or  on  his  plan- 
tation at  some  distance  therefrom.  My  correspondent  thinks  the 
management  and  discipline  of  the  prison  under  the  present  regime 
about  as  good  as  it  has  ever  been  ;  but  he  admits  that  this  result 
is  accomplished  through  corporal  punishment,  inflicted,  not  by  the 
prison  authorities,  but  by  the  lessee.  The  State  provides  a  chap- 
lain, who  preaches  to  the  inmates  every  Sabbath  ;  but  my  friend 
is  ignorant  of  the  results.  The  prisoners  are  supplied  with 
Bibles,  but  no  other  books  ;  nor  have  they  any  secular  instruc- 
tion. My  correspondent  thinks  that  the  lease  system  is  best  for 
both  the  State  and  the  prisoners :  for  the  State,  because  it  there- 
by saves  a  large  amount  of  money;  for  the  prisoners,  because 
they  are  better  cared  for  when  the  party  controlling  them  has 
an  interest  in  their  labor.  This  argument  would  be  good  on  two 
assumptions  :  (i)  that  "saving  money"  is  the  great  object  of  con- 
vict treatment ;  (2)  that  the  State  has  neither  conscience  nor 
humanity.  The  first  is  certainly  erroneous  :  it  is  to  be  hoped 
that  the  second  is  equally  so.  As  confirmatory  of  the  second 
part  of  his  argument,  my  correspondent  adds  :  "  Both  self-interest 
and  humanity  prompt  the  lessee  to  care  for  his  wards,  and  to 
treat  them  kindly."  I  will  not  dispute  either  the  wisdom  or  the 
humanity  of  the  lessee  at  Little  Rock  ;  but,  indubitably,  the 
proposition  is  not  universally  —  I  am  afraid  not  generally  —  true. 
If  my  friend  will  read  an  octavo  volume  entitled  "  History  of  the 
Kentucky  Penitentiary,"  written  by  Dr.  Snedeker,  who  was  for 
nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century  medical  officer  of  that  institution, 
he  will  see  a  picture  the  very  reverse  of  his,  drawn  in  extremely 
dark  colors,  by  an  intelligent,  humane,  and  honest  observer,  who 
had  been  in  the  closest  official  and  personal  contact  with  some  half- 
dozen  lessees  in  succession.  Obviously  the  lessee  hires  the  pris- 
oners purely  and  solely  as  a  matter  of  business,  that  is,  to  make 
money.  This  he  does,  and  can  do,  only  in  two  ways  ;  namely,  by 
what  they  can  earn  for  him,  and  by  what  he  can  save  from  their 
food  and  clothing.  The  temptation  under  which  he  lies  is  there- 
fore two-fold,  —  to  undue  pressure  and  undue  stinting.  There 
may  be  individual  lessees  of  so  high  and  generous  a  nature  as  to 
triumph  over  this  double  temptation ;  but  human  weakness  is  so 
general  and  so  great  that  in  the  large  majority  of  cases  it  will 
succumb. 

The  number  of  convicts  has  greatly  increased  since  the  war 
(and  this  is  as  true  of  the  other  Southern  States  as  of  Arkansas), 
from  two  causes:  I.  Because  the  negroes,  being  freed,  are  now 

1  The  capital  of  the  State,  where  the  prison  is  situated. 


2OO  STATE   OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  II. 

punished  by  imprisonment  for  offences  of  which  the  lash  of  the 
master  was  before  the  penalty.  2.  Because  the  sad  effect  of  war 
has  been  to  increase  crime,  and  of  course  punishment,  through- 
out the  whole  country.  The  average  number  of  prisoners  in  the 
State-prison  is  from  four  hundred  to  five  hundred,  about  equally 
divided  between  white  and  colored. 

The  common-jail  system,  my  friend  says,  is  about  as  bad  as  it 
could  well  be.  The  buildings  are  often  very  small  and  densely 
crowded.  The  sheriff  of  the  county  is  ex  officio  jailer,  but  he 
appoints  a  deputy,  and  puts  him  in  sole  charge.  The  prisoners 
are  often  roughly  treated  by  him. 

The  lease  system  of  prison  labor  in  Arkansas  has  been  weighed 
in  the  balance  by  a  joint  legislative  committee,  and  clearly  found 
wanting  by  the  evidence  as  well  as  by  seven  of  the  sixteen  mem- 
bers of  the  committee.  The  evidence,  as  is  commonly  the  case 
in  such  inquiries,  was  not  a  little  contradictory ;  but  to  my  con- 
ception the  following  points  were  established :  That  the  pris- 
oners are  not  properly  nourished,  being  fed  mostly  on  beef  and 
corn  bread,  with  vegetables  occasionally,  but  not  commonly,  —  the 
beef  being  so  poor,  so  devoid  of  nutritive  qualities,  and  so  indi- 
gestible that  its  introduction  into  the  human  stomach  proves  an 
irritant,  which  generates  the  larger  part  of  the  diseases,  such  as 
diarrhoea,  dropsy,  etc.,  known  in  the  institution  ;  that  the  pris- 
oners are  overworked,  the  hours  of  labor  being  usually  more 
than  twelve  per  day,  and  those  who  work  on  a  farm  five  miles 
from  the  penitentiary  being  often  forced  to  walk  or  trot  rapidly, 
especially  in  returning  after  work,  thereby  inducing  over-heat, 
hemorrhages,  heart-disease,  and  other  forms  of  sickness  ;  that 
shocking  cruelties  are  practised  upon  the  prisoners  to  get  work 
out  of  them  as  well  as  to  maintain  discipline,  so  that  many  bear 
marks  of  violence  upon  their  persons,  some  for  months  after  its 
infliction  ;  that  the  hospital  is  unfit  for  its  purpose,  being  ex- 
tremely filthy  and  noisome,  sheets  and  pillow-cases  often  dirty  or 
wholly  wanting,  food  un suited  to  the  needs  of  sick  persons,  proper 
stimulants  deficient  and  hard  to  get,  the  whole  being  more  likely 
to  intensify  and  even  to  generate  disease  than  to  serve  as  an 
agent  in  its  cure  ;  and  that,  to  sum  up  all  in  a  word,  the  peniten- 
tiary is  turned  into  a  speculative  establishment,  in  which  the  con- 
victs are  the  stock-in-trade  of  the  lessee,  in  the  prosecution  of 
whose  business  they  are  so  many  mechanical  contrivances  to  be 
used  for  the  accumulation  of  wealth,  and  operated  with  little 
regard  to  the  fact  that  they  are  children  of  the  same  Father,  or 
even  that  they  are  blood  and  tissue,  vitalized  and  controlled  by 
the  same  physiological  laws  of  waste  and  repair  common  to  all 
mankind. 


PART  ir.]  IN  NORTH  CAROLINA.  2OI 

MISSOURI.  —  The  prison  system  of  Missouri  embraces  one 
State  penitentiary  and  a  common  jail  in  each  county,  but  has  no 
reformatory  institutions,  no  industrial  schools,  and  no  houses  of 
industry  and  correction,  —  all  of  which  it  greatly  needs.  The 
State  has  twice  introduced,  and  twice  discarded,  the  lease  system 
of  prison  labor ;  and  it  would  seem,  from  the  last  annual  report 
of  the  State-prison,  that  it  is  being  partially  adopted  a  third 
time.  Both  the  penitentiary  and  the  county  jails,  especially  the 
latter,  leave  much  to  be  desired  as  regards  their  organization  and 
management ;  but  no  special  remarks  seem  called  for  in  relation 
to  either  of  them.  The  great  lack  in  the  administration  and  dis- 
cipline of  the  penitentiary  is  steadiness.  The  Hon.  Anthony 
Ittner,  for  a  number  of  years  State  senator,  labored  with  equal 
zeal  and  intelligence  to  secure  the  establishment  of  a  State 
juvenile  reformatory,  but  was  transferred  to  the  halls  of  the 
national  congress  without  seeing  his  efforts  crowned  with  suc- 
cess. There  is  a  local  reformatory  (house  of  refuge)  at  St.  Louis, 
but  of  its  present  condition  and  working  I  have  been  unable  to 
learn  any  thing. 


CHAPTER  LI.  —  SOUTHERN  STATES  (continued].  —  NORTH 

CAROLINA. 

BEFORE  the  civil  war  of  1861-65,  North  Carolina,  in  com- 
mon with  her  sister  Southern  States,  had  no  reformatory 
institutions,  and  the  deterrent  force  of  punishment  was  the  only 
agency  used  to  prevent  crime.  Even  to  this  day,  so  powerful  are 
the  prejudices  of  the  past  that  not  one  reformatory  institution 
has  been  established,  either  by  public  or  private  endowment.  So 
little  care  has  there  been  to  forestall  the  growth  of  a  criminal 
population,  that  the  efforts  to  give  a  common-school  education 
to  the  children  of  the  State  have  been  so  feeble  and  ill-directed 
that  of  her  native  population  the  larger  portion  can  neither 
read  nor  write.  The  constitution  adopted  by  the  people  in  1868 
makes  provision  for  the  establishment  of  reformatory  institutions 
by  the  legislature.  Ample  authority  is  given  in  that  instrument 
to  provide  against  the  growth  of  a  criminal  class ;  but,  although 
ten  years  have  sped  away,  no  steps  have  yet  been  taken  in  this 
direction,  and  to-day  no  house  of  correction  or  reform  school 
blesses  the  territory  of  this  State. 

Prior  to  the  adoption  of  the  constitution  of  1868,  the  whip- 
ping-post and  imprisonment  in  the  county  jail,  together  with  fines 
for  those  who  could  pay  them,  were  the  only  preventives  of  crime. 
The  brutality  of  the  one,  the  loathsome  associations  of  the  other, 


2O2  STATE   OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  II. 

served  but  to  degrade  and  corrupt  the  offender.  However,  pro- 
vision was  made  in  the  constitution  of  1868  for  the  immediate 
erection  of  a  State-prison,  but  so  effective  have  been  the  labors 
of  those  who  resist  all  innovations  on  the  past,  that  now,  after 
ten  years,  the  buildings  are  far  from  being  completed.  It  was 
designed  in  this  institution  not  only  to  punish  but  also  to  pre- 
vent crime  by  reforming  the  criminal.  The  report  from  this 
institution  for  1878  gives  the  number  6f  inmates  at  1,102.  To 
this  one  place  are  consigned  all  offenders,  —  male  and  female, 
colored  and  white,  the  youthful  culprit  and  the  vilest  criminal. 
Owing  to  the  want  of  adequate  buildings  the  classification  of 
criminals  is  not  possible.  No  provision  has  been  made  by  the 
legislature  for  the  education  of  the  illiterate  among  the  prisoners. 
No  chaplain  is  employed  to  minister  to  the  sick,  to  reclaim  the 
erring,  or  to  counsel  those  who  would  lead  a  better  life.  What- 
ever care  in  this  respect  is  bestowed  on  them  comes  from  the 
labors  of  private  individuals  on  the  Sabbath-day.  Sentences  vary 
in  length  beyond  all  bounds  of  reason.  It  is  no  unusual  thing  to 
find  the  author  of  a  cruel  murder  sentenced  for  a  less  term  than 
one  who  has  stolen  a  few  shillings'  worth  of  food  to  appease  his 
hunger. 

At  this  time  there  would  seem  to  be  a  rivalry  of  the  several 
sections  of  the  State  to  send  as  many  convicts  as  possible  to  the 
penitentiary.  Railroads  are  building,  and  other  improvements 
going  on  all  over  the  State,  and  it  is  now  the  policy  of  the  legis- 
lature to  grant  convict  labor  in  aid  of  these  works.  It  follows 
that  the  greater  the  number  of  convicts  the  larger  the  grants  ; 
the  greater  the  number  of  such  works  undertaken  the  more 
rapidly  they  can  be  completed.  This  dispersion  of  the  convict 
labor  over  the  State  makes  it  impossible  to  effect  any  thing,  even 
though  desired,  towards  their  instruction  or  reformation.  It  like- 
wise exposes  them  to  being  overworked  and  to  cruel  treatment. 
They  are  exposed  to  a  strong  temptation  to  escape.  Whenever 
this  is  attempted  they  are  shot  down  like  dogs.  During  the 
years  1877-78  twelve  men  were  thus  killed. 

The  county  jails  are  used  for  the  detention  of  those  awaiting 
trial  and  for  the  punishment  of  certain  crimes.  Most  of  them 
are  a  disgrace  to  the  civilization  of  the  age,  and  are  fruitful  nur- 
series of  vice  and  crime. 

The  biennial  report  of  the  prison  for  1877-78  lies  open  before 
me.  From  this,  as  well  as  from  the  condensed  statement  above 
furnished  by  an  intelligent  citizen,  the  labor  system  seems  to  be 
a  remarkable  one  ;  quite  sui  generis.  The  labor  is  neither  leased, 
nor  contracted,  nor  managed  by  the  prison,  except  so  much  of  it 
as  is  employed  in  the  erection  of  prison  buildings  and  walls,  in 
the  manufacture  of  boots,  shoes,  and  clothing  for  the  prisoners, 
in  domestic  affairs,  etc.  The  rest  would  seem  to  be  given  to  rail- 


PART  ii.]  IN  VIRGINIA.  203 

roads  in  the  State  without  any  cash  returns  whatever.  When  the 
report  states  that  "  it  is  difficult  to  determine  with  precision  the 
value  of  the  labor,"  a  ready  assent  is  naturally  yielded  to  the  prop- 
osition. Still,  the  architect  and  warden  —  for  these  offices  are 
strangely  combined  in  the  same  person  —  figures  up  the  matter 
thus  :  Value  of  convict  work  (if  paid  for),  $333,000 ;  expense  ac- 
count, $237,000 ;  net  gain  to  the  State,  $96,000.  All  this  without 
a  dollar  received,  and  some  hundreds  of  thousands  apparently  paid 
out !  The  State,  or  the  railroad  companies,  may  be  richer,  but 
how  about  the  tax-payers  ? 

There  is  no  prison  school,  but  there  is  a  small  and  inadequate 
library,  for  the  increase  of  which  no  provision  is  made,  except 
a  ten-cent  fee  at  the  gate  for  the  privilege  of  going  through  the 
prison  and  looking  at  the  prisoners  !  This  is  as  great  a  disgrace 
to  North  Carolina  as  it  has  been  to  New  York  or  Massachu- 
setts. A  noble  band  of  Christian  gentlemen  from  the  churches 
of  Raleigh  keep  up  a  flourishing  Sunday-school  in  the  prison, 
and  the  different  clergymen  of  the  city  conduct  religious  services 
in  the  chapel,  regularly  in  succession,  every  Lord's  day.  This  is 
well  and  genero'usly  done  ;  but  it  does  not  excuse  the  State  from 
its  obligation  to  provide  the  services  of  a  chaplain  for  its  convicts, 
not  on  Sunday  alone,  but  through  all  the  week. 

The  only  two  institutions  in  the  State  which  are  specifically 
preventive  of  crime  in  the  young,  so  far  as  I  am  informed,  are  an 
orphan  asylum  at  Oxford  and  another  at  Wilmington.  The  one 
at  Oxford  is  under  the  care  of  the  Masonic  fraternity,  and  makes 
its  annual  reports  to  the  Grand  Lodge  of  the  State.  It  was  or- 
ganized in  1873,  has  thirteen  officers,  and  an  average  number  of 
inmates  exceeding  one  hundred.  The  one  at  Wilmington  is  con- 
nected with  the  St.  James'  Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  and 
bears  the  name  of  the  St.  James  Home.  The  rector  is  super- 
intendent, and  has  two  assistants.  The  number  of  inmates  is 
small. 


CHAPTER    LIT.  —  SOUTHERN    STATES    (continued}.  — 
VIRGINIA. 

I  HAVE  not  been  able  to  obtain  any  special  information  from 
Virginia ;  and  all  I  know  is  gathered  from  the  annual  report 
of  the  directors,  warden,  and  medical  officer  of  the  State  peni- 
tentiary for  1878.  The  report  is  wholly  devoted  to  business 
which  is  of  no  general  interest,  except  perhaps  the  fact  that 
about  one-third  of  the  convicts  are  now,  and  have  been  since 
1877,  working  for  the  James  River  and  Kanawa  Canal  Com- 


204  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  n. 

pany,  —  being  leased  to  said  company  by  the  governor  of  the 
State,  under  authority  of  a  special  Act  of  the  legislature  to  that 
effect.     Here,  too,  a  mortality  prevailed  which  the  medical  officer, 
Dr.   Walker,   characterizes  as    "fearful,"  though  not  more  than 
half  as  great  as  that  in  Georgia  and  Florida.     He  accounts  for  it 
thus :  "The  men  were  not  properly  clothed  and  fed  during  the  win- 
ter, and  were  worked  in  the  coldest  and  most  inclement  weather. 
At  night   they  were  crowded   together  in  canal   boats  without 
ventilation.     Under  this  bad  management  it  was  not  long  before 
they  were  all  unfit  for  duty,  and  for  a  time  work  had  to  be  sus- 
pended."    The  report  makes  no  reference  to  the  moral  condition 
of  the  penitentiary;  neither  does  it  state  whether  it  has  any  moral 
ends  in  view  ;  nor  if  it  has  what  they  are,  by  what  agencies  they 
are  pursued,  or  what  results  are  obtained.     All  it  contains  on  this 
subject  is  in  these  words :    "  Messrs.  Moorman,  Kepler,  Munford, 
and  other  gentlemen  of  the  city  continue  their  instructions  in 
religious  matters  with  some  good  effect."     And  that  is  all  the 
recognition  which  the  State  penitentiary  of  Virginia  can  afford 
of  services  as  disinterested,  as  unselfish,  as  holy,  and  as  devoted 
as  were  ever  rendered  to  any  good  cause.     "  Some  good  effect !  " 
I  know  the  work  of  these  men  from  personal  observation,  and 
that  upon   more  occasions  than  one ;    and  my  belief  is  that  all 
the  good  of  a  moral  nature,  or  nearly  all,  that  is  done  in  the 
penitentiary  is  done  by  them.      Father   Moorman,  a  venerable 
octogenarian  clergyman,  who  formerly  served  as  chaplain  to  the 
prison,  is  a  man  who  breathes  the  very  spirit  of  the   Master. 
And  Colonel  Munford,  what  words  can  equal  his  merit  ?      Em- 
phatically and  pre-eminently  he  is  the  prisoner's  friend,  —  full  of 
sympathy,  full  of  wisdom,  full  of  goodness  ;    as  gentle,  patient, 
kind,  and  loving  towards  his  prison-wards  as  a  mother  to  her 
babes.      And  they  respect,  love,  and  trust  him  as  they  do  no 
other,  both  while  in  prison  and  when  they  come  out.     If  Christ- 
like  work  among  the  lowly,  the  fallen,  and  the  outcast  is  rewarded 
in  heaven,  he  will  wear  one  of  the  brightest  crowns  in  that  bright 
world. 

Since  the  foregoing  was  written  I  have  received  a  communica- 
tion from  my  friend  Colonel  Munford,  from  which  I  cite  a  few 
sentences  giving  some  interesting  facts  and  a  modest  account  of 
his  and  his  associates'  labors  in  the  prison,  as  follows  :  — 

"  I  was  at  the  penitentiary  this  afternoon  as  usual,  and  addressed  the 
prisoners  in  the  hospital.  Since  the  burning  of  the  workshops  last  winter 
we  have  had  no  chapel  for  services  on  the  Sabbath.  An  application  was 
made  by  a  committee  of  our  Sunday-school  Association  to  the  legislature 
for  some  provision  for  the  religious  instruction  of  the  prisoners.  A  joint 
resolution  was  adopted  by  the  general  assembly  highly  commending  the 
work  of  our  Association  among  the  prisoners,  and  directing  that  when  the 
workshops  were  rebuilt  arrangements  should  be  made  for  the  accommoda- 


PART  n.]  IN  KENTUCKY.  205 

tion  of  the  Sunday-school  and  other  religious  workers  in  the  penitentiary. 
No  appropriation,  however,  was  made  by  the  legislature  for  the  erection 
of  the  buildings.  The  Board  of  Directors,  however,  with  the  old  mate- 
rials and  the  labor  of  the  prisoners  undertook  to  rebuild  the  workshops, 
and  agreed  to  add  an  additional  story  and  appropriate  it  as  a  chapel,  if 
our  Association  would  furnish  $1,000  for  the  purpose.  This  expense  a  few 
gentlemen  have  assumed,  and  we  trust  to  the  liberality  of  the  Christians 
of  the  city  and  State  to  equip  and  furnish  the  chapel.  The  building  is 
progressing  rapidly,  and  we  hope  in  a  few  months  to  be  able  to  resume 
our  labor  of  love.  The  prisoners  express  to  me  their  great  gratification 
at  the  early  prospect  of  having  a  chapel  exclusively  devoted  to  religious 
services. 

"  The  testimony  of  officers  and  men  confirm  the  opinion  entertained 
by  myself  and  the  other  members  of  our  Sunday-school  Association,  that 
great  good  has  resulted  to  the  prisoners  and  to  the  community  at  large 
from  the  religious  services  in  the  penitentiary.  The  first  step  was  taken 
by  our  legislature  last  winter  in  the  desired  direction,  and  I  trust  that  it 
may  be  followed  by  successive  appropriations  for  this  purpose." 


CHAPTER    LIII.  —  SOUTHERN    STATES    (continued). — 
KENTUCKY. 

THE  penal  and  reformatory  system  of  this  State  includes  a 
State-prison,  county  jails,  and  house  of  refuge  for  young 
delinquents.     So  far  as  the  first  two  classes  are  concerned,  the 
system  cannot  be  commended ;  but,  as  we  shall  see,  the  case  is 
quite  otherwise  in  regard  to  the  third. 

As  regards,  first,  the  State-prison,  there  is  great  overcrowd- 
ing,—  1017  convicts  and  744  cells;  that  is,  273  prisoners  in  ex- 
cess of  the  accommodation.  This  is  fearful,  but  it  is  not  all  even 
under  this  head.  Two  convicts  have  to  be  placed  in  one  cell, 
against  humanity,  against  morality,  and  against  law.  Will  there 
not  be  plenty  of  shrewd  heads  among  the  prisoners  to  see  that 
the  State  is  every  day  doing  what  they  are  shut  up  in  prison  for  ? 
What  must  be  the  effect  of  this  ?  —  irritating,  demoralizing,  hard- 
ening. Then  the  labor  is  managed  on  the  lease  system,  which 
has  been  explained  and  characterized  in  the  chapters  on  the 
"  United  States  in  General."  I  can  waste  neither  space  nor  time 
in  repetition,  nor  is  there  a  necessity.  A  pause,  however,  may  be 
made  long  enough  to  state  that  Governor  Leslie  in  his  message  of 
1873  arraigned  and  denounced  it  as  "a  reproach  to  the  common- 
wealth." Governor  McCreary  m  1878,  though  milder  and  more 
cautious  in  his  language,  evidently  held  the  same  view.  Again, 
the  chief  industry  is  greatly  prejudicial  to  the  health  of  the  con- 


2C>6  STATE   OF  PRISONS,   ETC.  [BOOK  n. 

victs,  and  therefore  highly  objectionable  on  the  score  of  humanity. 
The  mass  of  prisoners  are  employed  in  the  manufacture  of  hemp, 
an  industry  that  fills  the  air  of  the  workshops  with  floating 
particles  of  lint,  from  which  there  is  no  escape  ;  these  particles 
being  inhaled  inflame  the  air  passages  of  the  throat  and  lungs, 
bringing  on  in  numerous  cases  disease  and  death.  Moreover,  the 
ventilation  in  the  cell-houses  is  extremely  defective,  and  in  con- 
sequence the  air  is  loaded  with  poison.  An  article  in  a  respect- 
able journal  of  the  State  sums  up  the  case  thus  :  "  Kentucky's 
boast  is  that  the  State  owes  no  one ;  Kentucky's  shame  is  that 
her  State-prison  is  a  charnel  house."  The  editor  goes  into  a  long 
detail  of  facts  to  prove  this  declaration,  showing  an  enormous 
death-rate.  A  letter  received  from  one  of  the  most  respectable 
citizens  of  the  State  says  of  this  article,  "  The  picture  is  dark, 
but  I  do  not  think  it  overdrawn."  If  it  be  said  that  the  hemp 
must  be  manufactured  somewhere,  I  have  a  two-fold  answer : 
i.  The  conditions  of  the  manufacture  within  and  without  the 
prison  are  essentially  different.  2.  Those  outside  are  free  to  do 
as  they  like. 

Of  the  condition  of  the  county  jails  I  have  no  detailed  or  ex- 
act information.  I  judge  it  to  be  at  least  as  bad  here  as  it  is  in 
other  States,  for  the  correspondent  referred  to  in  the  last  para- 
graph remarks :  "  I  have  talked  with  our  friend  Colonel 

in  reference  to  the  county  jails.  I  will  ask  him  to  reduce  his 
information  to  writing,  and  will  send  it  to  you  for  use  in  prepar- 
ing your  book."  This  has  not  been  done. 

For  the  juvenile  reformatory  near  Louisville,  under  the  name 
of  house  of  refuge,  scarcely  any  words  of  praise  would  be  too 
strong.  It  has  three  departments  ;  namely,  one  for  white  boys,  a 
second  for  white  girls,  and  a  third  for  colored  boys,  with  a  pop- 
ulation severally  in  the  order  named  of  152,  30,  and  21.  The 
superintendent,  Mr.  Caldwell,  is  what  in  America  we  call  "a  live 
man,"  and  is  emphatically,  as  we  are  further  wont  to  say,  "  the 
right  man  in  the  right  place,"  —  wakeful,  alert,  and  active  in 
a  high  degree.  Work,  instruction,  and  play  are  combined  in 
just  proportions,  and  a  healthy  moral  and  religious  tone  per- 
vades the  whole  establishment.  The  result  is  what  might  be 
expected,  —  the  great  body  of  those  who  pass  through  the  insti- 
tution saved  to  honest  labor  and  good  citizenship. 


PART  IL]  IN  TENNESSEE.  207 


CHAPTER  LIV.  —  SOUTHERN  STATES  (continued).  — 
TENNESSEE. 

THIS  is  another  of  the  States  in  which  the  lease  system  has 
been  in  force  since  1871,  and  where  it  is  claimed  that  it  is 
found  not  to  be  obstructive  to  a  reformatory  prison  discipline. 
Certainly  I  have  no  desire  either  to  twist  the  truth  myself  to  the 
discredit  of  the  system,  or  to  suppress  what  its  friends  may  have  to 
say  in  its  favor ;  for  it  has  a  sufficiently  heavy  load  to  bear  in  any 
case.  I  therefore  willingly  give  place  to  the  material  part  of  a 
report  submitted  to  the  Baltimore  Prison  Congress,  in  1873,  by 
Dr.  Wright,  at  that  time  superintendent  of  prisons  in  Tennessee. 
In  it  he  says  :  — 

"  In  December,  1871,  the  legislature  leased  the  State-prison,  including 
its  branches,  to  a  private  company,  at  $33,000  a  year  for  five  years,  the 
lessees  paying  all  expenses.  By  a  stipulation  in  the  contract,  the  State 
retained  entire  control  of  the  treatment  of  the  convicts.  For  four  years 
preceding  the  lease  the  prisons  cost  the  State  $i  14,000  annually.  The  legis- 
lature, to  get  rid  of  this  heavy  burden,  and  at  the  same  time  do  exact  jus- 
tice to  the  criminals  according  to  the  enlightened  philanthropy  of  the  age, 
entered  into  the  above-mentioned  contract,  with  the  necessary  restraining 
provisions  to  guard  the  moral  interests  of  the  convicts.  The  legislature 
believed,  and  their  wisdom  has  been  justified,  that  they  could  lease  out 
the  prisons  and  at  the  same  time  introduce  and  carry  into  effective  opera- 
tion all  the  reformatory  measures  consistent  with  the  good  government  of 
penal  institutions  and  the  well-being  of  society.  The  measures  adopted 
for  the  reformation  of  criminals  are  the  commutation  or  good-time  law, 
the  regular  employment  of  chaplains,  who  have  service  every  Sunday 
morning  and  Sabbath-school  in  the  evening,  the  distribution  of  good 
books,  periodicals,  etc.  I  can  see  very  little  difference  in  the  means  used 
in  Tennessee  for  the  reformation  of  criminals  and  those  employed  in  other 
States  whose  reports  have  been  read  to  this  body.  I  only  consented  to 
make  these  few  statements  that  the  congress  might  know  that  Tennessee 
is  not  an  idle  or  indifferent  spectator  of  the  grand  reformatory  revolution 
in  the  management  of  criminals  which  is  engaging  the  best  minds  of  our 
country,  and  enlisting  the  active  sympathy  and  intelligent  study  of  every 
civilized  country  throughout  the  world.  The  plan  adopted  in  Tennessee 
works  well  and  is  satisfactory." 

There  is  lying  open  before  me  the  report  of  the  officers  of  the 
State  penitentiary  for  1878,  and  it  must  be  stated  in  justice  to 
those  officers,  and  greatly  to  their  honor,  that,  while  it  is  as  wide 
as  the  poles  from  a  justification  of  the  lease  system,  it  yet  makes 
a  very  different  and  greatly  more  creditable  showing  than  any  of 
the  other  prisons  where  that  system  prevails.  Even  here,  how- 
ever, "the  true  inwardness  of  the  system"  is  concealed  ;  I  will  not 
say  carefully  concealed,  but  at  least  it  has  a  little  appearance 


2O8  STATE   OF  PRISONS,   ETC.  [BOOK  ir. 

that  way.  The  average  number  of  prisoners  is  eleven  hundred 
to  twelve  hundred.  Not  the  slightest  exact  information  is  vouch- 
safed as  to  the  profits  realized  by  the  State  from  the  lease,  but 
they  are  obviously  large,  since  the  report  states  that  a  new  prison 
which  has  been  recommended  by  the  governor  of  the  State  might 
be  built  out  of  those  revenues.  Yet,  for  all  that,  the  State  does 
not  expend  one  dollar  for  the  education  of  the  prisoners,  though 
four-fifths  of  them  are  totally  illiterate;  not  one  dollar  in  purchas- 
ing books  for  their  use ;  not  one  dollar,  after  their  liberation,  to 
bridge  over  the  chasm  between  their  release  and  employment  ; 
and  only  transportation  to  the  place  where  they  came  from,  in  the 
form  of  a  railroad  ticket,  printed  "  EX-CONVICT,"  which  the  chap- 
lain, with  just  but  scathing  sarcasm,  pronounces  "an  invitation 
to  crime." 

The  superintendent  of  the  prison  and  its  branches  is  Gen- 
eral Cheatham,  evidently  an  able,  judicious,  vigilant,  energetic, 
and  humane  officer.  The  chaplain's  report  is  excellent.  It  shows 
him  to  be  a  true,  apt,  whole-souled  worker  in  the  Master's  vine- 
yard. I  would  like  to  cite  it  in  extenso,  and  must  quote  from  it 
largely,  as  it  is  so  fresh,  straightforward,  original,  intensely  ear- 
nest in  spirit,  and  reveals  some  new  modes  of  work  in  this  de- 
partment :  — 

"To  do  all  the  good  possible  ought  to  be  the  great  objective  point  of 
the  chaplain.  In  prison  work,  denominationalism,  sectarianism,  or  any 
thing  that  savors  of  religious  bigotry,  must  give  place  to  a  broad  Christ- 
ianity. The  ages  of  the  prisoners,  from  fifteen  to  seventy-six,  and  the 
intellects,  from  the  almost  idiotic  to  the  most  brilliant,  are  not  more  varied 
than  their  religious  belief.  Hence,  during  my  first  month's  service,  I  or- 
ganized all  church  members,  of  whatever  denomination,  into  a  Christian 
Association.  At  first  the  number  of  the  association  was  about  forty,  and 
now  reaches  one  hundred.  Every  one  joins  the  church  of  his  choice,  the 
city  pastors  of  the  different  denominations  being  invited  to  receive  them 
into  the  church,  and  then  we  enter  them  upon  the  list  of  the  association. 
A  standing  committee  of  five  of  the  association,  representing  different 
denominations,  have  the  oversight,  under  the  chaplain,  of  the  conduct  of 
our  members.  I  have  found  this  committee  a  valuable  auxiliary  to  our 
association,  and  believe  the  result  has  been  felt  in  the  discipline  of  the 
prison.  No  prisoner  can  remain  in  our  association  who  does  not  obey 
prison  law.  To  obey  is  the  first  duty  of  a  Christian,  as  it  is  of  a  soldier. 

"  The  prayer-meeting  of  the  association  meets  at  9  A.  M.  Sunday,  and 
is  usually  led  by  one  of  their  number.  The  chaplain  is  occasionally  pres- 
ent, but  thinks  it  best  to  leave  the  prisoners  ordinarily  to  themselves  in 
these  exercises.  The  remarks  and  prayers  of  the  men  are  generally  brief, 
to  the  point,  and  both  impressive  and  instructive,  often  evincing  no  or- 
dinary degree  of  Christian  intelligence.  The  pleadings  for  absent  loved 
ones  are  sometimes  thrilling. 

"  Our  church  hour  is  10  A.  M.,  Sunday.  The  sermons  are  short,  earn- 
est, direct.  Practical  polemics  are  ignored.  The  burden  of  the  theme  is 


PART  IL]  IN  TENNESSEE.  209 

the  gospel,  its  power,  its  promises,  its  hopes,  etc.  The  terrors  of  the  law, 
the  wages  of  sin,  the  fires  of  Gehenna,  need  not  be  preached  here ;  but 
'  God  is  love/  '  the  blood  of  Christ  cleanseth  from  all  sin,'  '  Go,  sin  no 
more,'  —  these  lead  to  hope  ;  and  the  prisoner  sees  the  '  gates  ajar,' —  yes, 
thank  God  !  open  for  him.  Oh,  the  power  of  the  kind  words,  the  sweet 
promises,  the  broad  sympathy  of  the  Son  of  God,  the  Son  of  Mary  ! 

"  The  prison  Sunday-school  assembles  at  2  o'clock  p.  M.,  and  con- 
tinues in  session  two  hours.  Messrs.  Bennett,  Radisill,  and  Newsome  are 
superintendents,  assisted  by  a  corps  of  citizen  teachers,  male  and  female. 
The  chaplain  takes  an  active  part  in  the  general  management  and  super- 
vision of  the  Sunday-school.  The  assistant,  librarian,  and  secretary  are 
prisoners,  and  faithfully  do  they  perform  their  duties.  The  Bible  is  our 
text-book.  We  adopt  the  international  lessons.  Our  Sunday-school  work 
is  harmonious,  faithfully  performed,  interesting  both  to  teachers  and  pu- 
pils, and  effective  of  good. 

"  The  prison  choir,  led  by  an  organist,  who  is  also  a  prisoner,  enriches 
and  enlivens  our  church  and  Sunday-school  exercises.  The  prisoners, 
both  in  the  choir  and  congregation,  take  great  delight  in  the  singing.  We 
encourage  all  to  sing.  The  songs  of  Zion  seem  to  dispel  the  gloom  of 
the  prison  walls. 

"  The  hospital  is  a  field  of  extended  duty  for  the  chaplain.  To  cheer 
the  sad,  encourage  the  timid,  instruct  the  ignorant,  correct  the  wayward, 
direct  the  eye  of  the  dying  to  the  Lamb  of  God,  and  hear  the  last 
expressed  wish  or  confession  of  lips  now  growing  cold,  are  duties  both 
common  and  pathetic. 

"  Indeed,  from  the  hospital  to  the  office,  from  the  office  to  the  wing, 
from  the  wing  to  the  corridor,  from  the  corridor  to  the  cells,  from  the  cells 
to  the  workshop,  from  the  shops  to  the  camps,  the  faithful,  earnest  chap- 
lain will  find  duty,  duty,  DUTY  enough  to  tax  all  the  brain  and  talents  God 
has  given  him ;  and  yet  he  is  met  by  men,  professed  Christians  and  even 
ministers,  with  this  inquiry  :  '  What  good  are  you  doing  with  all  your  la- 
bors ? '  It  was  a  dark  hour  of  terrible  temptation  when  John  the  Baptist, 
long  a  prisoner,  sent  to  inquire  of  the  Saviour, '  Art  thou  he  that  should 
come,  or  do  we  look  for  another  ?  '  Jesus  answered,  '  Go  and  show  John 
again  those  things  which  ye  do  hear  and  see ;  the  blind  receive  their  sight 
and  the  lame  walk,  the  lepers  are  cleansed  and  the  deaf  hear,  the  dead  are 
raised  up  and  the  poor  have  the  gospel  preached  to  them.'  The  gospel 
of  the  Son  of  God  has  not  lost  its  power  unto  salvation  to  them  that 
believe,  —  no,  not  even  in  prison.  Inmates  of  the  penitentiary  are  men 
like  other  men.  I  have  witnessed  their  tears,  prayers,  repentance,  confes- 
sions, conversions,  and  their  fruits  unto  righteousness,  as  well  as  their 
rejection  of  the  gospel,  their  repudiation  of  Christ,  and  their  general  scep- 
ticism. From  two-thirds  to  three-fourths  of  the  prisoners  are  brought 
voluntarily  in  contact  with  the  gospel  every  Sunday  ;  and  better  behavior, 
more  respectful  attention,  and  deeper  interest  in  all  the  religious  exercises 
I  have  rarely  seen  in  any  congregation.  If  all  this  does  not  satisfy  our  in- 
terrogators, we  would  remind  them  that  it  was  the  lost  piece  of  silver  for 
which  the  woman  searched  so  diligently ;  it  was  the  lost  sheep  the  shep- 
herd so  anxiously  sought  and  brought  back  to  the  fold  ;  it  was  the  prodi- 
gal son  for  whom  the  father  killed  the  fatted  calf;  and  Christ  said,  '  I  came 
to  seek  and  to  save  that  which  is  lost,'  '  I  came  not  to  call  the  righteous 

H 


2IO  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  n. 

but  sinners  to  repentance,'  '  They  that  are  whole  need  not  a  physician, 
but  they  that  are  sick,'  '  Go,  preach  my  gospel  to  every  creature,'  etc.  I 
have  never  learned  that  the  scope  of  the  gospel  was  changed,  nor  the 
great  commission  revoked. 

"  The  discipline  of  the  prison  is  humane,  but  firm.  I  have  been  given 
the  greatest  latitude  by  the  warden  as  to  measures  looking  to  the  moral 
and  religious  improvement  of  the  prisoners.  The  prisoners  have  every 
privilege  consistent  with  the  dignity  and  claims  of  the  law.  Yet  I  think  that 
in  these  days  of  enlightenment,  philanthropy,  and  prison  congresses  there 
should  be  some  advancement,  some  progress,  broader  and  higher  than  yet 
attained  in  our  State-prison.  At  present  we  worship  in  the  dining-room,  a 
place  neither  decent,  comfortable,  nor  appropriate.  We  need  a  suitable 
house  of  worship  for  the  prison,  —  a  house  that  will  accommodate  at  least 
five  hundred  hearers.  The  reasons  in  favor  of  erecting  such  a  chapel  are 
many  and  potential. 

"  We  have  no  library  deserving  the  name,  yet  we  dignify  our  small  col- 
lection of  books,  magazines,  etc.,  by  calling  it  a  library.  Rev.  W.  D.  A. 
Matthews,  of  Onarga,  111.,  agent  of  the  Seaman's  Bethel  Friends  Society,  has 
supplied  the  State -prison  and  branches  with  some  three  or  four  hundred 
thousand  pages  of  valuable  reading  matter,  free  of  all  cost,  even  freights 
being  gratis.  Every  dollar  we  have  used  for  contingent  expenses  of 
library  and  Sunday-school  has  been  contributed,  —  not  furnished  by  either 
State  or  lessees.  The  State  provides  not  one  cent;  the  lessees  give 
when  we  ask,  but  ignore  our  right  to  demand  any  thing  from  them.  As 
the  chaplain  dislikes  to  beg,  he  finds  himself  deficient  over  one  hundred 
dollars  for  these  contingent  and  necessary  expenses.  You  can  ask  the 
refunding  of  this  amount  if  you  see  fit,  but  be  sure  and  urge  the  appro- 
priation of  ten  to  twenty-five  dollars  per  month  for  library  and  Sunday- 
school. 

"  The  chaplaincy  might  be  enlarged  by  requiring  the  chaplain  to  teach, 
or  have  taught,  the  primary  elements  of  education  to  such  prisoners  as 
might  need  and  justify  the  labor.  The  Sunday-school  is  already  working 
in  this  field,  and  not  without  marked  encouragement.  Of  course  this  en- 
larged requirement  of  the  chaplain  would  involve  and  justify  an  increase 
of  salary.  Indeed,  while  I  am  for  '  retrenchment  and  reform,'  I  certainly 
think  the  great  commonwealth  of  Tennessee  would  honor  herself  by  at 
least  doubling  the  present  meagre  salary  of  the  chaplain.  My  experience 
of  the  labor  and  anxiety  of  the  chaplaincy  for  three  and  a  half  years  is  not 
my  apology  but  my  justification  for  speaking  thus  plainly. 

"The  plan  known  as  '  good  time,' 1  now  employed,  is  working  admira- 
bly, but  might  be  enlarged  much  to  the  advantage  of  all  concerned.  I 
am  persuaded  that  a  graded  system  in  the  prison,  marked  by  dress  or 
badge,  would  be  a  moral  power  in  the  elevation  of  the  prisoners. 

"  The  dismissed  prisoner  ought  to  be  more  liberally  supplied  with 
clothes  and  means  on  leaving  the  prison.  Turn  a  man  out  of  prison  after 
years  of  confinement,  add  to  his  abnormal  condition  by  giving  him  a  suit 
of  clothes  neither  genteel  nor  comfortable,  by  putting  not  one  dollar  in  his 
pocket,  and  by  handing  him  a  railroad  ticket  whence  he  came,  printed 
'  EX-CONVICT/  and  you  invite  him  to  crime.  Men  must  respect  themselves 

1  Abbreviation  of  sentence  for  good  conduct. 


PART  II.]  W  MARYLAND.  211 

in  order  to  be  respectable  in  character  and  actions.  Good  clothes  are  ele- 
vating ;  and  money  with  which  to  meet  proper  demands  leaves  no  excuse 
for  the  evil  deed,  to  which  pinching  poverty  might  drive  the  poor  unfor- 
tunate. As  Governor  Porter  in  his  retiring  message  recommends,  so  we 
beg,  —  Give  the  prisoner  a  small  sum  of  money,  enough  to  meet  his  imme- 
diate wants  !  The  paltry  dollar  is  not  to  be  compared  to  a  noble  citizen, 
much  less  to  the  soul  of  an  immortal  I  " 


CHAPTER   LV.  —  SOUTHERN   STATES    (concluded).  — 
MARYLAND. 

THIS  State  is  extremely  active  and  extremely  successful 
in  her  repressive,  reformatory,  and  preventive  work.  She 
has  a  State  penitentiary  ;  a  city  prison  at  Baltimore ;  twenty-one 
county  jails  in  other  parts  of  the  State  ;  a  model  prisoner's  aid 
society ;  a  reformatory  for  white  boys  and  girls ;  a  reformatory 
for  colored  children  ;  and  a  large  number  of  institutions  of  a  pre- 
ventive character,  well  sustained,  well  officered,  well  managed,  and 
largely  blessed, —  first,  in  receiving  from  society  liberal  gifts  for 
their  work,  and  second  in  giving  back  to  society  honest  and  indus- 
trious citizens  instead  of  thieves  and  spoliators,  which,  when  taken 
in  hand,  they  either  were  or  were  likely  to  become. 

The  State-prison,  under  the  administration  of  Warden  Wilkin- 
son, is  one  of  the  best  managed  and  most  successful  in  the  coun- 
try both  morally  and  financially.  It  is  more  than  self-support- 
ing, its  industries  being  conducted  on  the  contract  system  of 
labor.  While  its  discipline  is  meant  to  be  deterrent,  it  earnestly 
aims  to  be  reformatory  at  the  same  time.  The  agents  employed 
are  a  firm  discipline,  persuasion,  labor,  and  rewards.  Rewards 
are  more  relied  on  than  punishments,  and  with  the  best'  results. 
There  is  no  stated  chaplain,  but  there  are  stated  religious  services 
every  Sunday,  at  which  the  clergymen  of  Baltimore  officiate  in 
turn ;  and  two  Sunday-schools  have  been  organized  by  the  Mary- 
land prisoners'  aid  society, —  one  for  men,  the  other  for  women, — 
which  are  taught  by  ladies  and  gentlemen  from  the  different 
churches,  who  volunteer  their  services.  These  several  services, 
all  volunteered  and  none  paid,  are  much  prized  and  greatly  useful. 
Sacred  music  is  taught  to  the  prisoners  as  an  element  of  reform. 
But  there  is  a  grave  defect  which  so  excellent  an  establishment 
ought  to  supply  without  unnecessary  delay ;  that  is,  the  want  of  a 
prison  school  and  schoolmaster.  It  is  a  neglect  which  amounts 
to  a  reproach,  an  injustice,  when  the  prisoners  pay  all  the  bills, 
and  return  a  surplus  into  the  State  treasury.  However,  a  good 


212  STATE   OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  n. 

library  is  provided  for  the  prisoners  ;  but  many,  unhappily,  are 
too  illiterate  to  avail  themselves  of  its  benefits. 

The  Baltimore  jail  is  a  substantial  stone  building  of  striking 
architectural  proportions.  In  its  construction  and  arrangements 
it  is  a  model.  The  industries  are  well  managed,  and  good  work  is 
done  for  the  moral  amelioration  of  those  who  remain  long  enough 
to  profit  by  it.  But  the  pestilent  system  of  repeated  short  sen- 
tences prevails  here,  as  almost  everywhere  else  both  at  home  and 
abroad.  Most  of  the  other  county  jails  are  defective  in  all  the 
attributes  of  a  good  prison  ;  but  under  the  guidance  of  the  aid 
society,  or,  to  speak  more  accurately  perhaps,  of  its  indefatigable 
president  Mr.  G.  S.  Griffith,  they  are  slowly  improving,  and  will 
ultimately  no  doubt  be  brought  into  a  good  condition. 

The  two  reformatory  institutions  —  one  for  white,  the  other  for 
colored  children  —  aggregate  some  four  hundred  and  twenty-five 
inmates,  divided  about  equally  between  them.  Steps  have  been 
taken,  I  think,  to  add  a  third  for  colored  girls.  Industrial,  relig- 
ious, and  primary  instruction  are  carefully  imparted.  Farms  are 
connected  with  both  institutions.  Labor  is  found  a  most  desir- 
able adjunct  in  the  effort  to  reform.  The  field  and  the  workshop, 
next  to  the  church  and  the  schoolroom,  are  the  best  corrective  of 
evil  habits. 

The  preventive  institutions  are  the  Maryland  Industrial  School 
for  girls  ;  the  St.  Mary's  Industrial  School  for  boys  ;  the  Baltimore 
Manual-Labor  School  for  indigent  boys  ;  the  Children's  Aid  So- 
ciety for  boys  and  girls  ;  the  Home  of  the  Friendless  for  children  ; 
the  Maryland  Inebriate  Asylum  ;  the  Home  for  Fallen  Women  ; 
the  Society  for  the  Protection  of  Children  from  cruelty  and  immo- 
rality ;  together  with  sundry  orphan  asylums.  It  would  obviously 
carry  us  beyond  all  reasonable  bounds  to  undertake  a  descrip- 
tion of  these  numerous  establishments.  The  care  and  judgment 
with  which  their  sites  have  been  chosen  is  worthy  of  notice.  They 
are  situated  in  the  most  healthy  sections  of  the  city  or  county  of 
Baltimore,  on  broad  streets,  wide  avenues,  or  eligible  farms,  the 
sanitary  advantages  having  been  always  considered  in  selecting  a 
locality.  The  buildings  are  erected  on  high  grounds,  affording 
spacious  yards  or  areas  for  exercise  during  the  hours  of  recrea- 
tion. They  are  constructed  with  large  windows,  wide  passages, 
and  broad  stairways,  with  a  view  to  obtain  the  sun's  unobstructed 
rays  from  its  rising  to  its  setting,  and  a  free  and  full  circulation 
of  pure  air.  It  is  a  fact  which  marks  the  history  of  these  various 
institutions,  that  the  inmates  are  exempt  in  an  extraordinary  de- 
gree from  epidemics  or  even  sporadic  diseases.  Their  mortuary 
lists  record  fewer  deaths  than  occur  in  common  households  among 
the  same  number  of  children  and  youths.  The  genial  influences 
afforded  here  of  air  and  sunshine,  of  field,  flood,  grove,  and  flowers 
are  but  a  fit  symbol  of  the  moral  work  that  is  going  on  within. 


PART  IL]  IN  MARYLAND.  213 

None  of  them  have  either  walls,  gratings,  bolts,  or  bars.  The  dis- 
cipline is  that  of  Christian  families.  Their  rule  is  that  of  love  and 
kindness.  The  children  are  brought  into  these  institutions,  not 
for  crime,  but  to  prevent  crime.  Their  object  is  to  receive,  teach, 
and  train  their  inmates  to  honest  toil.  Here  the  children  learn 
habits  of  economy,  cleanliness,  virtue,  industry,  obedience,  self- 
control,  and  self-reliance,  and  are  armed  against  those  of  vagrancy, 
pauperism,  vice,  and  crime.  Here  the  pure  and  purifying  waters 
of  humanity,  religion,  and  the  highest  social  philosophy  meet  and 
mingle  to  form  a  fountain  of  life.  What  is  the  chief  cause  of 
crime?  —  Neglect  of  a  right  training  of  children.  What  is  the 
chief  preventive  of  crime  ?  —  A  right  training  of  children.  Then 
multiply  and  intensify  the  forces  of  society  in  that  direction  and 
to  that  end ! 

The  work  of  aiding  discharged  prisoners  is  well  organized  in 
this  State.  The  Maryland  prisoners'  aid  society  was  established 
early  in  1869,  and  has  been  ever  since  working  with  zeal,  effi- 
ciency, and  success.  The  sphere  of  action  of  this  society  begins 
in  the  State  penitentiary,  and  extends  to  all  the  jails  and  alms- 
houses  throughout  the  State  of  Maryland.  The  officers  and  war- 
dens are  ever  ready  to  co-operate  in  any  measures  the  association 
suggests  to  improve  the  condition  of  the  inmates  under  their 
charge.  The  principles  on  which  it  works,  and  the  work  itself, 
have  secured  the  hearty  approval  of  both  the  criminal  courts  and 
the  prison  authorities,  as  their  records  and  reports  abundantly 
prove. 


214  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  II. 


PART    THIRD. 

SEAT    OF    GOVERNMENT. 

CHAPTER  LVI.  —  DISTRICT  OF  COLUMBIA. 

THIS  was  originally  a  tract  of  land  ten  miles  square,  on  both 
sides  of  the  Potomac  River,  ceded  by  the  States  of  Maryland 
and  Virginia  to  the  General  Government  as  the  seat  of  the  na- 
tional capital.  The  part  on  the  west  side  of  the  river  has  been 
receded  to  Virginia,  and  only  the  part  on  the  east  side,  ceded  by 
Maryland,  remains  to  the  nation.  The  city  of  Washington  is 
now  co-extensive  with  the  territorial  limits  of  the  District  of 
Columbia,  so  that  the  two  are  exactly  identical. 

The  District  of  Columbia  is  governed  by  the  National  Congress, 
and  the  special  form  of  administration  has  been  changed  a  num- 
ber of  times,  though  not  so  often  as  the  propositions  to  that  effect. 
However,  all  this  is  aside  from  the  present  purpose.  Let  us  then 
proceed  to  the  matter  in  hand. 

There  is  no  convict  or  State-prison  in  the  District  of  Columbia. 
There  was  one,  called  the  Washington  Penitentiary,  prior  to 
the  late  civil  war.  On  the  breaking  out  of  that  war  the  peniten- 
tiary building  was  needed  for  war  purposes,  and  was  diverted  to 
that  end.  Of  course  the  prisoners  had  to  be  removed.  There- 
upon an  arrangement  was  made  with  the  Albany  Penitentiary  to 
receive  and  care  for,  at  a  fixed  per  capita  price  —  enjoying  also 
the  benefit  of  their  labor  —  all  the  convicts  to  be  then  and  there- 
after sent  to  it  by  the  Washington  criminal  courts.  That  contract 
has  continued  ever  since,  and  is  in  full  force  and  effect  to-day. 
Therefore,  the  whole  prison  system  of  the  District  at  this  moment 
consists  of  a  common  jail,  with  a  few  lock-ups  scattered  at  different 
points  through  the  city  of  Washington.  A  new  building  has  been 
recently  erected  for  jail  purposes  which  I  have  not  visited.  The 
old  one,  which  I  knew,  was  as  bad  as  it  could  be.  The  new  one 
has  been  reported  to  me  as  wholly  unsuited  to  the  uses  of  a  jail. 
It  was  built  by  the  Government  architect,  who  probably  knew  as 
little  about  a  prison  and  its  needs  as  he  did  of  the  inflections 
of  the  Chinese  or  Choctaw  language.  No  doubt  the  jail  is  an 
immense  advance  upon  the  late  one  ;  but  still,  safe-keeping  is  the 
one  great  thought  and  care.  The  prison  population  is  in  per- 
petual motion,  advancing  and  receding,  like  the  tides  of  the  sea. 


PART  in.]  IN  THE  DISTRICT  OF  COLUMBIA. 


215 


Few,  if  any,  remain  long  enough  for  any  moral  processes  to  take 
effect,  or  for  any  moral  action  to  reach  a  consummation.  There 
is  very  little  chance  for  the  application  of  prison  discipline,  prop- 
erly so  called,  and  no  attempt  whatever  at  reforming  the  inmates. 
It  is  consequently  like  most  of  our  common  jails,  a  seed  instead 
of  a  cure  of  crime,  its  nursery  rather  than  its  grave. 

There  is  a  juvenile  reformatory  in  Washington,  chartered  by 
Act  of  Congress  in  1869.  It  is  under  the  general  care  and  super- 
vision of  the  attorney-general  of  the  United  States,  who  appoints 
the  trustees,  and  to  whom  the  institution  reports.  It  admits, 
primarily,  children  under  sixteen  years  of  age  convicted  by  the 
courts  for  a  violation  of  law ;  but  incorrigible  children,  youthful 
vagrants,  truants,  etc.  may  also  be  received,  so  that  it  partakes  of 
the  character  of  both  a  reformatory  and  preventive  institution. 
The  pressure  for  admission  is  considerably  beyond  its  capacity 
for  reception  and  accommodation.  The  institution  is  supported 
by  Congress  and  the  District  government,  which  latter  is  required 
to  pay  two  dollars  a  week  towards  the  support  of  each  inmate. 
Besides  receiving  elementary  scholastic  instruction,  the  boys  learn 
the  cane-seating  of  chairs,  farming,  horticulture,  shoe-making, 
tailoring,  bread-making,  etc.  The  term  of  commitment,  as  in 
nearly  all  the  reformatories  of  the  United  States,  is  during 
minority ;  but  the  children  are  discharged  at  any  time,  in  the 
discretion  of  the  trustees,  on  the  report  of  the  superintendent. 
They  are,  however,  always  subject  to  recall  on  misbehavior  and 
retention  till  the  period  of  majority.  The  institution  does  not 
appear  to  have  been  a  success  as  a  reformatory,  but,  unless  I 
have  been  erroneously  informed  by  persons  who  ought  to  know, 
quite  the  reverse. 

Washington  appears  to  be  pretty  well  provided  with  preventive 
institutions  of  one  kind  or  another.  It  counts  three  orphan  asy- 
lums ;  three  industrial  schools  ;  two  children's  hospitals ;  one 
infant  asylum ;  one  foster  home  ;  and  one  national  association  for 
the  relief  of  colored  women  and  children.  These  are  all  organized 
and  managed  by  private  citizens  or  churches,  but  most  of  them  re- 
ceive more  or  less  aid  from  Congress  or  the  District  government, 
or  both.  Of  course  it  would  occupy  too  much  space  in  a  work  of 
this  nature  to  give  a  detailed  account  of  their  several  specific 
aims,  labors,  and  accomplishments.  They  bring  relief  and  healing, 
physical  and  moral,  to  many  hundreds  of  persons,  mostly  children  ; 
and,  large  as  the  volume  of  crime  is,  they  make  it  less  than  it 
would  be  without  them. 

The  most  important  of  these  establishments,  in  many  respects, 
appears  to  be  the  industrial-home  school  on  Georgetown  Heights. 
Of  this  it  will  be  proper,  as  being  highly  suggestive  in  several 
of  its  details,  to  give  some  little  sketch.  It  was  organized  in 
1867,  and  incorporated  in  1872  as  a  home  for  destitute  and  neg- 


2l6  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  n. 

lected  children  of  both  sexes,  with  a  view  to  make  useful  men 
and  women  of  them  by  providing  tuition  in  the  elementary 
branches  of  education  and  instruction  in  some  trade  or  vocation. 
To  accomplish  this,  (i)  the  government  of  the  District  has  set 
apart  a  large  building,  with  seventeen  acres  of  land  attached, 
within  the  corporate  limits  of  the  city,  formerly  used  for  the 
adult  poor ;  (2)  the  board  of  trustees  of  the  public  schools  have 
opened  a  school  upon  the  premises,  where  the  children  receive 
primary  instruction,  while  the  more  advanced  inmates  can  attend 
the  schools  of  a  higher  grade  in  Georgetown  ;  (3)  Congress  has 
donated  a  steam-engine,  machinery,  and  some  tools,  which  have 
enabled  the  managers  to  establish  a  workshop  in  which  boys 
have  been  taught  the  use  of  tools  and  the  elements  of  carpentry, 
cabinet-making,  and  lathe-work ;  the  girls  being  taught  household 
duties  and  sewing. 

The  institution  has  heretofore  had  a  hard  struggle  to  maintain 
its  existence.  More  recently  the  District  government  and  Con- 
gress, in  recognition  of  its  work,  have  liberally  contributed  towards 
its  support.  Its  managers,  therefore,  have  in  view  to  erect  during 
the  present  year  (1879)  a  commodious  workshop  (the  present  one 
being  leased  and  too  distant  from  the  house),  together  with  a 
laundry  and  spacious  school-room.  They  also  propose  to  have 
those  essential  branches  of  domestic  economy,  bread-making  and 
laundry-work,  thoroughly  taught  by  competent  instructors,  and 
shoe-making  and  tailoring  by  able  foremen  ;  also  blacksmithing, 
gardening,  the  culture  of  fruit,  the  management  of  a  dairy,  and  in 
time  the  art  of  printing. 

A  board  of  managers,  serving  gratuitously,  exercise  general 
control  of  the  institution,  employing  a  superintendent,  a  matron, 
a  foreman,  a  seamstress,  to  instruct  both  boys  and  girls  in  plain 
sewing  and  mending,  and  a  cook,  with  assistants  in  the  laundry. 
At  present  the  number  of  inmates  is  limited  to  fifty,  but  arrange- 
ments are  making  to  permit  a  considerable  increase  of  the  num- 
ber, and  then  the  family  system  will  be  regularly  inaugurated. 


STijtrfc, 
GREAT   BRITAIN   AND   HER  DEPENDENCIES. 


PART    FIRST. 

HOME    COUNTRIES. 

CHAPTER   I. —  ENGLAND. — CHANGE    OF    PRISON    SYSTEM. 

THE  prison  system  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland  is  undergoing 
a  process  of  transition,  owing  to  the  enactment  in  1877  of 
three  similar  measures  entitled  severally  the  English,  Scottish, 
and  Irish  prison  Acts,  the  operation  of  which  dates  from  April  I, 
1878.  These  Acts  create  a  revolution  in  the  prison  system  of  the 
country.  They  transfer  the  control  of  the  county  and  borough 
prisons  from  the  local  authorities  to  the  Central  Government. 
The  convict  prisons  are  not  affected  by  these  Acts ;  they  have 
long  been  under  such  central  control. 

The  prisons  so  transferred  are  many.  They  include  one  hun- 
dred and  eighteen  English,  fifty-six  Scotch,  and  forty-two  Irish 
prisons,  besides  about  one  hundred  bridewells  in  Ireland,  though 
of  this  class  there  are  few  in  England.  The  daily  average  of 
prisoners  in  England  (including  Wales)  was,  in  November,  1878, 
twenty  thousand  three  hundred  and  sixty-one ;  in  Scotland,  two 
thousand  eight  hundred  and  eighty-seven ;  and  in  Ireland,  three 
thousand.  The  average  number  in  the  thirteen  convict  prisons 
of  Great  Britain  is  ten  thousand  one  hundred  and  fifty-seven ;  in 
the  four  Irish  convict  prisons,  one  thousand  one  hundred  and 
fifty-five.  About  twenty-five  thousand  prisoners  were,  under  the 
new  Acts,  transferred  to  the  Government,  —  making  with  the 
convicts  a  total  of  thirty-five  thousand  prisoners  in  the  United 
Kingdom  placed  under  uniform  central  control. 

The  average  cost  of  the  prisoners  in  the  county  and  borough 
prisons  is  about  one  hundred  and  forty-five  dollars  per  annum,  or, 
omitting  interest  on  real  property,  etc.,  one  hundred  and  thirty 
dollars  each  ;  and  their  average  earnings,  fifteen  dollars.  The  cost 
per  convict  prisoner  is  higher,  and  so  are  the  earnings  ;  but  as  the 


2l8  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  in. 

convict  labor  is  expended  on  public  works  and  brings  little  or  no 
cash  revenue,  it  is  difficult  to  estimate  its  exact  amount.  There 
is  great  variety  in  the  per  capita  cost  of  the  prisoners  in  the  jails, 
ranging  from  eighty  dollars  at  Manchester  to  six  hundred  and 
sixty-five  at  Lincoln.  The  same  is  true  of  the  annual  earnings, 
varying  from  one  hundred  and  ten  dollars  at  Devenport  to  two 
dollars  and  even  one  dollar  in  others.  The  industries  pursued 
at  the  jails  are  sack-making,  wood-cutting,  jet-cutting,  saddlery, 
wool-carding,  marble-grinding,  cooperage,  brush-making,  washing 
linen  for  ships,  gardening,  making  ships'  fenders,  spectacle-case- 
making,  printing,  book-binding,  flax-dressing,  gum-breaking,  rope- 
making,  tassel-making,  sheep-net  manufacture,  whiting-making, 
clog-making,  wood-sawing,  mat -making,  sack-sewing,  stone-break- 
ing, brick-laying,  masonry,  painting,  and  perhaps  a  few  others.  It 
was  estimated  by  the  home  secretary  that  the  new  prison  Acts 
would  enable  the  Government  to  effect  large  savings  by  reducing 
the  number  of  small  jails,  and  by  a  better  development  of  labor 
and  industry. 

The  new  system  of  prisons  has  now  (midsummer,  1879)  been 
in  operation  fifteen  months.  It  is  still  too  early  to  indicate  its 
real  effects,  but  some  decided  results,  good  and  otherwise,  have 
been  obtained. 

The  anticipation  that  many  of  the  smaller  jails  might  be  closed 
has  been  realized.  The  one  hundred  and  eighteen  English  prisons 
have  been  reduced  to  sixty-nine  ;  the  fifty-six  Scotch  prisons  to 
forty.  The  forty-two  county  prisons  in  Ireland  remain,  but  the 
one  hundred  bridewells  have  nearly  all  been  abolished.  Thus  a 
sweeping  reduction  of  prison  establishments  has  already  been 
made.  In  Ireland  also  —  not  wholly  in  England  —  the  convict 
prisons  have  been  brought  under  the  same  management  with  the 
local  prisons.  A  consequent  reduction  of  prison  officials  has  been 
effected  at  the  same  time  ;  namely,  in  England,  from  two  thousand 
five  hundred  and  seventy-three  to  two  thousand  two  hundred 
and  thirty.  Pensions  have  been  bestowed  upon  those  whose  ser- 
vices are  no  longer  wanted.  A  better  classification  of  labor  is 
to  be  introduced  into  the  county  and  borough  prisons.  The 
longer-term  prisoner  will  be  removed  to  jails  where  special  indus- 
tries exist,  such  as  shoe-making,  smithery,  carpentry,  etc. 


PART  i.]  IN  ENGLAND.  2IQ 

* 


CHAPTER  II.  —  ENGLAND  (continued).  —  PROGRESSIVE  CLAS- 
SIFICATION IN  LOCAL  PRISONS. 

A  REALLY  great  and  long-needed  reform  has  been  intro- 
duced into  the  local  prisons  with  the  new  system,  —  the 
progressive  classification  of  prisoners.  Beginning  with  rigidly 
penal  conditions  of  food,  bed,  labor,  and  general  treatment,  the 
prisoner  has  to  work  himself  up  gradually  by  good  behavior  and 
industry  into  higher  stages,  in  which  he  is  subjected  to  a  less 
irksome  regime  and  meets  with  various  welcome  ameliorations  of 
his  condition.  A  powerful  stimulus  is  thus  afforded  to  good  con- 
duct and  diligence.  It  would  occupy  too  much  space  to  describe 
the  system  in  detail ;  a  rapid  glance  must  suffice.  There  are 
four  stages.  The  prisoner's  merit  is  attested  by  marks.  Eight 
marks  is  the  maximum  number  that  can  be  earned  in  a  day.  The 
prisoner  remains  in  the  first  stage  until  he  has  earned  two  hun- 
dred and  twenty-four  marks,  which  he  may  do  in  twenty-eight 
days,  and  then  he  passes  into  the  second  stage.  By  earning  the 
same  number  of  additional  marks  he  passes  into  the  third,  and  in 
like  manner  into  the  fourth  ;  so  that  every  prisoner  having  a  sen- 
tence of  more  than  four  months  may  reach  the  highest  stage, 
where  he  will  remain  during  the  remainder  of  his  term  unless 
degraded  for  misconduct  and  by  way  of  punishment.  No  gra- 
tuity can  be  earned  in  the  first  stage ;  a  shilling  may  be  earned 
in  the  second,  one-and-sixpence  in  the  third,  and  two  shillings  in 
the  fourth,  for  every  two  hundred  and  twenty-four  marks.  Divers 
other  advantages  are  obtained  at  each  advance,  which  are  highly 
valued. 

The  money-rewards  under  the  above  scale  for  satisfactory  labor 
and  conduct  are,  it  will  be  seen,  very  small  in  amount.  This  has 
led  to  many  protests  on  the  part  of  the  friends  of  discharged 
prisoners  and  of  aid  societies.  These  societies  formerly  received 
grants  from  the  Government  amounting  sometimes  to  ten  dollars. 
Under  the  new  system  these  grants  have  ceased.  This  seems 
more  like  retrogression  than  progress. 


CHAPTER  III.  —  ENGLAND  (continued).  —  CENTRALIZATION. 

BUT  the  most  objectionable  feature  of  the  system  is,  in  the 
opinion  of  many  Englishmen,  its  strong  centralization,  —  its 
abolishment  of  most  of  the  useful  visitation  and  influence  of  the 
local  magistrates  resident  in  the  immediate  neighborhood  of  the 


22O  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  ill. 

various  prisons.  These  gentlemen  are  still  permitted  to  visit 
the  prisons,  but  their  actual  power  therein  is  at  an  end.  It  is 
transferred  to  a  central  board  largely  military  in  its  constitution 
both  as  to  directors  and  inspectors,  —  far  too  military,  according 
to  my  conception,  for  the  best  interest  of  the  prisons,  the  prison- 
ers, and  the  country.  The  camp  and  barrack  training  of  the 
soldier  forms  by  no  means  the  best  preparation  for  the  compre- 
hension, still  less  for  the  administration,  of  any  system  of  moral 
and  religious  government  of  men.  I  have  mingled  largely  among 
the  local  magistracy  of  England  in  many  different  localities,  and 
know  that  their  ranks  contain  many  gentlemen  whose  sound 
sense,  large  benevolence,  and  genuine  piety  render  them  emi- 
nently and  even  pre-eminently  suitable  to  act  as  jail  visitors. 
But  practically  their  services  have  been,  at  least  in  large  degree, 
dispensed  with  under  the  new  system,  and  no  substitute  provided. 
Many  protests  have  been  issued  from  the  public,  the  press,  and 
the  magistrates  themselves  against  this  feature  of  the  new  ad- 
ministration of  prisons.  At  the  Staffordshire  Sessions  recently, 
Lord  Norton,  a  most  experienced  man  in  all  matters  relating  to 
criminal  legislation  and  penitentiary  administration,  said  "  he  be- 
lieved that  nothing  could  be  more  disastrous  to  the  interests  of 
the  country  than  the  visiting  justices  losing  their  power  of  con- 
ducting and  superintending  the  management  of  the  prisons."  At 
an  inquest  lately  held  in  London  on  the  body  of  a  deceased  pris- 
oner, Sir  W.  H.  Wyatt,  chairman  of  the  committee  of  Middlesex 
magistrates,  said :  "Under  the  new  law  the  committee  of  the  visit- 
ing justices  are  without  power  to  be  of  the  slightest  protection  to 
the  prisoners."  On  this  occasion  the  coroner's  jury  returned  a 
verdict  that  "  the  prisoner's  death  was  accelerated  by  the  repeated 
and  excessive  punishment  of  bread-and-water  diet  which  was  or- 
dered ;"  the  friend  who  communicates  this  fact  adds,  "together 
with  hard  labor,"  — on  the  treadmill  it  is  to  be  presumed.  In  April, 
1879,  a  meeting  of  magistrates  from  different  parts  of  England  was 
held  in  London.  Mr.  Alfred  Aspland,  reflecting  the  general  feeling 
of  the  convention,  declared  that  it  was  being  sought  to  "  establish 
a  military  despotism  in  the  jails."  The  mayor  of  Birmingham 
telegraphed  that  the  new  system  "  is  most  objectionable  and  mis- 
chievous." Not  only  has  the  visitation  of  local  justices  been  thus 
reduced  and  crippled,  but  the  previously  too  restricted  visits  of 
judicious  and  philanthropic  outsiders  has  been  all  but  abolished. 
This  is  certainly  a  retrograde  step  ;  at  least  we  Americans  should 
so  regard  it,  for  here  we  find  such  labors,  duly  guarded,  among 
the  best,  the  holiest,  and  the  most  beneficial  influences  brought 
to  bear  upon  prisoners,  —  as  in  a  former  generation  were  those 
of  John  Howard,  Elizabeth  Fry,  Sarah  Martin,  and  others,  their 
co-laborers,  in  England. 


PART  i.]  IN  ENGLAND,  221 


CHAPTER  IV.  —  ENGLAND  (continued).  —  DIET  SCALES. — 
CUMULATIVE  SENTENCES. 

VERY  elaborate  diet  scales  have  been  established  by  the  Eng- 
lish prison  board,  with  allowances  of  so  many  ounces  or  so 
many  pints  of  this,  that,  and  the  other  kinds  of  food  and  drink. 
No  doubt  the  best  sanitary  and  medical  science  has  been  em- 
ployed in  framing  these  dietaries.  But  in  America  we  manage 
these  things  differently.  Science  is  consulted  as  to  the  varieties 
and  succession  of  food  adapted  to  the  promotion  of  health  and 
strength.  This  determined,  we  give  of  the  substantials  all  that 
the  prisoners  want ;  and  we  find  this  plan  to  be  the  cheapest,  as 
well  as  the  most  satisfactory.  It  is  against  nature  to  weigh  out 
the  same  quantity  of  food  to  each  one  of  five  hundred  men,  for 
one  constitution  will  require  one  third  or  even  one  half  more  than 
another ;  so  that  by  giving  to  all  share  and  share  alike,  the  inevi- 
table result  will  be  either  waste  or  deficiency. 

A  great  hindrance  to  the  efficiency  of  common  jails  and  mis- 
demeanant prisons,  in  England  as  elsewhere,  is  the  constant  re- 
committal of  inveterate  offenders  for  repeated  short  terms.  Mr. 
Tallack  found  in  the  York-castle  prison  a  woman  undergoing  her 
one  hundred  and  fiftieth  useless,  worse  than  useless,  short  impris- 
onment. He  says  that  it  is  not  uncommon  to  meet  with  prison- 
ers in  English  jails  serving  out  their  fiftieth,  eightieth,  or  one 
hundredth  term.  Such  imprisonments  are  not  long  enough  either 
to  teach  a  trade,  or  give  needed  education,  or  establish  good 
habits,  or  even  to  intimidate  and  deter.  To  cure  this  evil,  rapid 
cumulative  sentences  on  repetition  of  crime  is  the  sole  remedy ; 
and  this  system  is  urged  by  the  best  men  in  England,  with  strong 
hope  and  some  prospect  of  success. 


CHAPTER  V.  —  ENGLAND  (continued).  —  RELIGIOUS  AND  SCHO- 
LASTIC INSTRUCTION.  —  LIBRARIES.  —  BUILDINGS.  —  MORAL 
ACTION. 

MUCH  attention  is  given  in  English  prisons  to  the  very  im- 
portant matter  of  religious  instruction,  and  also  to  that 
of  secular  lesson-learning.  The  chaplain  and  the  schoolmaster 
are  found  in  every  jail,  and  so  is  the  library,  —  all  giving  faith- 
ful instruction,  and  all  doing  good  and  useful  work.  In  these 
respects  English  jails  will  compare  favorably  with  American 


222  STATE   OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BooK  ill. 

prisons ;  we  can  hardly  claim  to  be  square  up  to  the  English 
standard. 

I  have  personally  visited  and  inspected  many  of  the  convict 
and  other  prisons  in  England.  The  prison  buildings  are  substan- 
tial and  pleasing  structures,  generally  on  the  radiating  plan,  with 
lofty  towers  attached  for  purposes  of  ventilation.  The  grounds 
are  handsomely  laid  out  with  parterres  and  gravelled  walks,  and 
ornamented  with  flowers,  vines,  and  shrubbery.  The  cells  are 
large,  airy,  and  well-lighted,  each  having  a  water-closet,  gas- 
burner,  and  other  appliances  for  convenience  and  comfort.  The 
chapels  (I  speak  generally)  are  of  ample  dimensions,  with  groined 
roof,  and  well-suited  to  produce  a  solemn  and  soothing  effect  upon 
the  mind.  An  extraordinary  cleanliness  reigns  everywhere  ;  one 
is  particularly  struck  with  the  brightness  of  the  brass  fittings 
and  the  polish  of  the  metal  staircases.  The  hospital  accommo- 
dations are  excellent.  The  ventilation,  drainage,  and  other  sani- 
tary arrangements  are  the  best  that  science  can  supply.  The 
discipline  is  exact  and  rigidly  enforced.  There  is  a  certain  charm 
in  the  symmetry,  harmony,  and  clock-like  regularity  of  the  whole 
which  takes  away,  at  least  from  the  first  view,  the  awe  and  horror 
anticipated  by  the  inexperienced  observer. 

But  there  is,  unhappily,  a  per  con tra.  While  the  material  aspect 
is  perfect,  and  the  material  efficiency  very  high,  the  moral  action 
appeared  to  me  rather  feeble,  —  not  in  all,  but  more  often  than 
otherwise.  The  shell  seemed  to  be  preferred  to  the  kernel,  the 
form  to  the  substance,  and  reformatory  discipline  to  be  made  of 
less  account  than  punitory  inflictions.  Too  little  account  is  made 
of  industrial  work  ;  too  much  of  wasted  labor,  —  crank,  shot-drill, 
treadmill,  and  the  like.  The  will-power  of  the  prisoners  is  not 
adequately  developed.  Seventy  years'  experience  of  men,  seventy 
years'  work  among  men,  have  impressed  one  idea  upon  my  mind  ; 
it  is  that  nothing  can  be  done  with  men  except  through  the  will, 
and  the  will  can  be  reached  only  through  the  intelligence  and  the 
heart.  For  this  religion,  in  all  its  freedom  and  power,  is  neces- 
sary ;  and,  in  the  case  of  prisoners,  progressive  classification, 
whereby  the  motives  which  control  men  in  free  society  and  urge 
them  to  industry  and  virtue,  may  act  steadily  and  effectively 
upon  them,  determining  to  good  the  choices  of  their  will  and  the 
actions  of  their  life. 


PART  i.]  IN  ENGLAND. 


CHAPTER  VI.  —  ENGLAND  (continued).  —  REFORMATORY  AND 
PREVENTIVE  SYSTEMS. 

THE  preventive  and  reformatory  work  of  England,  so  far  as 
it  relates  to  juveniles,  is  based  upon  a  thoroughly  right 
principle,  —  private  initiative  with  governmental  support,  —  and 
is  carried  out  with  a  zeal,  efficiency,  and  success  which  chal- 
lenge comparison  with  all  that  is  wisest  and  best  in  this  line  of 
effort. 

The  English  reformatory  school  as  corrective  of  criminality, 
and  the  English  industrial  school  as  preventive  of  crime,  furnish 
to  the  world  the  best  model,  upon  the  whole,  of  which  I  have  any 
knowledge.  The  system  in  brief  is  this  :  The  State  has  enacted 
a  general  law,  authorizing  private  citizens  to  found  industrial  and 
reformatory  schools  whenever  and  wherever  such  institutions 
may  in  their  judgment  be  needed.  When  an  establishment  of 
this  kind  is  ready  for  occupancy,  it  must  (such  is  the  requisi- 
tion of  law)  be  examined  and  certified,  by  a  duly  authorized  gov- 
ernment inspector,  as  a  place  suitable,  that  is,  having  all  the 
necessary  buildings,  grounds,  and  appliances  for  the  purpose. 
Thereupon  the  State  issues  a  certificate  to  that  effect,  and 
guarantees  a  certain  moderate  sum  to  be  paid  to  the  institution 
weekly  for  each  inmate  received  and  cared  for.  The  industrial 
school  is  of  a  preventive,  the  reformatory  school  of  a  curative,  char- 
acter ;  and  together  they  cover  the  whole  field  of  delinquent  ju- 
venile treatment.  It  is  easy  to  see  what  a  stimulus  such  an  Act 
must  be  to  private  initiative ;  and,  in  point  of  fact,  it  has  dotted 
the  United  Kingdom  all  over  with  preventive  and  reformatory 
institutions,  in  which  elementary,  scholastic,  and  industrial  in- 
struction is  given,  and  the  moral  and  religious  needs  of  the 
children  are  carefully  provided  for  without  any  jar  to  sectarian 
or  denominational  prejudices. 

A  remarkable  fact  in  the  history  of  this  work  in  England  is, 
that,  while  the  number  of  reformatory  schools  has  remained  sta- 
tionary at  (I  think)  sixty-five  during  the  last  fifteen  years, ^  the 
number  of  industrial  schools  has  more  than  doubled  in  that  time, 
increasing  from  fifty  to  considerably  over  a  hundred.  This  shows 
that  the  multiplication  of  preventive  agencies  does  away  in  some 
degree  with  the  necessity  for  those  of  a  reformatory  character, 
to  say  nothing  of  jails  and  penitentiaries. 

The  system  of  industrial  schools  has  been  in  operation  in  Great 
Britain  for  about  twenty  years  ;  that  is  to  say,  the  system  as  now 
established  by  law,  for  that  of  day  industrial  feeding  schools  was 
commenced  by  Sheriff  Watson  in  Aberdeen,  Scotland,  to  whose 
genius  the  original  conception  is  due,  as  far  back  as  the  year 


224  STATE   OF  PRISONS,  ETC,  [BooK  HI. 

1840  or  1841.  The  results  of  this  system  of  preventive  institu- 
tions have  been  most  encouraging.  In  some  localities  —  Aber- 
deenshire,  for  example  —  it  has  cut  up  juvenile  vagrancy  by  the 
roots,  and  well-nigh  annihilated  juvenile  crime;  and  everywhere 
it  has  changed  the  character  of  youthful  criminality,  bringing  it 
down  to  a  milder  type,  and  breaking  up  those  combinations  of 
youthful  thieves  which  had  previously  been  such  a  menace  and 
peril  to  society.  It  is  a  question,  in  Great  Britain,  whether  the 
children  gathered  into  the  industrial  schools  should  receive  only 
food  and  instruction,  or  clothes,  lodging,  and  domestic  guardian- 
ship as  well.  Scotland  favors  the  former  of  these  plans,  while 
England  apparently  gives  her  preference  to  the  latter. 

Besides  this  union  of  private  benevolence  with  Government 
supervision  and  support,  which  has  just  been  explained,  there 
are  other  principles  on  which  the  English  reformatory  and  pre- 
ventive system  is  built,  and  on  which  the  greatest  stress  is  laid  : 
I.  The  use  of  moral  in  preference  to  physical  discipline.  All 
these  institutions  are  organized  and  carried  on  as  schools,  most 
of  them  as  farm-schools  ;  there  is  nothing  of  the  prison  about 
them,  —  no  walls,  no  spies,  no  guards,;  family  influences  are  made 
prominent  and  predominant.  2.  A  thoroughly  religious  charac- 
ter is  impressed  upon  the  management ;  none  of  them  belong 
to  the  class  called  secular.  Religious  teaching  is  an  essential 
feature  ;  the  Bible  is  the  recognized  source  and  chief  instrument 
of  the  religious  instruction  given.  3.  Adequate  instruction  in 
the  common-school  branches.  The  "  ologies "  are  not  taught, 
but  the  children  are  well  drilled  in  the  three  "  r's,"  —  reading, 
'riting,  and  'rithmetic.  4.  Industrial  training  is  much  insisted 
on ;  not  less  than  six  hours,  sometimes  more,  being  given  to  it. 
The  boys  of  the  reformatory  school  work  in  the  field  or  the 
shop  ;  the  girls  in  the  laundry,  the  house,  or  the  sewing-room. 
The  children  of  the  industrial  school,  being  younger,  have  lighter 
work,  and  are  not  held  so  closely  to  it.  5.  Supervision  and  occa- 
sional help  after  removal,  and  while  they  are  making  good  their 
footing  in  the  world.  As  a  rule,  they  are  carefully  held  in  view, 
regularly  reported  on,  and,  when  necessary,  aid  is  given.  6.  The 
responsibility  of  the  parent  to  aid  in  the  child's  support,  where  he 
has  the  ability,  is  fundamental,  and  is  enforced  to  the  utmost  ex- 
tent possible.  Not  less  than  $60,000  a  year  are  thus  collected 
from  parents  towards  the  maintenance  of  their  children  in  these 
schools.  Sometimes  as  much  as  a  dollar  a  week  is  thus  obtained 
from  the  parent ;  more  commonly  a  half  or  a  quarter  dollar  ;  but, 
of  course,  in  the  majority  of  cases  nothing  at  all. 

Besides  these  two  hundred  institutions,  or  thereabout,  substan- 
tially maintained  by  the  Government  though  owing  their  ex- 
istence to  what  is  called  private  initiative,  the  name  is  legion 
of  homes,  refuges,  schools,  not  only  founded  but  supported 


PART  i.]  IN  ENGLAND.  22$ 

by  individual  benevolence,  without  so  much  as  a  thought  of 
looking  to  the  Government  for  help,  yet  all  doing  a  kindred 
child-saving  work  ;  for,  indeed,  it  ever  takes  the  labor  of  one 
generation  to  save  the  next.  Look  at  that  wonderful,  colossal, 
almost  stupendous  enterprise  of  private  charity  and  personal 
self-sacrifice,  —  the  Ragged  School  Union  of  London.  Why, 
the  annals  of  time  offer  no  parallel  to  the  work  done  and  the 
results  achieved  by  this  one  benevolent  organization  within  a 
generation,  at  a  cost  in  money  less  than  would  be  required  to 
build  a  single  line-of-battle-ship  in  any  of  the  navies  of  the  world. 
Look  at  what  is  called  the  boarding-out  system  for  depauperizing 
and  saving  pauper  children,  which  had  its  birth  as  it  were  but 
yesterday  in  Scotland,  and  which  has  spread  into  England  and 
Ireland,  carrying  its  healing  and  life-giving  influence  to  thousands 
of  little  children,  the  most  of  whom,  without  such  influence,  would 
have  swelled  the  ranks  of  crime  and  crowded  the  jails  and  peni- 
tentiaries of  the  British  realm. 

The  prevention  of  crime  rather  than  the  moral  cure  of  those 
who  have  been  guilty  of  it  —  important  as  this  last  is,  beyond  all 
question  —  is  the  supreme  object  of  the  studies  and  labors  which 
have  drawn  the  attention  and  excited  the  activity  of  the  friends 
of  humanity  throughout  the  civilized  world.  And  such  preven- 
tion, whether  in  the  case  of  children  or  adults,  is  to  be  mainly  ef- 
fected in  three  ways  :  i.  By  a  higher  development  of  the  moral 
sentiments,  through  a  better  and  more  effective  moral  and  reli- 
gious instruction  and  culture.  2.  By  the  removal  and  suppres- 
sion, so  far  as  possible,  of  the  exciting  causes  of  crime,  —  such 
as  pauperism,  misery,  luxury,  intemperance,  and  the  contagion  of 
evil  passions  and  evil  examples.  3.  By  direct  measures  to  hinder 
the  commission  of  crime  through  the  agency  of  an  honest,  pure, 
gentlemanly,  and  active  police. 


CHAPTER  VII.  —  ENGLAND   (concluded}.  —  Am   TO  DIS- 
CHARGED   PRISONERS. 

THE  work  of  aiding  discharged  prisoners  is  as  broadly  and 
thoroughly  organized  and  as  wisely  and  effectively  adminis- 
tered in  England  as  in  any  country  in  the  world  ;  such  at  least  is 
my  belief. 

The  celebrated  Mrs.  Fry  appears  to  have  been  one  of  the  first 
persons  (if  not  the  very  first)  who  established  a  prisoners'  aid 
society,  in  the  modern  sense  of  the  word,  in  Great  Britain.  Sev- 
eral of  the  existing  societies,  both  in  England  and  on  the  conti- 

15 


226  STATE   OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  ill. 

nent  of  Europe,  were  directly  founded  by  her.  Others  gradually 
arose  in  different  parts  of  the  country,  until,  in  1878,  the  total 
number  of  such  societies  in  Great  Britain  was  estimated  at  fifty- 
two.1  This  number  is  exclusive  of  reformatories  for  juvenile 
criminals,  but  includes  homes  for  female  offenders  when  exclu- 
sively or  principally  designed  for  discharged  female  prisoners. 
Penitentiaries  for  fallen  women  and  other  institutions  which  only 
occasionally  receive  discharged  prisoners  are  not  embraced  in  the 
list.  These  fifty-two  societies  include  within  their  operations  all 
convict  (that  is,  long-sentence)  prisons  and  the  greater  number  of 
the  most  important  local  prisons  ;  but  there  yet  remain  consider- 
able districts  which  are  unprovided  with  any  organization  of  the 
kind.  It  is  hoped  that  an  effort  will  shortly  be  made  to  supply 
this  deficiency  and  complete  the  network  of  prisoners'  aid  so- 
cieties throughout  (at  least)  the  whole  of  England. 

In  1862  was  passed  the  first  Act  of  parliament  relating  to  pris- 
oners' aid  societies  (25  and  26  Vic.  cap.  44).  This  Act  authorized 
the  visiting  justices  of  the  several  prisons  in  England  and  Wales 
to  make  grants  of  money  (not  exceeding  in  each  case  two  pounds) 
to  be  applied  by  a  prisoners'  aid  society  for  the  benefit  of  particu- 
lar prisoners.  These  provisions  have  been  continued,  in  sub- 
stance, in  subsequent  statutes  and  extended  to  Ireland,  and  under 
them  considerable  sums  of  money  (amounting  in  1877  to  ;£  1,500 
or  upwards)  have  been  paid  to  the  several  societies  and  applied 
by  them.  These  sums  represent,  however,  but  a  small  part  of 
the  total  amount  expended  by  the  societies,  the  remaining  por- 
tion consisting  for  the  most  part  of  voluntary  contributions. 

The  mode  in  which  most  of  these  organizations  carry  on  their 
work  is  by  placing  the  prisoners  befriended  by  them  in  lodgings, 
and  assisting  them  to  obtain  employment  in  whatever  way  may 
in  each  individual  case  appear  most  expedient.  Emigration  is 
not  resorted  to  except  in  rare  cases  ;  nor,  with  few  exceptions, 
have  workshops  been  opened  by  the  societies  themselves.  Fe- 
male discharged  prisoners  are  usually  placed  for  a  time  in  such 
"  homes  "  or  "  refuges  "  as  may  be  available,  from  whence  they 
are  usually  sent  out  (after  adequate  probation)  as  domestic  ser- 
vants. For  adult  male  discharged  prisoners  very  few  homes 
exist,  and  opinion  is  divided  upon  the  question  of  their  advisabil- 
ity. Undoubtedly  several  such  institutions  which  have  been  es- 
tablished have  failed.  Others  still  exist,  and  appear  to  be  suc- 
cessful. In  general,  however,  the  system  of  individual  treatment, 
as  it  may  be  termed,  is  preferred. 

A  great  change  has  recently  taken   place   in  the  position  of 

1  In  Ireland,  owing  to  difference  of  religion  and  other  local  circumstances,  the  pris- 
oners' aid  movement  has  made  but  little  progress,  at  least  as  regards  male  prisoners. 
For  female  discharged  prisoners,  however,  institutions  exist,  and  there  are  also  sev- 
eral recognized  aid  societies  for  both  sexes. 


PART  i.]  IN  ENGLAND.  227 

prisoners'  aid  societies.  By  an  Act  of  parliament  (the  prison 
Act)  passed  in  1877,  but  coming  into  effect  as  we  have  seen 
in  1878,  the  whole  of  the  former  county  and  borough  prisons 
of  England  and  Wales  have  been  transferred  from  the  hands  of 
the  various  local  authorities  into  those  of  the  State.  A  like 
Act  has  been  passed  with  regard  to  Ireland.  The  entire  cost  of 
the  prisons  of  the  country  is  now  therefore  thrown  upon  imperial 
as  distinguished  from  local  funds  ;  and  whatever  sums  may  here- 
after be  granted,  under  the  Acts  of  parliament  already  mentioned, 
to  discharged  prisoners'  aid  societies  will  be  similarly  defrayed. 
The  arrangements  necessitated  by  so  great  a  change  of  admin- 
istration are  not  yet  completed  ;  and  it  is  consequently  impossi- 
ble to  say  as  yet  what  their  effect  will  be.  The  home  secretary 
(Mr.  Cross)  has,  however,  expressed  a  high  sense  of  the  value 
which  he  attaches  to  the  work  of  prisoners'  aid  societies,  and  has 
given  satisfactory  assurances  as  to  the  character  and  amounts  of 
the  pecuniary  and  other  assistance  which  he  proposes  to  afford 
to  them.  His  final  decision  upon  these  points  is  expected,  I  be- 
lieve, very  shortly  ;  and  it  is  hoped  that  with  it  will  commence  a 
period  of  increased  activity  and  usefulness  in  the  work  of  assist- 
ance to  discharged  prisoners  in  Great  Britain. 

It  has  been  remarked  in  a  preceding  paragraph  that  on  the 
question  of  homes  or  refuges  for  liberated  male  convicts  public 
opinion  wavered,  but  upon  the  whole  did  not  incline  to  favor  them. 
But  as  regards  the  two  established  in  connection  with  the  Wake- 
field  prison  (West  Riding  of  Yorkshire)  there  can  be  no  doubt 
as  to  their  excellent  organization  and  no  less  excellent  results. 
One  of  these  is  a  home  for  the  female  prisoners  discharged  from 
that  prison ;  the  other  a  refuge  for  the  men,  similar  in  design  and 
character.     The  chance  here  afforded  through  these  admirable 
establishments  to  every  released  prisoner,  male  or  female,  who 
desires  to  reform  and  eat  honest  bread,  is  beyond  all  praise.     In 
the  male  refuge,  at  the  time  of  my  visit  in   1871,  there  were  ac- 
commodations for  forty  inmates,  but  they  could  at  any  time  be 
readily  enlarged  so  as   to  admit  a  considerable  number  more. 
The  inmates  are  furnished  with  good  board  ;  clean  and  well-aired 
dormitories  ;  a  bed  consisting  of  an  iron  bedstead,  a  first-quality 
hair-mattress,  three  sheets,  two  pillow-cases,  two  dark  blankets, 
one  white   coverlet ;   a  box  serving  at  once  as  a  trunk   and   a 
seat ;  a  night-school  every  evening  ;  a  preaching  service  and  Sun- 
day-school on  the  Sabbath  ;  a  well-selected  miscellaneous  library ; 
a  reading-room,  provided  with  daily  and  weekly  journals,  etc., — 
all  at  an  average  rate  of  js.  2d.  sterling  per  'capita  a  week.     They 
work  at  mat-making,  and  their  average  weekly  earnings  are  from 
eleven  to  twelve  shillings.     They  do  piece-work  at  rates  a  little 
less  than  those  usually  paid,  because  the  refuge  is  not  designed 
to  afford  permanent  employment,  but  merely  to  bridge  over  the 


228  STATE   OF  PRISONS,   ETC.  [BooK  ill. 

chasm  between  the  prison  and  steady  remunerative  labor.  This 
chance  is  given  to  every  man  and  woman  released  from  the  Wake- 
field  prison  who  desires  it,  and  its  benefits  are  fully  explained  to 
all  during  their  incarceration  ;  so  that  not  a  solitary  person  dis- 
charged from  that  prison  can  ever  come  back  to  it  under  the 
pretext  that  he  could  get  no  work  to  do.  Is  not  that  noble  ? 
Why  may  not  all  large  penal  establishments  organize  something 
of  the  same  kind  ? 


CHAPTER   VIII.  —  SCOTLAND.  —  TRANSITIONAL    STAGE.  — 
CONVICT  SYSTEM. 

IN  respect  to  her  prison  management,  Scotland  is  passing 
through  the  same  transitional  stage  as  England ;  namely, 
in  the  transfer  of  her  prisons  from  local  to  government  control, 
and  the  reorganization  of  the  system  of  administration.  The 
changes  thus  far  effected  in  reducing  the  number  of  prisons  and 
prison  officials,  and  in  the  prospective  reduction  of  cost  and  the 
unification  of  convict  treatment,  have  already  been  stated  in  the 
immediately  preceding  chapter.  It  was  not  to  be  expected  that 
so  vast  a  change  could  be  accomplished  in  the  penitentiary  sys- 
tem and  administration  of  a  whole  country  without  a  good  deal 
of  friction.  Hence  there  has  been  irritation,  and  there  have  been 
complaints  on  the  part  of  the  local  magistracy  and  their  friends 
in  Scotland  a-s  in  England.  "  Let  there  be  no  strife."  It  is  to  be 
hoped  that  the  central  and  local  authorities  will  soon  find  a  com- 
mon ground  to  stand  upon,  for  "they  be  brethren."  Let  the 
" locals "  yield  gracefully  what  they  must,  and  let  the  "central" 
not  press  too  hard.  Let  the  Government  make  all  possible  use 
of  and  leave  all  possible  power  to  those  excellent  and  faithful  men, 
the  "county  justices,"  not  inconsistent  with  its  supremacy;  and, 
above  all,  let  it  not  cripple  the  vital  work  of  aid  to  released  pris- 
oners by  withholding  grants  of  money  which  are  essential  to  its 
efficiency. 

The  convict  system  of  Scotland  is  represented  by  three  estab- 
lishments, —  the  general  prison  at  Perth,  and  the  county  prisons 
at  Paisley  and  Ayr.  Four  classes  of  prisoners  are  admitted  into 
the  first :  I.  Ordinary  prisoners  under  sentences  of  nine  months 
to  twenty-four  months.  2.  Male  convicts  during  their  proba- 
tionary term  of  nine  months,  prior  to  being  transferred  to  the 
convict  prisons  of  England,  where  they  serve  out  the  remainder 
of  their  sentence  to  penal  servitude.  3.  Female  convicts,  subse- 
quent to  their  nine  months'  probation  in  the  county  prison  at 
Ayr.  4.  Criminals  and  dangerous  lunatics,  sentenced  to  be  de- 


PART  i.]  IN  SCOTLAND.  229 

tained  during  Her  Majesty's  pleasure.  In  the  county  prison  at 
Paisley,  besides  the  ordinary  inmates  of  this  class  of  establish- 
ments, Protestant  male  prisoners  are  admitted  for  their  nine 
months'  probationary  term.  In  the  prison  at  Ayr,  Protestant 
female  prisoners  are  detained  in  the  same  way,  prior  to  transfer 
to  Perth  to  undergo  the  milder  discipline  to  which  they  are  sub- 
jected during  the  latter  portion  of  their  sentence  to  penal  servi- 
tude. It  is  for  want  of  adequate  accommodation  at  Perth  that 
the  convicts  are  placed  in  these  county  prisons.  The  Government 
pays  their  board,  and  receives  the  avails  of  their  labor. 


CHAPTER  IX.  —  SCOTLAND   (continued}.  —  COUNTY   PRISONS.  — 
POLICE  SUPERVISION.  —  AID  TO  DISCHARGED  PRISONERS. 

THE  sentences  of  prisoners  detained  in  the  principal  county 
jails  vary  from  twenty-four  hours  to  twenty-four  months. 
The  rule  is,  however,  to  transfer  all  prisoners  (not  convicts)  sen- 
tenced to  nine  months'  imprisonment  and  upwards  to  the  general 
prison  at  Perth.  Chaplains,  school-masters,  schools,  and  libraries 
are  provided  in  all  the  prisons,  general  and  county.  The  dietary 
varies  according  to  the  sentence,  regard  being  had  to  the  duration 
of  this  latter,  and  to  the  question  whether  it  is  with  or  without 
hard  labor.  The  labor  is  both  productive  and  unproductive.  The 
unproductive  is  exceptional,  and  the  machine  provided  for  it  is 
the  crank.  The  productive  labor  does  not  produce  too  much. 
The  average  per  prisoner  is  under  fifteen  dollars  a  year,  and  there 
are  only  four  prisons  that  reach  an  average  of  twenty-five  dollars, 
the  highest  being  fifty-five.  The  cost  of  public  prosecutions  for 
petty  offences  in  the  large  counties  is  often  very  high,  yet  the 
short  imprisonment  inflicted  on  the  offender  is  said  to  produce 
little  or  no  beneficial  effect,  being  but  a  stereotyped  repetition  of 
what  he  has  undergone  scores  of  times  before.  Intelligent  Scotch- 
men believe  that,  for  trivial  offences,  compulsory  labor  in  his  own 
neighborhood  would  in  the  majority  of  cases  be  more  deterrent, 
more  improving  in  its  moral  effect,  and  more  remunerative  than 
repeated  short  terms  of  imprisonment ;  it  could  not  possibly  be 
more  deleterious. 

Police  supervision  is  found  to  work  admirably.  Prisoners  in- 
clined to  do  well  are  protected  ;  those  who  follow  vicious  courses 
and  relapse  into  their  old  habits  are  summarily  dealt  with. 

An  excellent  plan  of  aiding  discharged  prisoners  is  adopted. 
On  liberation  each  convict  prisoner  receives  a  gratuity  of  twenty 
dollars,  subject  to  deductions  for  misconduct  at  the  rate  of  half  a 


230  STATE   OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  in. 

dollar  for  each  offence  against  discipline.  Payment  is  made  thus  : 
five  dollars  are  given  to  the  convict  on  discharge  ;  after  that  he 
is  paid  in  instalments  of  two  dollars  at  the  end  of  every  fortnight, 
on  condition,  however,  that  on  each  application  for  payment  he 
forward  at  the  same  time  a  certificate  signed  by  the  police,  stat- 
ing that  he  is  obtaining  an  honest  livelihood.  Thus  four  months 
will  have  elapsed  before  he  receives  his  last  payment,  and  he  must 
go  on  well  so  long,  or  forfeit  all  that  is  behind.  The  ordinary 
prisoners  receive  gratuities  ranging  from  five  to  ten  dollars,  ac- 
cording to  their  industry  and  conduct  in  prison.  The  insane  are 
employed  in  a  garden  attached  to  their  house,  in  which  twenty- 
five  of  them,  working  two  hours  a  day  on  an  ungenerous  soil, 
raised  in  1871  vegetables  enough  nearly  to  supply  seven  hundred 
prisoners  with  all  they  needed  throughout  the  year.  These  insane 
prisoners  were  much  benefited,  both  physically  and  mentally,  by 
their  work.  Referring  to  the  profitable  results  arising  from  this 
labor  of  the  insane,  Mr.  Moncure,  who  was  a  member  of  the  Lon- 
don Congress  in  1872,  and  at  that  time  governor  of  the  general 
prison  at  Perth,  expressed  the  hope  that  these  results  might  lead 
to  an  extension  of  such  labor  among  criminals  of  sound  mind. 
He  felt  persuaded  that,  by  selecting  the  right  prisoners,  good  soil, 
and  favorable  localities,  Scotland  might  turn  its  convict  labor  to 
as  profitable  account  as  could  be  done  elsewhere  in  any  part  of 
the  world. 


CHAPTER  X. —  SCOTLAND  (continued}.  —  A  NEW  PLAN  SUG- 
GESTED EXTRA-OFFICIALLY. 

AN  esteemed  correspondent  in  Scotland  has  thought  out  and 
elaborated  a  system  of  prison  discipline  resembling  that  of 
Sir  Walter  Crofton,  though  differing  from  it  in  some  respects, 
which  he  communicated  to  me  as  chairman  of  the  international 
penitentiary  commission,  with  a  view  to  having  it  laid  before  the 
Congress  of  Stockholm.  He  has  himself  revised  and  printed  his 
essay,  and  it  is  now  lying  on  my  table  as  I  write.  It  is  a  produc- 
tion of  much  merit,  and  I  regret  that,  for  lack  of  space,  I  must 
confine  myself  to  a  very  brief  and  meagre  analysis  of  it.  The 
writer  holds  that  the  fundamental  error  of  every  deterrent  system 
is  the  idea  that  a  criminal  might  at  once  abandon  a  vicious  life 
and  become  a  law-abiding  citizen  ;  and  that  if  the  prison  is  only 
made  sufficiently  uncomfortable  and  terrifying,  he  will  never  again 
allow  himself  to  fall  into  the  clutches  of  the  law.  Facts  prove 
both  conclusions  false.  He  considers  that  crime  is  the  result  of 
a  moral  obliquity,  varying  in  intensity  from  a  slight  weakness  to 


PART  i.]  IN  SCOTLAND.  231 

an  utter  distortion  of  the  moral  faculties.  No  one  ever  becomes 
a  scoundrel  at  once ;  and,  a  fortiori,  none  ever  changes  from  a 
vicious  to  a  virtuous  life  on  the  instant.  Fear  may  produce  good 
resolves,  but  cannot  effect  that  change  of  mind  and  heart  which 
will  hold  him  to  his  resolutions ;  fear  may  push  behind,  but 
hope,  the  more  powerful  agent,  must  pull  in  front,  or  relapse  is 
certain. 

The  writer  divides  criminals  into  three  classes :  the  most  hard- 
ened, the  moderately  depraved,  and  those  only  slightly  turned 
aside  from  the  right.  He  calls  them,  by  a  nomenclature  not  very 
happy  as  he  himself  admits,  the  inveterate,  the  ordinary,  and  the 
convalescent  criminal ;  and  he  provides  for  them  in  the  order 
named  the  prison,  the  penitentiary,  and  the  moral  sanitarium. 
The  discipline  of  the  first  must  be  severe,  to  subdue  the  will ;  of 
the  second,  mild,  though  firm,  to  secure  a  voluntary  surrender  of 
the  will ;  of  the  third,  so  gentle  as  scarcely  to  be  felt,  while  the 
will  is  in  process  of  being  restored  to  its  owner,  and  himself  sup- 
ported while  regaining  the  command  of  it.  It  is  the  absence  of 
this  last  and  probationary  stage  which  causes  such  numbers  so 
speedily  to  relapse. 

The  writer  would  have  the  prisoners  transferrible  from  one  of 
these  establishments  to  another,  both  forward  and  backward  ac- 
cording to  circumstances.  The  agents  to  effect  these  transfers 
should  be  selected  from  among  the  wisest  and  best  citizens,  and 
the  methods  of  making  them  carefully  weighed  ;  and  then  a  broad 
discretion  should  be  given  them.  The  judge  would  determine,  in 
the  first  instance,  to  which  class  of  establishments  the  prisoner  is 
to  be  sent;  but  as  he  can  only  take  cognizance  of  the  crime  and 
its  circumstances,  without  knowing  the  state  of  mind  that  led  to 
it  or  the  degree  of  depravity  in  its  perpetrator,  his  stay  in  that 
establishment  beyond  a  fixed  minimum  to  each  class  would  depend 
on  the  exertions  of  the  prisoner  to  earn  promotion  and  eventual 
freedom.  Here  is  the  indeterminate  sentence  first  suggested  by 
Mr.  Frederic  Hill  when  he  was  prison  inspector  for  Scotland, 
and  so  ably  and  vigorously  pressed  by  his  brother  Matthew 
Davenport  Hill,  while  recorder  of  Birmingham,  in  his  various 
charges  to  the  grand  jury. 

Many  and  even  important  points  are  left  out  of  this  sketch, 
which  it  would  be  interesting  and  instructive  to  bring  out;  but 
my  restricted  limits  forbid  further  analysis. 

In  a  private  letter  my  correspondent  sets  forth  the  advantages 
which  would  result  from  the  adoption  of  his  plan.  For  these, 
or  some  of  them,  room  must  be  made :  — 

1.  A  man  not  innately  or  deeply  vicious  would  soon  regain  his 
freedom. 

2.  Mutual  contamination  would  become  well-nigh  impossible. 

3.  Insanity  and  suicide  would  become  of  much  rarer  occur- 


232  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BooK  in. 

rence ;  there  would  be  nothing  to  develop  the  one,  or  drive  to 
the  other. 

4.  The  control  exerted  over  each  prisoner  would  be  in  inverse 
proportion  to  his  ability  to  govern  himself. 

5.  It  would  satisfy  public  sentiment;  for  though  it  is  justly 
considered  cruel  arbitrarily  to  pronounce  a  man  "  incorrigible,"  and 
thereupon  segregate  him  for  life,  there  can  be  no  cruelty  or  even 
hardship  in  detaining  him  until  such  time  as  he  proves  himself 
not  only  corrigible,  but  corrected. 

6.  Never  being  set  at  large  until  pronounced  "  hopeful "  by  the 
best  judges  reconvictions  would  become  much  rarer,  and  injury 
to  the  public  by  criminals  at  large  but  unreclaimed  would  be 
diminished,  as  would  also  the  cost  of  re-arrest  and  trial. 

7.  Much  larger  numbers  than  now  would  be  re-absorbed  into 
the  ranks  of  honest  industry. 

8.  Prison  punishments  might  be  almost  wholly  dispensed  with. 

9.  The  moral  sanitarium  would  replace  the  workhouse  as  the 
receptacle  of  the  sturdy  beggar,  the  brutal  ruffian,  the  thriftless 
"  ne'er-do-weel ;  "  and  the  nation,  no  longer  saddled  with  the  risk 
of  encouraging  pauperism,  would  take  proper  care  of  its  aged, 
infirm,  and  respectable  poor. 

The  writer  kindles  into  a  glow  of  patriotic  and  philanthropic 
enthusiasm  in  the  contemplation  of  the  almost  illimitable  possi- 
bilities of  the  moral  sanitarium  in  its  industrial,  financial,  and 
reformatory  relations,  —  indulging  in  anticipations  so  fervid  and 
radiant  that  I  hardly  dare  repeat  his  language ;  and  in  conclu- 
sion he  exclaims :  "  I  can  think  of  no  other  device  so  effectual 
for  purifying  society.  Would  that  I  had  the  funds  and  legislative 
sanction  to  my  commencing  the  experiment  to-morrow  !  No  lin- 
gering doubt  remains  in  .my  mind  that  it  could  be  conducted  to 
complete  financial  success,  and  that  it  would  afford  to  those  who 
have  forfeited  their  self-control  such  a  help  to  achieve  their  own 
reformation  as  has  never  yet  been  accorded  to  them."  'Tis  at 
once  cheering  and  bracing  to  witness  such  faith  and  enthusiasm 
in  a  good  cause. 


CHAPTER  XI.  —  SCOTLAND  (concluded}.  —  Am  TO  DISCHARGED 
PRISONERS.  —  CHILD-SAVING  INSTITUTIONS. 

AID  to  discharged  prisoners  is  well  organized  and  success- 
fully worked  in  Scotland.     The  system  of  reformatory  and 
industrial   schools,  and  of  active  child-saving  work  by  benevo- 
lent individuals  without  Government  aid,  is  the  same  in  Scotland 
as  in  England,  —  is  conducted  on  the  same  general  principles, 


PART  i.]  IN  IRELAND.  233 

and  is  productive  of  the  same  wide  and  excellent  results.  Rep- 
etition is  therefore  useless,  and  would  but  encumber  my  pages. 
It  may  however  be  stated  in  passing,  that  the  idea  of  the  indus- 
trial school  and  the  idea  of  boarding-out  pauper  children,  —  that 
is,  rinding  homes  for  them  in  respectable  Christian  families, 
both  so  widely  spread  to-day,  both  so  richly  freighted  with  seeds 
of  salvation,  —  had  their  origin  in  Scotland,  where  hearts  are 
warm  and  tender  in  spite  of  frosty  climate  and  rock-ribbed  soil. 


CHAPTER  XII.  —  IRELAND.  —  CONVICT  SYSTEM. 

IRELAND  has  become  famous  in  the  history  of  prison  disci- 
pline and  reform.  The  system  applied  in  her  convict  prisons, 
—  sometimes  called  the  Irish  system  from  the  name  of  the  coun- 
try, and  sometimes  the  Crofton  system  from  the  name  of  its  au- 
thor, —  is  too  well  and  widely  known  to  need  minute  description. 
It  may  be  shortly  defined  an  adult  reformatory,  in  which  through 
moral  agencies  the  will  of  the  prisoner  is  brought  into  accord  with 
the  will  of  his  keeper,  and  held  there  so  long  that  virtue  becomes 
a  habit.  Its  fundamental  principle  is  progressive  classification  ; 
its  supreme  force  hope.  The  sentence  is  always  to  penal  servi- 
tude, and  is  never  less  than  five  years,  though  so  long  a  term  is  by 
no  means  an  essential  condition  of  the  system.  It  can  be  applied 
to  imprisonments  of  a  year,  or  even  less ;  but  as  in  other  peni- 
tentiary systems,  its  reformatory  action  will  be  diminished  by 
being  made  too  short.  The  system  has  three  stages  :  I.  A  penal 
stage  of  cellular  separation  continuing  eight  months,  but  may  be 
prolonged  to  nine  months  by  misconduct.  2.  A  reformatory  stage, 
where  the  progressive  principle  comes  into  play,  of  unequal  dura- 
tion according  to  length  of  sentence.  3.  A  probationary  stage 
to  verify  the  reformatory  action  of  the  preceding  discipline.  To 
these  should  perhaps  be  added  a  fourth,  —  that  of  conditional 
liberation  on  ticket-of-leave. 

The  first  stage  is  passed  at  Mountjoy  in  Dublin.  There  are 
two  prisons  here  (cellular  of  course),  one  for  male,  the  other  for 
female  prisoners. 

I  will  first  speak  of  the  prison  for  men.  The  only  form  of 
penal  labor  here  is  oakum-picking,  at  which  the  prisoners  are 
kept  three  months  ;  after  which  they  pass  to  shoe-making,  tailor- 
ing, mat-making,  weaving,  etc.  For  the  first  four  months  they 
get  no  meat ;  during  the  second  four  they  have  meat  twice  a  week. 
In  other  respects  the  food  is  plain,  but  sufficient.  The  diet  of 
the  sick  is  such  as  may  be  prescribed  by  the  medical  officer. 


234  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BooK  in. 

There  are  three  regular  chaplains,  —  Roman  Catholic,  Church 
of  England,  and  Presbyterian,  —  each  of  whom  holds  one  full 
service  on  Sunday,  and  a  shorter  one  every  morning  during 
the  week  for  the  benefit  of  the  prisoners.  They  visit  the  pris- 
oners in  hospital  daily  and  in  cell  frequently. 

Much  attention  is  given  to  elementary  education,  wherein  the 
progress  of  the  prisoners  is  reported  on  favorably  by  the  in- 
spector of  public  instruction  for  the  outside  schools.  Special 
pains  is  taken  to  explain  to  them  the  whole  course  and  progress 
of  their  imprisonment,  and  all  the  advantages  to  be  derived,  as 
respects  promotion  to  advanced  stages  and  classes,  from  good 
conduct,  industry,  diligence  at  school,  and  moral  improvement. 

The  effect  of  these  several  agencies  and  efforts  is  hope,  courage, 
cheerfulness,  and  a  patient  waiting  for  promised  ameliorations. 
Indeed,  these  begin  quite  early  to  the  well-behaved  during  the 
period  of  cellular  separation.  At  first  the  seclusion  is  absolute. 
After  a  while  the  cell-door  is  thrown  open  a  part  of  the  day,  then 
all  day.  This  is  felt  to  be  a  great  alleviation  ;  but  it  is  withdrawn 
for  any  misconduct,  however  slight.  The  prisoners  in  this  stage 
are  together  in  chapel,  school,  and  exercise,  but  no  communication 
is  permitted. 

Scarcely  any  of  the  prisoners  forfeit  their  promotion  to  the 
second  stage  at  Spike  Island  at  the  end  of  eight  months,  which 
is  the  minimum  time.  Nearly  all  go  there  reported  as  "  very  sat- 
isfactory,"—  the  highest  character  they  can  earn  at  Mount] oy,  and 
which  can  only  be  gained  by  unexceptionable  conduct 

Here,  however,  it  must  be  stated  that  a  portion  of  the  men  — 
say,  an  average  of  twenty-five  to  thirty  —  pass  the  second  stage 
of  imprisonment  at  Mount]  oy.  They  are  so  detained,  partly  be- 
cause they  are  needed  to  do  work  for  the  Mount] oy  prison,  and 
partly  because  it  is  more  convenient  to  have  the  shoe-making 
done  here  for  all  the  convict  establishments.  But  they  work  in 
association,  and  have  the  same  system  of  classification  as  those 
at  Spike  Island.  Not  less  than  four  out  of  five  earn  promotion 
to  the  intermediate  prison  (third  stage)  within  the  minimum  time. 
As  I  have  more  than  once  passed  through  this  prison,  whenever 
I  came  in  contact  with  the  under-officers  I  have  been  struck  with 
their  kindly  bearing  towards  and  their  seeming  interest  in  the 
prisoners.  "  Tell  me,"  I  have  said  to  the  governor,  "  do  you  think 
that  their  interest  is  genuine,  and  that  they  really  desire  to 
change  these  bad  men  into  good  ones  ? " 

"  I  am  sure  it  is  so,"  he  replied,  "  at  least  as  a  general  rule." 

Pursuing  the  inquiry,  I  have  added,  "And  how  do  the  men 
regard  their  officers  ? " 

"  They  look  upon  them,"  he  has  replied  again,  "  as  their  friends, 
as  persons  who  really  sympathize  with  them,  and  earnestly  strive 
for  their  improvement." 


PART  i.]  IN  IRELAND.  23$ 

The  Mount] oy  prison  for  women  is  conducted  in  substantially 
the  same  manner  as  that  for  men,  and  with  like  results :  a  repe- 
tition would  be  tedious.  All  the  women,  however,  pass  their 
second  as  their  first  stage  here.  There  is  the  same  classification 
as  at  Spike  Island,  and  four-fifths  at  least  earn  their  promotion  to 
the  third  or  intermediate  stage  within  the  minimum  time  per- 
mitted by  the  rules.  During  the  cellular  stage  the  women  have 
for  work  sewing,  knitting,  and  plaiting  coir.  In  the  progressive 
stage  the  industries  are  tailoring  and  laundry-work.  The  cloth- 
ing for  all  the  convict  establishments  is  made  here,  and  a  large 
amount  of  laundry-work  is  done  for  public  institutions  of  various 
sorts. 

The  second  stage,  as  already  stated,  is  that  of  progressive  clas- 
sification. This  stage,  with  the  exceptions  named  above,  is  passed 
at  Spike  Island,  at  the  Southern  extremity  of  Ireland.  On  the  oc- 
casion of  my  last  visit  to  this  establishment,  in  1875,  the  number 
of  prisoners  was  seven  hundred.  All,  or  nearly  all,  of  the  able- 
bodied  among  them  were  engaged  at  labor  on  public  works,  — 
quarrying  and  dressing  stone,  and  building  government  docks  of 
a  massive  and  substantial  character,  on  the  little  island  of  Haul- 
bowline,  a  naval  station  connected  with  Spike  Island  by  a  bridge 
for  foot  passengers  only.  There  is  a  probation  class  here,  but 
so  very  few  are  placed  in  it  (mostly  those  who  on  medical 
grounds  come  before  the  time)  that  it  may  properly  enough  be 
left  out  of  the  account.  Practically,  the  classes  at  Spike  Island 
are  four  ;  namely,  third,  second,  first,  and  advanced.  Merit  is 
measured  and  attested  by  marks.  Each  prisoner  can  earn  nine 
marks  per  month,  —  three  for  good  conduct,  three  for  industry, 
and  three  for  diligence  at  school.  All,  with  the  exception  noted, 
are  placed  in  the  third  class  on  their  arrival.  In  order  to  pro- 
motion to  the  second  class  a  certain  maximum  of  marks  must 
be  earned  ;  but  this  maximum  is  not  the  same  for  all.  Why  ? 
Because  all  do  not  arrive  at  Spike  Island  with  the  same  record 
from  Mount] oy.  The  records  which  they  bring  are,  "  very  satis- 
factory," "  very  good,"  "  good,"  "  ordinary,"  "  indifferent."  Those 
classed  as  '•  very  satisfactory"  are  promoted  when  they  have  earned 
eighteen  marks,  that  is,  in  two  months  ;  the  "  very  good  "  are 
required  to  earn  twenty-seven;  the  "  good,"  thirty-six ;  the  "or- 
dinary," forty-five;  and  the  "indifferent,"  fifty-four^  So  that 
these  last  cannot  reach  the  second  class  in  less  than  six  months. 
This  arrangement  acts  as  a  powerful  stimulus  upon  the  prisoners 
while  yet  at  Mountjoy,  insomuch  that  the  vast  majority  arrive  at 
Spike  Island  with  the  record  "very  satisfactory."  Promotion 
from  the  second  to  the  first  class  requires  a  credit  of  fifty-four 
marks,  equal  to  six  months  ;  from  the  first  to  the  advanced,  of 
one  hundred  and  eight  marks,  or  an  entire  year.  These  are  all 
the  maximum  of  marks  and  the  minimum  of  time. 


236  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  in. 

The  classification  as  will  be  seen  is  altogether  moral ;  there  is 
no  physical  separation.  Prisoners  belonging  to  the  different 
classes  are  intermingled  while  at  work ;  they  can  however  be 
readily  distinguished  as  appertaining  to  the  advanced,  first,  sec- 
ond, or  third  class  by  their  clothing  and  their  badges.  At  the 
time  of  my  first  visit,  in  1871,  the  exact  number  of  prisoners  was 
seven  hundred  and  five  ;  advanced  class,  three  hundred  and 
twenty ;  first,  two  hundred  ;  second,  one  hundred  and  one  ;  third, 
eighty-four.  The  motives  to  strive  for  promotion  are  not  only 
powerful  but  constant,  and  constantly  increasing  in  strength. 
The  progress  towards  liberation  is  the  great  force,  but  there  are 
manifold  motives  besides  to  exertion,  self-control,  and  self-con- 
quest. With  every  advance  there  is  an  increase  of  privilege,  of 
gratuity,  of  liberty.  The  great  point  is  to  induce  the  prisoner  to 
become  an  agent  in  his  own  reformation.  Till  this  is  done,  noth- 
ing is  done.  The  result  is,  as  I  learned  from  many  prisoners  with 
whom  I  was  permitted  freely  to  converse  quite  apart  from  the 
officers,  that  the  whole  prison  population  with  few  exceptions  are 
putting  forth  vigorous  effort  to  obtain  their  promotion  within  the 
minimum  time ;  that  Lusk  is  ever  in  their  thought  and  on  their 
tongue  ;  and  that  the  hope  of  reaching  that  coveted  goal,  and 
respect  and  esteem  beyond  it,  keeps  up  heart  in  them  and  pro- 
duces alacrity  and  cheerfulness  at  their  work. 

As  the  rewards  are  mainly  moral,  so  are  the  punishments  :  loss 
of  marks,  forfeiture  of  gratuities,  withdrawal  of  privileges,  degra- 
dation to  a  lower  class,  remanding  to  the  cellular  prison  at  Mount- 
joy,  and  so  on. 

The  third  stage  for  the  men  is  the  intermediate  prison  at  Lusk, 
twelve  miles  from  Dublin,  so  called  because  it  holds  a  middle 
place  between  a  punitive  prison  and  full  liberty.  The  aim  here 
is  twofold:  (i)  To  test  the  prisoner's  reformation,  his  power  of 
self-control,  his  ability  to  resist  temptation  ;  and  (2)  To  train  him 
for  a  considerable  period  —  never  less  than  six  months  —  under 
natural  conditions,  and  so  to  prepare  him  for  full  freedom  by  the 
enjoyment  of  partial  freedom  as  a  preliminary  step. 

The  buildings  here  were  originally  two  iron  huts  *  erected  at  a 
cost  of  one  thousand  five  hundred  dollars,  capable  each  of  accom- 
modating one  hundred  prisoners,  though  the  number  now  does 
not  exceed  fifty.  My  first  visit  to  Lusk  was  in  the  middle  of 
October,  and  the  prisoners  were  at  work  on  various  parts  of  the 
farm  of  two  hundred  acres.  Everywhere  they  were  as  busy  as 
bees  and  apparently  as  happy.  I  never  saw  a  brisker  or  more 
cheerful  set  of  laborers.  They  accomplish  fully  as  much  work  as 
an  equal  number  of  free  hands.  Here  then  is  a  prison  which  is 
not  a  prison,  being  without  bars,  bolts,  or  encircling  walls  ;  yet  in 

1  One  of  them  has  since  been  replaced  by  a  plain  stone  structure. 


PART    i.]  IN  IRELAND.  237 

twenty  years  there  have  not  been  twenty  escapes.  It  proves  the 
truth  of  Dr.  Wichern's  paradox:  "The  strongest  wall  is  no  wall." 
It  proves  the  truth  of  the  more  literal  averment,  quite  kindred  in 
import,  of  M.  Valherot  of  the  Institute  of  France  :  "  Attraction, 
in  the  realm  of  mind,  is  the  greatest  directing  force,  the  surest 
means  of  government." 

Truly  Lusk  is  a  magnificent  triumph  of  reason  and  humanity 
over  coercion  and  brute  force,  —  a  splendid  and  irrefragable  tes- 
timony to  the  soundness  of  the  principle  of  progressive  classi- 
fication as  the  corner-stone  of  a  reformatory  system  of  prison 
discipline. 

The  Golden-Bridge  Refuge,  three  miles  from  Dublin,  serves 
the  same  purpose  for  the  female  prisoners  as  Lusk  does  for  the 
men  ;  namely,  that  of  serving  out  the  third  or  probationary  stage. 
Mrs.  Kirwan,  a  Sister  of  Chanty,  —  belonging,  I  think,  to  one  of 
the  noble  families  of  Ireland,  —  is  the  head  of  the  establishment. 
She  is  brimful  of  genius,  heart,  energy,  enthusiasm, good  sense,  and 
devotion  to  her  work.  She  combines  gentleness  with  firmness 
and  piety  with  worldly  wisdom  in  a  remarkable  degree.  When 
she  talks  she  pours  out  such  a  torrent  of  vigorous  thoughts  and 
burning  words  that  one  becomes  spell-bound  in  her  presence, 
dreads  to  interrupt  her,  and  feels  that  he  could  listen  "  from  morn 
to  dewy  eve"  to  the  majestic  sweep  of  her  eloquence.  She  has 
usually,  I  believe,  about  twenty  women  under  her  care,  received 
from  Mountjoy  female  prison,  after  having  there  passed  through 
the  three  stages  of  their  imprisonment,  and  by  good  conduct  and 
industry  earned  their  transfer  to  Golden  Bridge,  which  is,  as  be- 
fore intimated,  virtually  the  intermediate  prison  for  the  female 
convicts.  She  however  retains  them  longer  than  the  men  are 
kept  at  Lusk,  having  utterly  refused  to  receive  them  at  all  unless 
she  could  hold  them  until  she  felt  a  good  degree  of  assurance 
that  they  were  strong  enough,  so  to  speak,  to  go  alone,  and  would 
not  be  likely  to  relapse  again  into  crime.  The  customary  period 
of  detention  here  is  sixteen  months,  but  by  extra  good  conduct 
and  industry  this  may  be  reduced  to  ten  months.  She  rules  them 
with  an  absolute  sway,  but  it  is  a  government  of  moral  rather 
than  physical  force,  —  love  and  the  kindness  flowing  from  it  being 
the  power  which  gives  her  an  influence  over  these  bad  women 
well-nigh  illimitable.  She  declares  that  the  three  great  forces 
which  she  employs,  and  which  give  her  such  a  wonderful  ascen- 
dancy over  them,  are  liberty,  confidence,  and  work.  She  assured 
us  'that  she  has  no  difficulty  in  finding  places  for  them  whenever 
they  are  considered  fit  for  their  discharge  ;  that  nearly  all  of  them 
do  well;  and  that  a  very  small  percentage  fall  back  into  crime  and 
are  returned  to  prison,  —  a  statement  confirmed  by  Captain  Bar- 
low, director  of  convict  prisons.  To  my  inquiry  as  to  what 
amusements  the  women  have,  she  replied  quickly  and  with  em- 


238  STATE   OF  PRISONS,   ETC.  [BooK  ill. 

phasis :  "  When  they  are  through  with  their  work  they  dance  jigs, 
sing  songs,  and  amuse  themselves  just  as  they  please.  I  hate 
mock  self-restraint." 

Beyond  taking  care  of  a  large  kitchen-garden,  which  is  rather 
a  recreation  than  a  task,  their  only  occupation  is  laundry-work,  of 
which  they  have  always  a  plentiful  supply,  and  they  do  it  admira- 
bly. They  are  passed  in  succession  through  each  department  of 
the  refuge,  so  that  they  learn  every  kind  of  household  work,  and 
are  thoroughly  prepared  for  domestic  service  before  they  leave 
the  establishment. 


CHAPTER  XIII. —  IRELAND  (continued).  —  COUNTY  JAIL 
SYSTEM. 

ALL  that  I  have  been  able  to  obtain  in  regard  to  the  operation 
of  the  recent  prison  Act  for  Ireland,  which  went  into  effect 
there  as  in  England  and  Scotland  fifteen  months  ago,  is  contained 
in  the  following  latest  annual  report  of  the  Howard  Association 
of  London  : — 

"  The  new  prison  Act  is  a  reality  for  Great  Britain  ;  but  as  to  Ireland  its 
results  are  very  disappointing.  Yet  there  it  was  specially  needed.  There 
are,  besides  bridewells,  thirty-eight  county  and  borough  jails  in  Ireland. 
Altogether  they  contain  under  three  thousand  prisoners,  —  that  is  to  say, 
fewer  than  the  two  English  jails  of  Coldbathfields  and  Wakefield  !  In 
some  Irish  prisons  there  are  almost  as  many  officers  as  prisoners.  The 
great  anomaly  of  these  thirty-eight  jails  for  so  few  inmates  has  been  per- 
petuated by  some  influential  persons  insisting  upon  a  clause  in  the  Act  that 
every  county  should  still  have  at  least  one  jail.  Many  of  the  bridewells, 
or  '  lock-ups,'  have  been  discontinued  ;  but  the  whole  thirty-eight  county 
prisons  remain.  What  a  contrast  to  Wales  and  the  wise  operation  of 
Welsh  influences  !  About  half  the  Welsh  jails  have  been  or  will  be  sup- 
pressed by  the  new  Act." 

The  bad  system  of  repeated  short  sentences  is  largely  prac- 
tised in  Ireland,  with  its  customary  bad  results.  As  in  England 
and  Scotland,  the  county  jails  here  receive  prisoners  sentenced 
for  terms  of  imprisonment  varying  from  one  day  to  two  years. 
Strange  to  say,  the  commitments  for  twenty-four  hours  are  said 
to  be  "  very  numerous."  Most  of  these  cases  are  for  drunken- 
ness, and  the  only  effect  is  to  provide  a  free  night's  lodging  on  a 
good  bed  for  a  man  who  had  none  of  his  own.  It  is  however  a 
very  striking  fact,  that,  while  on  the  ist  of  January,  1851,  the 
county  and  borough  jails  of  Ireland  contained  ten  thousand  pris- 
oners, on  the  ist  of  January,  1870,  their  population  had  fallen  to 


PART  i.]  IN  IRELAND.  239 

two  thousand.  This  is  attributed  to  the  improved  condition  of 
the  people  and  the  increased  demand  for  labor.  My  own  belief  is 
that  the  excellent  industrial  and  reformatory  schools  of  the  coun- 
try have  had  some  share  —  perhaps  not  an  inconsiderable  share 
—  in  this  happy  diminution. 


CHAPTER  XIV.  —  IRELAND  (concluded).  —  REFORMATORY  AND 
PREVENTIVE  SYSTEM. 

THIS  suggestion  leads,  by  a  natural  passage,  to  a  considera- 
tion of  child-saving  work  in  Ireland.  That  country  is  now 
well  supplied  with  both  these  classes  of  institutions,  Protestant  as 
well  as  Catholic.  Of  reformatories  the  number  is  ten,  with  an 
aggregate  population  of  1,077  (Ir5  Protestant  and  962  Catholic). 
Of  industrial  schools  there  are  fifty-one,  with  a  total  of  inmates 
amounting  to  4,853, —  1,850  boys,  and  3,003  girls.  Of  boys  dis- 
charged from  the  reformatories  seventy-seven  per  cent  are  known 
to  be  doing  well ;  of  the  girls,  seventy-five  per  cent.  Of  boys 
sent  out  from  the  industrial  schools  eighty-one  per  cent  appear 
to  be  saved  ;  of  girls,  ninety-one  per  cent. 

The  boarding-out  plan  has  also  made  considerable  progress  in 
Ireland,  where  its  results,  as  elsewhere,  prove  highly  satisfactory. 

On  my  two  visits  to  Ireland,  being  chiefly  occupied  in  study- 
ing the  Crofton  convict  system,  I  was  able  to  inspect  only  one 
reformatory,  that  of  St.  Kevin,  —  for  the  treatment  of  Catholic 
boys  exclusively.  It  is  the  largest  reformatory  in  Ireland,  hav- 
ing an  average  of  some  three  hundred  inmates.  It  is  distant  ten 
miles  from  Dublin,  and  is  situated  at  the  head  of  the  picturesque 
valley  of  Glencree,  —  "Valley  of  the  Heart,"  —  a  name  most  ap- 
propriate, as  significant  of  the  spirit  of  love  and  kindness  in 
which  such  institutions  should  be  conducted.  Father  Fox,  born 
and  reared  in  the  Quaker  faith,  —  and  none  the  worse  for  that, 
whether  Catholic  priest  or  Protestant  pastor,  —  is  at  the  head  of 
it.  He  impressed  me  as  being  eminently  qualified  for  his  post. 
At  all  events,  he  and  his  indefatigable  corps  of  assistants  have 
shown  themselves  greatly  successful  as  regards  the  main  purpose 
of  their  work.  Ninety  per  cent  are  reformed,  and  on  their  liber- 
ation are  readily  absorbed  into  the  industrious  and  honest  yeo- 
manry of  the  country.  That  tells  the  whole  story  most  eloquently, 
and  all  further  words  may  be  spared. 


240  STATE   OF  PRISONS,   ETC.  [BOOK  ill. 


CHAPTER  XV.  —  ROYAL  COMMISSION  ON  CONVICT  PRISONS. — 
REFORMS  RECOMMENDED. 

LAST  year  (1878)  a  commission  was  appointed  by  the  Queen 
to  inquire  into  the  working  of  the  penal-servitude  Acts  ; 
that  is,  into  the  condition  and  management  of  the  convict  prisons 
of  Great  Britain.  The  commissioners  have  just  presented  their 
report,  with  the  evidence  taken  by  them,  in  three  volumes  octavo. 
They  appear  to  have  performed  the  duty  assigned  to  them  with 
diligence,  fidelity,  and  thoroughness.  The  conclusions  reached 
are  embodied  in  eleven  distinct  recommendations  as  follows  :  — 

1.  That,  in  order  to  prevent  contamination  of  the  less-hardened  con- 
victs by  old  and  habitual  offenders,  a  separate  class  should  be  formed  of 
convicts  against  whom  no  previous  conviction  of  any  kind  is  "known  to 
have  been  recorded. 

2 .  That  prisoners  convicted  of  treason-felony  should  be  separated  from 
other  convicts. 

3.  That  the  class  of  convicts  known  as  weak-minded  or  imbecile  should 
be  separated  from  other  prisoners,  and  placed  in  charge  of  officers  specially 
chosen  for  their  intelligence  and  command  of  temper. 

4.  That  the  provision  of  the  penal-servitude  Act,  1 864,  by  which,  in  a 
case  where  any  person  is  convicted  of  any  offence  punishable  with  penal 
servitude  after  having  been  previously  convicted  of  felony,  the  least  sen- 
tence of  penal  servitude  that  can  be  awarded  is  a  period  of  seven  years, 
should  be  repealed. 

5.  That  the  defect  in  the  prevention  of  crimes  Act,  1871,  which  renders 
it  practically  impossible  in  the  metropolis  to  enforce  the  law  which  requires 
convicts  on  license  and  other  persons  under  supervision  to  report  them- 
selves, be  amended  in  the  manner  pointed  out  by  the  chief  commissioner 
of  police. 

6.  That  in  the  metropolis  special  police  officers  be  appointed  for  carry- 
ing on  the  supervision  of  convicts  on  license  and  other  persons  under 
supervision,  and  that  they  should  act  in  conjunction  with  the  royal  society 
for  the  assistance  of  discharged  prisoners. 

7.  That  a  superintending  medical   officer  of  high  standing  be  ap- 
pointed. 

8.  That  arrangements  should  be  made  for  the  independent  inspection 
of  convict  prisons  by  persons  appointed  by  the  Government,  but  uncon- 
nected with  the  convict-prison  department,  and  unpaid. 

9.  That  the  prison  at  Spike  Island  be  discontinued. 

10.  That  the  dietaries  in  use  in  the  Scotch  and  Irish  convict  prisons 
be  revised. 

11.  That  two  members  of  the  Irish  prison  board  should  take  an  active 
part  in  the  management  of  the  Irish  convict  prisons. 

These  recommendations  derive  a  special  importance  from  the 
fact  that  the  home  secretary,  Mr.  Cross,  proposes  to  carry  them, 
or  most  of  them,  into  effect  in  the  administration  of  the  prisons. 


PART  i.]  ROYAL   COMMISSION  ON.  241 

Moreover,  they  look  mainly  in  the  right  direction,  and,  if  practi- 
cally applied,  would  constitute  substantial  reforms.  For  these  rea- 
sons they  merit  and  should  receive  consideration  in  this  work. 

The  most  important  of  these  recommendations,  and  certainly 
the  most  unexpected  to  one  of  another  nation  who  knows  some- 
thing of  English  sentiment  in  regard  to  outside  interference  with 
official  action,  is  the  eighth,  which  recommends  "that  arrange- 
ments be  made  for  the  independent  inspection  of  convict  prisons 
by  persons  appointed  by  the  Government,  but  unconnected  with 
the  convict-prison  department,  and  unpaid." 

Such  an  idea,  and  especially  such  action,  is  extremely  novel  in 
England,  but  quite  familiar  to  the  experience  of  the  United  States, 
where  the  practice  has  been  attended  with  the  best  effects.  The 
Prison  Association  of  New  York  has  exercised  such  power  in  that 
State  for  thirty-five  years.  It  is  authorized  by  law,  and  it  is  made 
its  duty  "to  visit,  inspect,  and  examine  all  the  prisons  in  the 
State,  and  annually  report  to  the  legislature  their  state  and  con- 
dition, and  all  such  other  things  in  regard  to  them  as  may  enable 
the  legislature  to  perfect  their  government  and  discipline."  The 
Association  is  further  authorized  to  inspect  all  the  books  of  the 
prisons  ;  to  examine,  under  oath,  officers,  employe's,  contractors, 
and  even  outside  citizens  ;  and  to  question  prisoners  "  separate 
and  apart  from  their  officers  or  any  of  them."  The  Association 
has  no  power  of  action,  but  simply  of  recommendation ;  and  there 
has  been  no  complaint  of  a  "dual  government," — an  apprehension 
of  which  appears  to  be  in  England  the  chief  ground  of  opposition 
to  the  recommendation  of  the  commission.  In  a  letter  to  the 
author  from  the  late  John  Stuart  Mill  on  the  work  of  the  New 
York  Association,  there  occurs  the  following  sentence  :  "  As  far 
as  I  can  judge  from  such  attention  as  I  have  been  able  to  give  to 
the  annual  report  of  which  you  have  favored  me  with  a  copy,  the 
objects  and  principles  of  the  Association  are  worthy  of  appro- 
bation ;  and  all  experience  shows  the  value  of  such  organizations 
in  preventing  or  checking  the  growth  of  abuse  in  the  management 
of  prisons,  reformatories,  or  workhouses." 

This  shows  very  clearly  the  opinion  of  Mr.  Mill  as  to  the  utility 
of  such  non-official  supervision  as  that  proposed  by  the  commis- 
sion, and  is  confirmatory,  so  far  as  it  goes,  of  the  wisdom  of  their 
recommendation.  But  the  evidence  given  before  the  commission 
places  its  necessity  in  a  stronger  light.  It  was  wisely  determined 
to  receive  the  statements  of  convicts,  and  give  to  them  such 
weight  as  they  might  seem  to  merit.  One  of  these  made  com- 
plaint of  the  treatment  he  had  received  at  Portland.  It  was 
proved  that,  although  an  invalid,  he  had,  within  the  space  of  fif- 
teen months,  been  subjected  at  different  times  to  a  bread-and- 
water  diet  of  one  hundred  and  thirty-four  days,  or  nearly  one- 
third  of  the  whole  time.  The  prison  doctor  admitted  that  it  was 

16 


242  STATE   OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  ill. 

"  a  tremendous  quantity  of  punishment."  The  same  prisoner 
complained  that  he  "  had  been  burned  eleven  times  with  a  red- 
hot  instrument."  The  same  doctor  also  confessed  to  having  ap- 
plied, "  some  six  or  seven  times,"  to  the  man's  body  "  a  piece  of 
metal  heated  in  a  spirit  lamp."  Two  witnesses  —  one  a  chaplain, 
the  other  a  governor  —  testified  to  the  suppression,  by  the  chief 
prison  authorities,  of  complaints  contained  in  the  sub-reports  sub- 
mitted by  chaplains  and  other  officials.  Other  facts  of  kindred 
import  appear  in  the  evidence,  all  going  to  show  the  good  policy 
of  the  commission's  recommendation  on  this  point. 

It  is  essentially  necessary  that  the  interiors  of  prisons  be  sub- 
jected to  a  perpetual  and  vigilant  observation.  Official  visitation 
and  report  are  not  enough.  The  former  is  apt  to  be  too  perfunc- 
tory ;  the  latter,  too  one-sided.  "  The  dark  places  of  the  earth 
are  full  of  cruelty,"  says  the  prophet ;  and  a  prison  is  a  very  dark 
place,  in  the  sense  of  being  shielded  from  the  public  view.  The 
vast  majority  of  good  men  and  women  know  nothing  of  their 
inner  life ;  the  nature  of  such  institutions  repels  them.  There  is 
need  that  sharp,  clear,  practised  eyes  be  directed  to  the  details  of 
their  sad  interiors,  and  that  report  to  the  Government  be  regularly 
made  of  what  is  seen  therein  ;  therefore  the  royal  commission 
and  the  home  secretary  are  to  be  commended  for  what  they  have 
done  in  this  matter. 

The  seventh  recommendation  —  which  proposes  the  appoint- 
ment of  a  medical  officer  of  -high  standing,  to  be  charged  with  a 
general  supervision  of  the  entire  medical  service  of  the  convict 
prisons  in  England — is  no  less  judicious.  The  functions  of  such 
officer  would  be  to  visit  each  prison  at  both  stated  and  uncertain 
times ;  to  ascertain  the  manner  in  which  the  medical  duties  in  the 
several  prisons  are  performed  ;  to  inspect  the  hospitals  and  con- 
victs under  punishment  at  each  visit ;  to  consult  with  the  resident 
medical  officers  in  cases  of  unusual  difficulty ;  to  give  advice  with 
reference  to  the  removal  of  invalid,  weak-minded,  or  insane  con- 
victs to  a  prison  better  suited  to  such  cases  ;  to  investigate  com- 
plaints of  alleged  medical  neglect  made  by  prisoners  ;  and  to  give 
counsel  as  to  the  selection  of  persons  to  fill  the  office  of  assistant- 
surgeons.  All  this  is  sound  advice ;  and  there  is  the  greater 
reason  for  giving  effect  to  it,  as  the  medical  officers  of  the  several 
convict  prisons  are  themselves  favorable  to  the  creation  of  such 
an  office.  It  is  the  system  adopted  in  Sweden,  where  its  opera- 
tion is  found  to  be  excellent. 

Among  other  recommendations  made  by  the  royal  commission 
is  that  of  the  discontinuance  of  the  prison  at  Spike  Island,  at  which 
is  served  out  the  second  stage,  —  that  of  progressive  classification 
in  the  Irish  convict  system  as  inaugurated  by  Sir  Walter  Crofton 
more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century  ago.  In  this  stage  is  embodied 
the  very  essence  and  kernel  of  that  system.  Therefore  a  recom- 


PART  i.]  ROYAL   COMMISSION  ON.  243 

mendation  to  abolish  the  prison  in  which  that  stage  is  applied 
sounds  like  a  sentence  of  condemnation  against  the  system  itself  ; 
and  by  persons  who  do  not  look  below  the  surface  and  the  sound 
of  things  it  may  be  so  conceived  of,  so  interpreted.  But  such  a 
conception  would  be  a  grave  error ;  and  certainly  little  more  can 
be  needed  in  refutation  of  such  an  interpretation  than  the  fact 
that  Sir  Walter  himself  favors  the  recommendation.  The  ground 
on  which  the  commissioners  base  their  recommendation  does  not 
touch  that  question.  This  is  what  they  say  of  it :  — 

"  The  very  defective  construction  of  the  prison,  and  especially  of  the 
sleeping-cells,  renders  it  impossible  to  enforce  proper  discipline,  while 
the  constant  opportunities  of  seeing  the  outside  world  afforded  the  pris- 
oners, both  when  at  work  and  when  going  to  and  returning  from  Haul- 
bowline,  greatly  impair  the  severity  of  the  discipline.  Indeed,  Captain 
Barlow  l  goes  so  far  as  to  say  that  penal  servitude,  as  at  Spike  Island, 
has  very  little  terror  for  criminals.  The  intermixture  also  of  the  con- 
victs on  the  works  with  free  laborers  and  with  soldiers  on  the  ramparts, 
though  limited  as  much  as  possible,  is  most  objectionable ;  and  generally 
the  system  appears  to  be  more  lax  than  in  the  English  convict  prisons. 
Sir  Walter  Crofton  informed  us  that  it  was  contemplated  before  he  left  Ire- 
land that  the  convicts  should  be  removed  from  Spike  Island.  He  strongly 
condemns  the  establishment  as  unfitted  for  every  branch  of  prison  treat- 
ment, and  is  anxious  that  it  should  be  abolished  and  broken  up  altogether 
without  delay.  No  doubt  some  of  the  objections  to  it  might  be  obviated 
by  the  construction  of  a  new  prison  upon  approved  principles ;  but  it 
appears  from  Sir  Walter  Crofton's  evidence  that  the  war  office  has  been 
constantly  writing  to  request  that  the  prison  be  given  up  and  the  convicts 
taken  away."  2 

Unless,  therefore,  Sir  Walter  has  turned  against  his  own  sys- 
tem,—  nay,  unless  he  had  turned  against  it  while  still  in  charge  of 
its  administration, —  the  recommendation  of  the  commission  has 
nothing  to  do  with  its  merits  pro  or  con.  Yet  the  excellent  sec- 
retary of  the  Howard  Association,  Mr.  Tallack,  my  honored  and 
esteemed  friend,  in  the  annual  report  of  1879  f°r  that  Association, 
which  is  doing  such  effective  work  for  prison  reform,  in  comment- 
ing on  this  proposal  of  the  commission,  says  among  other  things : 
"  Unfortunately  the  Royal  Commissioners  have  not  recommended 
the  fundamental  reform  of  abolishing  the  associated  system  al- 
together. This  may  perhaps  ultimately  be  obtained."  My  friend 
is  very  persistent,  and  as  sincere  as  he  is  persistent,  in  his  oppo- 
sition to  any  and  all  association  of  prisoners  as  necessarily  and 
always  corrupting.  But  because  such  association  is  corrupting 

1  The  director  of  convict  prisons  for  Ireland. 

2  It  may  not  be  generally  known  that  Spike  Island  is  a  military  post  on  which  a 
considerable  body  of  soldiers  is  stationed.     This  produces  a  double  inconvenience, 
—  on  one  side  to  the  military,  on  the  other  to  the  prison,  —  and  makes  the  discipline 
of  both  soldiers  and  prisoners  more  difficult. 


244  STATE   OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  III. 

under  some  circumstances,  to  draw  from  that  fact  the  conclusion 
that  it  must  be  corrupting  under  all  circumstances  seems  to  me  a 
little — or  to  speak  more  correctly  not  a  little  —  illogical.  As  the 
French  say,  "  That  depends."  I  insist  that  a  competent  prison- 
governor,  with  competent  aids,  can  mould  the  public  opinion  of 
his  prison  to  his  will.  I  insist  that,  possessing  this  ability,  he 
can  so  mould  it  that  it  shall  be  favorable  to  virtue  rather  than  to 
vice.  And  I  insist,  as  the  necessary  corollary,  that  there  may  be 
created  in  prisons  a  contagion  of  good  .as  well  as  a  contagion  of 
evil.  Now  it  would  be  more  reasonable  to  contest  this  point  if 
there  had  never  been  any  experience  to  attest  it.  But  Maconochie 
created  and  made  effective  such  a  public  opinion  even  among  the 
dregs  of  criminals  on  Norfolk  Island,  and  through  it  wrought 
marvels  —  almost  miracles  —  of  reformation  among  them.  Ober- 
maier  did  the  same  in  Bavaria,  Montesinos  in  Spain,  Despine 
in  Savoy,  Sollohub  in  Russia,  Demetz  in  France,  and  Wichern  in 
Germany.  Brockway  is  doing  it  to-day  at  Elmira,  in  the  United 
States  ;  and  so  are  hosts  of  superintendents  or  directors  of  juvenile 
prisons  under  the  name  of  correctional  or  reformatory  institutions 
all  over  the  world.  What  has  been  done  can  be,  and,  when  prison 
reform  is  sufficiently  advanced,  will  be  to  an  extent  not  dreamed 
of  to-day.  I  am  no  enemy,  but  a  staunch  partisan,  of  cellular  im- 
prisonment in  what  I  conceive  to  be  its  proper  place  and  function, 
but  I  do  not  believe  that  its  rdle  and  destiny  is  to  usher  in  the 
millennium. 

The  Irish  or  Crofton  system  may  undoubtedly  be  improved  in 
the  details  of  its  application,  and  especially  in  the  character  and 
qualification  of  those  who  administer  it.  But  I  believe  it  to  be 
thoroughly  right  in  principle,  since  it  is  constructed  on  a  distinct 
recognition  of  the  moral  nature  of  man,  and  adapts  its  agencies, 
imperfectly  it  may  be,  to  that  nature.  But  it  is  an  immense 
advance  in  the  right  direction,  because  it  recognizes  in  the  pris- 
oner a  man  and  a  brother  though  fallen  and  marred,  and  deals 
with  him  on  a  principle  and  in  a  way  at  once  intelligent,  humane, 
and  just.  It  aims  to  surround  him  with  motives  as  well  as 
walls.  Under  it  the  prison  is  no  longer  a  grave  for  the  living, 
but  is  transformed  instead  to  a  moral  sanitarium,  in  which  human 
beings,  dead  to  virtue,  may  begin  a  new  life. 

The  fourth  recommendation  of  the  royal  commission  proposes 
the  repeal  of  that  provision  of  the  penal-servitude  Act  of  1864, 
whereby,  in  case  of  the  conviction  of  a  person  of  a  felonious  of- 
fence after  having  been  previously  convicted  of  a  felony,  the  least 
sentence  to  be  awarded  is  for  seven  years.  There  can  be  no 
doubt  of  the  wisdom  of  this  advice  on  general  grounds,  and  least 
of  all  after  the  statement  of  Mr.  Justice  Lush,  who  said  in  his  evi- 
dence :  "  I  am  of  opinion  that  the  provision  has  worked  very  ill. 
Cases  constantly  occur  in  which  a  seven-years'  sentence  would  be 


PARTI.]  ROYAL   COMMISSION  ON.  24$ 

excessive ;  and  I  have  forborne,  and  I  know  my  brethren  have 
also  forborne,  to  give  penal  servitude  at  all,  and  have  restricted 
the  punishment  to  two  years'  imprisonment  [in  a  county  or  bor- 
ough prison],  which  in  practice  generally  is  eighteen  months." 
Mr.  Lush  further  told  the  commissioners  that  his  colleagues  of 
the  criminal-code  commission  authorized  him  to  say  in  their 
name,  that  there  was  a  general  complaint  among  those  engaged 
in  the  administration  of  criminal  justice  that  the  enactment  inju- 
riously "  hampered  the  discretion  of  the  judge."  He  further 
stated  that  it  was  the  opinion  of  "  every  judge  he  knew,  and  of 
every  body  he  had  heard  of,"  that  "  the  seven  years'  minimum 
is  too  high,  that  it  is  very  injurious,  and  that  many  sentences  of 
imprisonment  which  are  felt  to  be  inadequate  are  passed,  in  order 
to  avoid  that  which  would  be  an  excess." 

The  recommendation  of  the  commissioners  (first  in  order)  in 
regard  to  the  separation  of  prisoners  convicted  for  the  first  time 
from  habitual  criminals  is  well  enough,  and  might  be  attended 
with  beneficial  results,  with  the  power,  as  suggested,  reserved  to 
the  prison  authorities  to  remove  a  prisoner  from  this  whenever 
they  deemed  it  expedient.  Still,  I  would  not  place  too  much  faith 
in  arbitrary  classification,  whether  based  on  crime,  age,  convic- 
tion, or  any  other  specific  datum.  The  most  effective  classifica- 
tion, to  my  apprehension,  is  of  a  moral  kind  ;  a  classification 
based  on  the  progressive  principle,  and  made  to  depend  on  the 
obviously  honest  efforts  of  the  prisoner  towards  self-restraint, 
self-control,  self -conquest,  self-improvement,  —  in  one  word,  a 
thorough  and  permanent  change  of  purpose,  habit,  and  life. 

The  sixth  recommendation  is  excellent,  and  cannot  too  soon  be 
carried  into  execution.  It  .proposes  the  appointment  of  special 
police  officers  to  be  charged  with  the  supervision  of  convicts  on 
license  and  other  persons  subject  to  supervision,  and  that  they 
should  act  in  conjunction  with  the  royal  society  for  the  assistance 
of  discharged  prisoners.  It  appears  from  a  remark  made  by  Sir 
Walter  Crofton  in  a  paper  read  before  the  late  meeting  of  the  so- 
cial science  congress  at  Manchester,  that  the  Association  named 
has  always  been  in  favor  of  a  co-operation  of  what  may  be  termed 
benevolent  agency  with  the  police;  and  this,  on  the  commis- 
sioners' recommendation,  is  now  likely  to  be  adopted  by  the  Gov- 
ernment. It  is  suggested  that  these  officers  be  selected  for  their 
special  fitness  for  this  service ;  that  they  wear  no  uniform  ;  and 
that  they  be  not  called  upon  to  discharge  any  of  the  ordinary 
police  duties.  4<  In  this  manner,"  say  the  commissioners,  "if  the 
officers  were  judiciously  selected  we  are  satisfied  that,  while  ill- 
disposed  persons  would  be  far  more  effectually  watched,  the  bet- 
ter disposed  would  come  to  look  upon  the  supervising  officers 
rather  as  friends  than  as  enemies,  and  complaints  of  undue  inter- 
ference would  seldom  occur.  In  short,  these  officers  would,  we 


246  STATE   OF  PRISONS,   ETC.  [BooK  in. 

hope,  act  in  the  spirit  of  the  late  Mr.  Organ,  who  for  many  years, 
as  is  well  known,  managed  with  such  remarkable  success  the  su- 
pervision of  discharged  convicts  in  the  Dublin  district." 

The  second  and  third  recommendations  are  good,  but  do  not 
call  for  special  comment.  The  fifth,  through  the  prompt  action 
of  the  home  secretary,  who  appears  to  enter  with  much  zeal  into 
the  reforms  suggested,  has  already  been  carried  into  effect  by  the 
passage  of  a  short  Act  to  that  end.  The  tenth  and  eleventh  are 
purely  local,  and  therefore  without  general  interest. 

The  commission  make  a  conditional  recommendation,  not  in- 
cluded in  their  final  enumeration,  of  the  establishment  of  the 
intermediate  prison  in  England,  in  the  following  words:  — 

"  It  will  be  seen,  on  reference  to  the  proceedings  of  the  commission  of 
1863,  that  a  recommendation,  proposed  by  the  late  Earl  of  Mayo,  that  the 
Irish  system  of  intermediate  prisons  should  be  tried  in  England  was,  after 
being  carried  in  one  meeting,  subsequently  struck  out  by  a  majority  of  one 
only.  Both  Sir  Walter  Crofton  and  Captain  Barlow  bear  very  decided  tes- 
timony to  the  continued  good  results  obtained  from  the  establishment  at 
Lusk.  The  favorable  experience  of  this  system  extends  now  over  many 
years  ;  and  it  appears  to  us  to  be  deserving  of  consideration  whether,  —  if 
our  recommendation  to  form  a  separate  class  of  prisoners  against  whom  no 
conviction  is  known  to  have  been  recorded  before  they  receive  a  sentence 
of  penal  servitude  is  adopted,  —  there  might  not  be  advantages  in  creating 
an  establishment  on  the  intermediate  principle,  to  which  prisoners  belong- 
ing to  that  class  could  be  sent  during  the  latter  part  of  their  term  of 
punishment." 

As  the  Earl  of  Carnarvon  said  on  another  recent  occasion,  "if 
that  motion  needed  a  seconder,  I  would  claim  to  be  that  person," 
believing  firmly,  that,  if  the  proposed  class  should  be  created  and 
the  proposed  intermediate  prison  established  for  it,  it  would  lead 
to  the  speedy  application  of  the  principle  to  the  entire  population 
of  the  convict  prisons  of  England. 

Two  suggestions  were  made  by  witnesses,  which,  though  not 
adopted  by  the  commission,  merit  a  brief  approving  mention. 

The  first  was  made  by  Sir  Walter  Crofton,  touching  the  profes- 
sional education  of  prison  officers.  In  his  paper  at  Manchester 
occurs  the  following  paragraph  :  — 

"  I  brought  before  the  commissioners  a  matter  upon  which  I  have  long 
thought,  and  to  which  I  attribute  considerable  importance,  —  I  mean  the 
training  of  prison  officers.  This  subject  was  discussed  at  the  international 
prison  congress  in  London  in  1872,  and  received  very  considerable  sup- 
port. It  was  further  discussed  at  the  recent  Stockholm  Congress,  having  in 
the  mean  time  acquired  the  light  of  experience  obtained  in  Italy  through 
the  exertions  of  the  inspector  of  prisons,  M.  Beltrani-Scalia.  There  was,  I 
understand,  a  resolution  in  its  favor  unanimously  passed  at  Stockholm  ;  and 
I  maintain  that,  taking  into  consideration  how  much  the  conduct  of  the 


PART  I.]  ROYAL   COMMISSION  ON.  247 

officers  has  to  do  with  prison  offences  and  the  reformation  of  criminals, 
we  are  bound  to  give  due  and  favorable  consideration  to  the  experience 
obtained  not  only  in  Italy,  but  in  Belgium  and  Switzerland.  By  reference 
to  my  annual  report  for  1857,  it  will  be  seen  that  I  not  only  advocated  the 
special  training  of  prison  officers,  but  carried  it  out  at  Smithfield  interme- 
diate prison,  Dublin,  on  a  small  scale  with  success." 

It  is  a  great  pleasure  to  be  able  to  cite  so  high  an  authority  in 
favor  of  what  I  conceive  to  be  one  of  the  most  urgent  as  well  as 
vital  of  prison  reforms. 

Mr.  Tallack,  secretary  of  the  Howard  Association,  in  his  evi- 
dence strongly  recommended  the  admission  into  the  prisons  of 
judicious  outside  visitors  to  give  unsectarian,  religious,  and  moral 
addresses  to  the  convicts,  or  to  visit  them  in  their  cells  with  a  view 
to  afford  beneficial  instruction  and  counsel  after  the  manner  of 
John  Howard,  Mrs.  Fry,  Sarah  Martin,  and  others  in  a  former 
generation.  Not  only  in  England  but  on  the  Continent,  with  the 
exception  of  Holland,  there  is  a  strong  feeling  against  the  admis- 
sion into  prisons  of  non-official  visitors.  This  is  a  sentiment  which 
we  in  America  can  neither  understand  nor  appreciate,  where  we 
see  every  day  so  much  good  accomplished  through  this  agency. 
Let  the  reader  recall  what  has  been  said  of  several  of  our  State- 
prisons,  and  particularly  that  in  Iowa,  where  one  of  the  judges  of 
the  supreme  court  has  been  for  years  a  teacher  in  the  prison  Sun- 
clay-school,  and  where  the  temporary  withdrawal  of  the  privilege 
of  attendance  upon  the  said  school  is  felt  by  the  convicts  to  be 
the  severest  of  punishments.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  this  prejudice 
will  ere  long  give  way,  especially  in  England,  where  there  are  so 
many  excellent  ladies  as  well  as  gentlemen  who  would  gladly  re- 
spond to  an  invitation,  or  a  permission  even,  to  enter  this  field  of 
Christian  labor. 


248  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  ill. 


PART    SECOND. 

COLONIAL    POSSESSIONS. 

CHAPTER  XVI.  —  CANADA. 

A  PENITENTIARY    (convict    prison),    two    reformatories, 
and    fifty-four    county   jails    (thirty- three    in    the    upper 
and  twenty-one  in  the  lower  province)  constitute  the  machinery 
for    crime-prevention    and    crime-repression    in    Canada.      The 
Auburn  system  of  imprisonment  is  practised  in  the  penitentiary, 
but  the  night  cells  are  exceedingly  small,  containing  only  one 
hundred  and  twenty-four  cubic  feet  each.     The  central  adminis- 
tration is  in  the  ministry  of  justice.     Under  the  minister  is  an 
inspector,  who  visits  the  institution   twice  a  year  at  least,  and 
oftener  when  necessary.     The  higher  officers  are  appointed  by 
the  minister,  and  the  subordinates  by  the  warden,  subject  to  the 
minister's  approval.     All  officers  retain  their  positions  so  long  as 
they  show  themselves  capable  and  faithful.      Political  influence 
does  not  control  appointments.     The  discipline  is  intended  to 
be  both  deterrent  and  reformatory,  and  is  believed  to  have  a  ten- 
dency more  or  less  marked  and  effective  in  both  directions.     It 
is  not  sternly  coercive,  but,  while  strict,  is  kind  and  persuasive. 
The  vast  majority  of  prisoners  serve  out  their  time  without  re- 
ceiving or  deserving  any  punishment.    By  this  humane  treatment 
the  prisoners  are  kept  in  comparative  good  humor,  and  perform 
their  tasks  with  cheerfulness  and  alacrity.     The  dark  cell,  low 
diet,  and  withdrawal   of  privileges  are  the   chief   punishments, 
corporal  inflictions  being  rarely  used.     A  good  prison  school  is 
maintained,  by  which  the  illiterate  are  taught  to  read,  write,  and 
cipher,  which  is  found  to  be  a  further  encouragement  to  obedi- 
ence and  industry.     Both  Protestant  and  Catholic  chaplains,  sin- 
cere and  earnest  men,  are  employed,  who  instruct  the  prisoners 
in  spiritual  matters  quite  as  effectively  as  any  clergyman  does  his 
congregation  outside.     The  convicts  are  allowed  lights  in  their 
cells,  and  a  well-selected  library  is  provided  for  their  use.     They 
are  permitted  to  write  weekly  to  their  friends,  and  five  days'  re- 
mission of  sentence  is  each  month  accorded  to  those  who  are 
industrious  and  well-behaved.    They  are  suitably  fed  and  clothed, 
and  kept  in  all  respects  clean  and  comfortable.     On  liberation 
they  are  furnished  with   a  new  suit  of  clothes  and  a  sum  of 


PART  n.]  IN  CANADA.  249 

money  varying  from  ten  to  twenty-five  dollars,  which  is  sufficient 
to  support  a  man  in  Canada  till  he  finds  work,  if  he  desires  it. 
The  moral  effect  of  correspondence  with  parents  and  other  near 
relatives  is,  in  general,  found  to  be  excellent.  This  privilege, 
with  those  of  the  cell-light  and  use  of  library,  is  highly  prized ; 
and  when  any,  and  especially  all  of  them,  are  withheld  for  a  time 
the  privation  is  keenly  felt.  It  is  a  punishment  more  severe,  and 
more  effective,  than  would  be  the  lash.  The  proportion  of  women 
to  men  scarcely  exceeds  three  per  cent.  In  the  jails  it  is  larger, 
because  the  prostitute  class  is  included  in  their  populations. 

The  distinction  of  penal  and  industrial  labor  is  unknown  in 
Canada.  The  labor  is  all  productive,  and  consists  in  farm  work, 
quarrying,  stone-cutting,  carpentry,  smithery,  shoemaking,  tailor- 
ing, etc.  The  contract  system  is  not  in  use.  The  sanitary  con- 
dition is  reported  as  all  that  could  be  desired.  Sentences  range 
from  two  years  to  life  ;  but  these  last  are  generally  commuted 
sentences  in  murder  cases.  Repeated  short  sentences  are  found 
to  increase  crime.  After  two  or  three  imprisonments  of  this  sort, 
criminals  become  to  a  great  extent  professional.  The  deterrent 
effect  of  long  sentences  is  thought  to  be  greater  than  that  of 
short  ones ;  and  for  reformation  they  are  indispensable.  Life- 
sentences  do  not  commonly  end  by  death  in  the  prison.  After 
an  imprisonment  of  some  length,  if  the  conduct  of  the  prisoner 
has  been  good,  a  free  pardon  is  granted.  The  death-penalty  exists, 
but  is  enforced  only  in  clear  cases  of  murder.  Opinion  varies 
as  to  its  effect  on  crime.  There  is  a  strong  party  opposed  to  it. 
Imprisonment  for  debt  went  with  the  pillory  and  flogging  at  the 
tail  of  a  cart. 

Criminals  in  Canadian  penitentiaries  are  surrounded  with  good 
influences,  which  certainly  in  many  cases  have  more  or  less  of  a 
reformatory  effect.  There  are  men  who  form  good  resolutions 
in  prison,  and  are  better  in  some  respects  when  they  leave  than 
when  they  entered  it.  But  too  many  return  to  their  old  haunts 
and  their  old  associations,  and  soon  fall  into  evil  ways  again. 
Liberated  prisoners,  in  a  large  and  thinly  populated  country  like 
Canada,  where  labor  is  in  demand  and  food  cheap,  have  a  much 
better  opportunity  to  earn  an  honest  living  than  in  the  more 
populous  countries  of  Europe  ;  and  hence  aid  societies  are  less 
needed  here  than  there.  Moreover  it  is  every  way  best  that 
criminals  should,  as  soon  as  possible,  put  in  practice  outside  the 
industry  to  which  they  had  been  accustomed  in  prison. 

Not  much  can  be  said  in  favor  of  the  county  jails.  They  are 
used  for  the  confinement  of  all  classes  of  offenders,  tried  and 
untried,  from  capital  to  police  cases.  Even  the  insane  are  fre- 
quently confined  in  them.  There  is  no  general  system  of  prison 
management  or  discipline,  and  no  provision  for  schooling  or  re- 
ligious services.  Nor  does  the  "  voluntary  system  "  supply  this 


250  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BooK  in. 

want  except  in  a  very  few  instances.     "It  is  a  subject  of  most 

Eainful  observation,"  says  one  of  the  inspector's  reports,  "  that  so 
iw  of  the  clergy  devote  any  attention  to  the  common  jails." 

The  two  reformatories  are  juvenile  prisons.  Their  govern- 
ment is  similar  to  that  of  the  penitentiary.  Youths,  convicted 
of  offences  for  which  they  would  otherwise  be  sent  to  the  peni- 
tentiary for  not  more  than  five  years,  or  to  a  common  jail  for  not 
less  than  fourteen  days,  may  be  sent  to  these  reformatories  in- 
stead, if  their  age  does  not  in  the  one  case  exceed  twenty-one, 
in  the  other,  sixteen  years. 


CHAPTER  XVII.  —  ONTARIO. 

A  WINDFALL  came  to  the  province  of  Ontario  recently, 
which  has  inured  to  the  benefit  of  its  penal  administra- 
tion. There  fell  to  the  crown,  in  default  of  legal  heirs,  the  entire 
estate  of  one  Andrew  Mercer,  a  wealthy  citizen,  out  of  which  the 
sum  of  $  90,000  was  appropriated  to  found  an  industrial  prison  for 
women.  This  prison,  when  finished,  will  form  the  last  link  in  the 
chain  of  the  prison  system  of  the  province.  There  will  then  be  pro- 
vided the  following  classes  of  prisons  :  the  common  jails,  for  mis- 
demeanants sentenced  for  short  periods,  and  for  persons  awaiting 
trial ;  the  central  prison  for  prisoners  selected  from  the  county 
jails  convicted  of  the  more  serious  offences,  as  well  as  for  those 
sentenced  direct  thereto  by  the  provincial  courts  ;  the  adult  prison 
for  females,  now  being  erected  out  of  the  estate  of  Mr.  Mercer ; 
and  two  reformatories,  —  one  for  girls  under  sixteen,  the  other  for 
young  lads  at  Penetanguishene. 

The  inspector  reports  a  decrease  in  the  aggregate  number  of 
commitments  to  the  county  jails  for  1878,  as  compared  with  that 
of  former  years  ;  but  the  decrease  is  altogether  of  males,  while 
there  has  been  a  slight  increase  of  women. 

The  inspector  also  reports  a  continued  improvement  in  the  con- 
dition and  management  of  the  common  jails.  Every  jail  in  the 
province  has  been  either  rebuilt  or  altered  to  conform  to  the 
requirements  of  the  prison-inspection  Act.  The  discipline  has 
greatly  improved,  and  the  vigilance  of  the  officials  has  under- 
gone a  marked  change  for  the  better.  This  is  so  far  satisfactory; 
but  there  remains  the  very  unsatisfactory  fact,  that,  with  the  di- 
vided authority  existing  between  the  Government  and  the  county 
councils,  it  is  not  possible  to  have  the  desired  uniformity  in  the 
discipline,  nor  to  introduce  other  reforms  deemed  essential  to  the 
highest  efficiency  of  these  local  establishments.  For  the  above 


PART  ii.]  IN  NEWFOUNDLAND.  2$l 

reasons  the  hope  is  expressed  that  the  legislature  will  see  its  way 
clear  to  follow  the  example  of  England,  and  assume  the  entire 
management  and  control  of  the  common  jails  of  the  province. 

The  reformatory  institutions  seem  to  be  doing  their  work  well 
and  efficiently. 


CHAPTER  XVIII.  —  NEWFOUNDLAND. 

IN  giving  an  account  of  the  prison  system  and  administration 
of  this  colony,  I  cannot  better  accomplish  my  object  than 
by  citing,  with  slight  modifications,  chiefly  by  way  of  condensa- 
tion, a  communication  addressed  to  me,  under  instruction  of  the 
colonial  government,  by  the  Hon.  H.  W.  Hughes,  chief -justice  of 
the  supreme  court  ot  the  colony.  He  says  in  substance  :  — 

"  You  will  notice  that  a  few  of  the  questions  remain,  in  whole  or  in  part, 
unanswered ;  but  you  will  also  readily  perceive  that  this  arises  from  the 
absence  among  us  of  those  elaborate  and  extensive  institutions  which  are 
unnecessary  in  a  population  so  small  and  so  comparatively  free  from  seri- 
ous crime  as  is  ours,  and  to  which  alone  these  queries  could  apply. 

"  Our  establishments  for  the  reception  and  treatment  of  criminals  con- 
sist of,  first,  a  penitentiary,  situate  in  the  neighborhood  of  St.  John's,  and, 
secondly,  a  number  of  small  prisons  attached  to  the  court-houses  in  the 
several  outpost  settlements  visited  by  the  judges  of  the  supreme  court  on 
their  circuits. 

"  The  latter  contain  cells  for  from  three  to  ten  prisoners,  and  have  small 
yards  for  affording  air  and  exercise  to  the  prisoners ;  but  they  are  princi- 
pally intended  for  the  detention  of  offenders  awaiting  trial  by  the  circuit 
judge,  or  for  transmission  under  his  sentence  to  St.  John's,  and  the  punish- 
ment of  prisoners  committed  by  justices  of  the  peace  for  small  offences 
punishable  by  a  few  weeks'  or  months'  imprisonment.  Neither  has  space 
enough  for  any  industrial  employment  of  the  inmates  other  than  cutting 
wood  for  the  prison  fires,  or  removing  snow  from  the  jails.  Many  of  them 
continue  without  occupants  for  very  long  intervals  and  even  in  the  larger 
and  more  populous  settlements  ;  the  average  number  of  committals  is  very 
small,  and  of  these  the  greater  part  are  for  a  few  days  only. 

"  The  penitentiary  is  a  granite  building,  three  stories  high,  eighty-one  feet 
long,  and  forty-seven  wide.  It  is  situated  in  a  healthy  locality,  about  a 
quarter  of  a  mile  from  the  town  of  St.  John's,  on  a  large  plot  of  ground 
surrounded  by  a  high  and  substantial  fence,  within  which  are  yards  for 
exercise  and  gardens  which  afford  employment  to  the  prisoners  in  summer 
and  produce  vegetables  for  the  use  of  the  establishment. 

"  The  cells  contain  each  eighty-four  cubic  feet  of  space  ;  they  have  no 
furniture,  are  lighted  by  high  grated  windows,  and  have  a  grating  in  the 
door  for  observation  from  the  outside ;  the  sleeping  berths  are  solid  in- 
clined planes  of  wood  resting  on  the  floor,  and  on  these  a  mattress  and 
bed  clothing  are  placed  at  night. 


252  STATE   OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  III. 

"  The  building  is  well  ventilated  by  shafts,  is  heated  by  hot  air,  and  has 
an  abundant  supply  of  good  water  from  a  well  in  the  basement  story.  The 
drainage  is  efficient. 

"  The  yearly  committals  are  on  an  average  of  one  hundred  and  forty 
males  and  ten  females.  The  number  of  prisoners  varies  with  the  season  of 
the  year,  there  being  naturally  a  larger  number  of  offenders  in  the  idle  inter- 
vals between  the  fisheries  than  at  those  times  when  the  people  are  generally 
busy.  By  far  the  larger  proportion  of  the  committals  are  for  assaults,  petty 
larcenies,  and  desertion  from  merchant-ships,  —  cases  adjudicated  on  by 
the  police  magistrates  of  St.  John's.  The  penitentiary  receives  all  sen- 
tenced in  St.  John's,  and  also  those  who  are  sent  thither  by  the  circuit 
judge  from  outposts.  Occasionally  there  is  a  commitment  for  homicide 
occurring  in  the  heat  of  blood,  and  at  rare  intervals  one  for  wilful  murder. 
The  last  execution  was  in  1872,  and  there  had  been  none  for  forty  years 
previously.  Of  highway  robbery  I  remember  only  one  case.  Neither 
burglary,  nor  forgery,  nor  rape,  nor  grand  larcenies  are  frequent. 

"  The  punishments  are, — for  murder,  hanging ;  for  all  other  offences,  im- 
prisonment with  hard  labor ;  and  where  an  offence  has  been  accompanied 
by  severe  personal  violence,  or  the  convict  is  an  old  offender,  whipping, 
applied  to  males  only,  any  number  of  lashes  not  over  twenty  being  given, 
but  not  more  than  three  times. 

"  The  hard  labor  for  males  is  shot-drill,  work  at  the  force-pump,  shoe- 
making,  mat-making,  carpentry,  and  labor  in  the  gardens  or  about  the 
grounds ;  and  for  females,  washing,  making  and  mending  prison  clothes, 
knitting,  and  sewing.  The  prisoners  are  wholly  supplied  with  shoes  by 
their  own  labor,  materials  being  of  course  found  them ;  but  their  labor  in 
other  respects  bears  in  its  results  no  important  proportion  to  the  expen- 
diture. 

"  The  prisoners  are  not  allowed  to  associate  except  when  at  work  under 
the  eye  of  an  officer,  or  during  meals ;  at  other  times  they  are  confined  to 
their  cells. 

"  The  classification  of  the  prisoners  is,  first,  between  the  sexes  ;  secondly, 
between  those  for  trial  and  those  convicted ;  thirdly,  between  felons  and 
misdemeanants ;  and,  fourthly,  between  old  offenders  and  those  received 
for  the  first  time. 

"  Re-committals  are  not  numerous,  and  are  found  only  among  St.  John's 
roughs.  Their  number  is  too  small  to  require  as  yet  any  special  legislation 
such  as  would  provide,  for  instance,  for  permanent  imprisonment  until  a 
moral  change  had  been  wrought  in  their  characters  ;  and  the  same  cause 
renders  the  establishment  of  a  reformatory  for  juvenile  criminals  unnec- 
essary. 

"  Generally  speaking,  the  term  of  imprisonment  imposed  upon  convicts 
is  under  two  years,  and  any  remission  of  this  sentence  seldom  occurs,  and 
only  upon  special  grounds  arising  after  judgment. 

"  There  is  no  prison  school  for  general  instruction,  but  clergymen  of  the 
several  denominations  and  Sisters  of  Mercy  visit  and  give  religious  instruc- 
tion to  the  members  of  their  respective  communions. 

"  The  penitentiary  is  by  law  under  the  management  and  control  of  the 
Board  of  Works,  some  of  the  members  of  which  visit  it  at  irregular  inter- 
vals ;  and  the  judges  of  the  supreme  court  and  the  police  magistrates  also 
visit  and  inspect  it  as  they  see  occasion. 


PART  n.]  IN  NOVA  SCOTIA.  253 

"  A  weekly  report  is  made  to  the  judges  of  the  supreme  court  by  both 
the  keeper  and  the  jail  surgeon. 

"  The  average  number  of  prisoners  who  can  read  and  write  is  about  fifty 
per  cent  of  the  committals. 

"  The  reports  of  the  surgeon  and  governor  show  that  the  health  of  the 
prisoners  is  generally  good,  and  their  conduct  in  prison  is  satisfactory. 
Witnesses  are  never  committed  to  prison  ;  they  are  bound  by  their  own  re- 
cognizance to  appear  and  give  evidence." 


CHAPTER  XIX.  —  NOVA  SCOTIA.  —  NEW  BRUNSWICK.  —  PRINCE 
EDWARD'S  ISLAND.  —  VANCOUVER  ISLAND. — BRITISH  COLUM- 
BIA.—  FALKLAND  ISLANDS.  —  BERMUDA. 

AS  president  of  the  International  Penitentiary  Commission,  I 
received  official  reports  only  from  Canada,  Toronto,  and 
Newfoundland.  For  the  other  colonies  in  the  North  American 
department  my  authority  is  the  "  Digest  and  Summary  of  Infor- 
mation respecting  Prisons  in  the  Colonies,"  —  a  "  Blue  Book " 
issued  by  the  British  Government  in  1867.  The  information  may 
be,  to  a  certain  extent,  obsolete ;  but  it  is  likely  still  to  be,  in  the 
main,  correct. 

NOVA  SCOTIA.  —  Besides  the  county  jails  in  this  country  there 
are  three  principal  prisons,  —  the  penitentiary,  the  Halifax  county 
jail,  and  the  Halifax  city  prison.  A  great  deficiency  of  practical 
experience  and  systematic  supervision  exists  in  all  that  affects  the 
discipline  and  general  management  of  the  prisons.  In  the  common 
jails  there  is  no  labor,  no  dietetic  scale,  no  limitation  of  sleep,  and 
no  discipline,  properly  so  called.  The  petty  criminals  live,  in  some 
cases,  rather  as  members  of  the  jailer's  family  than  as  prisoners. 
In  neither  of  the  three  principal  prisons,  which  receive  criminals 
who  have  committed  crimes  of  a  graver  character,  is  there  any 
discipline  of  a  nature  to  counterbalance  the  want  of  both  in  the 
county  jails. 

NEW  BRUNSWICK  has  one  penitentiary  and  fourteen  county  jails. 
The  penitentiary  is  modelled  after  the  Massachusetts  State-prison, 
and  is  on  the  whole  well  managed.  There  is  no  penal  labor  in  the 
technical  sense,  only  industrial.  The  county  prisons  are  under 
no  general  law,  and  are  managed  on  no  uniform  system.  They 
are,  for  the  most  part,  badly  constructed  as  regards  both  health 
and  security.  Overcrowding  is  not  uncommon.  Female  prison- 
ers are  not  always  looked  after  by  female  warders.  Only  two  out 
of  the  fourteen  have  any  set  of  rules  or  regulations,  and  these  are 


254  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  in. 

very  meagre ;  in  only  one  are  religious  services  held.  Instruction, 
gradations,  rewards,  separation,  enforced  silence,  —  of  these  there 
is  none.  In  two  only  is  there  any  labor,  and  that  is  "  work  done 
for  the  jailer."  One  jail  has  an  exercise  yard,  twenty-one  feet 
square  ;  the  others,  none.  But  whatever  else  is  stinted,  the  privi- 
lege of  sleep  is  unlimited.  Few  have  any  diet  scale.  In  one  it  is 
said  to  be  too  high  ;  in  four  it  is  confined  to  bread  and  water ;  in 
one  alone  is  any  account  kept.  Security  against  abuses  is  prac- 
tically nil.  There  is  no  general  inspection,  and  in  several  cases 
no  visits  even  of  magistrates  or  grand  juries.  The  records  are 
generally  of  the  most  unsatisfactory  character,  often  consisting  of 
"a  few  dirty  and  ill-kept  sheets  of  paper."  The  only  return  made 
to  superior  authorities  is  an  annual  statement  of  the  number  of 
prisoners  in  each  jail  during  the  year ;  it  is  doubtful  whether  even 
this  is  always  furnished.  The  sheriff  of  Sunbury  County  answered 
that  a  debtor  had  been  confined  in  its  jail  during  the  whole  of  the 
last  preceding  five  years.  Debtors  had  also  been  confined  in 
Northumberland  for  three  years,  and  in  King's  County  for  a  year 
and  eight  months,  within  five  years. 

PRINCE  EDWARD'S  ISLAND  has  three  county  jails,  managed  by 
commissioners  selected  from  each  county  by  the  lieutenant-gov- 
ernor. Jailers  are  appointed  by  him,  and  the  medical  officers  by 
the  commissioners.  Queen's  County  jail  serves  to  some  extent 
as  a  central  prison,  to  which  may  be  transferred  from  the  other 
two  jails  prisoners  sentenced  to  hard  labor.  In  point  of  fact  such 
transfers  are  seldom  made,  each  of  the  three  prisons  being  used 
for  all  classes  of  prisoners,  and  even  for  the  insane.  The  govern- 
ment by  a  board  of  commissioners  has  not  had  the  effect  to  intro- 
duce uniformity  of  system,  diet,  or  treatment.  Queen's  County 
prison  provides  no  labor  but  stone-breaking ;  the  others,  none  at 
all.  Neither  separation  nor  reformation  is  attempted.  The  com- 
missioners appear  not  to  visit  oftener  than  once  in  three  months, 
or  when  requested  by  the  jailer.  The  supreme  court  can  pass 
sentences  of  public  flogging.  The  power  has  been  seldom  exer- 
cised ;  but  when  exercised,  so  it  is  reported,  "  with  good  effect  in 
every  case  ! "  Good  for  the  moment,  perhaps,  and  in  some  rela- 
tions ;  but  surely  not  good  in  the  long  run,  and  in  all  its  aspects. 
If  always  "  with  good  effect,"  the  question  arises,  why  so  "  seldom 
exercised"?  A  punishment  found  to  be  " good "  always  and  to 
all  purposes  ought  not  to  be  "  seldom  "  used. 

VANCOUVER  ISLAND  has  but  one  prison,  which  previously  ill- 
managed  has  of  late  been  much  improved,  though  it  is  said  that 
there  is  still  room  for  improvement.  This  may  be  well  believed 
after  reading  the  following  statement :  "It  is  insecure,  and  some- 
times overcrowded  ;  it  does  not  provide  for  separation.  The  diet 


PART  n.]  IN  BERMUDA.  255 

and  hours  of  sleep  are  excessive ;  and  there  are  no  securities  in 
the  nature  of  regular  inspection  or  periodical  reports." 

BRITISH  COLUMBIA  has  one  prison,  besides  small  district  lock- 
ups. Of  these  latter  no  account  is  given.  The  prison  appears  to 
be  on  the  whole  well  managed.  Its  mild  system  of  treatment,  with- 
out separation  or  flogging,  is  reported  as  quite  effective  in  the 
present  circumstances  of  the  colony.  Indians  constitute  the  ma- 
jority of  the  prisoners.  Tickets-of -leave  are  granted  on  condition 
of  leaving  the  colony,  and  the  statement  is  added,  "with  good 
effect"  Of  course  the  effect  must  be  "good"  as  regards  the 
colony ;  but  what  of  the  people  to  whom  the  ticket-of-leave  men 
go?  Is  it  likely  to  prove  an  unmixed  "good"  there?  One  sen- 
tence of  whipping,  not  disciplinary  but  penal,  has  been  pronounced ; 
but  it  was  not  carried  into  effect.  Imprisonment  for  debt  has 
been  abolished. 

FALKLAND  ISLANDS,  also,  have  but  one  prison.  It  is  defective 
in  all  respects,  —  sanitary,  disciplinary,  and  penal,  —  besides  being 
overcrowded.  Two  foreigners  who  had  floated  to  the  islands,  and 
there  been  convicted  of  larceny  and  sentenced  to  the  jail,  declared 
it  as  their  opinion  (and  they  would  seem  to  have  been  experts) 
that  it  was  "  the  worst  prison  they  had  ever  been  in." 

BERMUDA  has  two  prisons,  —  St.  George's  and  Hamilton  jails. 
The  former  is  a  new  structure,  with  many  "modern  improve- 
ments," especially  in  a  sanitary  point  of  view.  The  latter  is  old, 
ill-constructed,  ill-arranged,  and  every  way  ill-adapted  to  its  uses. 
Rules  are  made  for  these  prisons  by  the  magistrates  in  quarter- 
sessions,  subject  to  the  approval  of  the  judges.  It  is  evident, 
from  many  statements  in  the  "  Digest,"  that  Bermuda  is  not  open 
to  the  imputation  of  indifference  in  prison  matters,  nor  of  "  cul- 
pable adherence  to  obsolete  rules,"  although  there  remains  un- 
doubtedly much  yet  to  be  done.  At  present  the  prisoners  are 
imperfectly  separated  ;  there  is  no  reformatory  system  ;  the  hard 
labor  in  use  is  insufficient ;  and  a  regular  inspection  by  persons 
possessing  special  knowledge  of  prisons  is  wanting.  Penal  labor 
by  the  treadmill  came  to  an  end  by  statutory  limitation  in  1862. 

After  having  written  the  above,  gleaned  from  the  "  Digest,"  I 
found  that  I  had  a  report  from  the  Government  which  had  been 
overlooked,  the  substance  of  which  is  as  follows  :  — 

The  prisons  are  entirely  upon  the  cellular  system.  The  Ham- 
ilton jail  has  twelve  cells,  —  two  dark  ones  partially  under  ground, 
and  three  debtor's  rooms.  The  St.  George's  jail  has  twenty  cells 
and  one  debtor's  room.  There  is  no  classification.  Both  prisons 
are  in  charge  of  the  provost-marshal-general  of  the  colony. 
Visiting  justices,  who  are  appointed  by  a  bench  of  magistrates 


256  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  in. 

in  quarter  sessions,  inspect  the  prisons  as  occasion  requires. 
One  jail  has  a  jailer  and  matron,  with  a  superintendent  of  prison- 
ers sentenced  to  hard  labor.  The  other  jail  has  a  jailer  and  a 
matron  only.  All  are  appointed  by  the  provost-marshal.  Each 
prison  has  a  chaplain  and  a  surgeon  appointed  by  the  governor. 

The  chaplain  performs  divine  service  on  every  Sunday,  and 
occasionally  visits  prisoners  during  the  week.  There  is  no  prison 
school,  and  no  means  of  education  provided.  Communications 
with  friends  are  permitted  once  a  month.  There  are  no  libraries. 
Prisoners  are  allowed  books  from  their  friends  if  they  wish  it. 
The  proportion  of  females  to  that  of  males  is  about  ten  per  cent. 
There  are  only  two  kinds  of  labor,  —  that  of  the  crank-machine, 
and  that  of  breaking  stone  for  the  purpose  of  macadamizing  the 
roads  and  streets  of  the  towns. 

Prisoners  are  always  kept  in  a  state  of  cleanliness.  Ventilation 
is  bad.  Lights  are  not  allowed,  and  there  is  no  necessity  in  a  hot 
climate  for  fires.  The  death-rate  has  been  small,  only  nineteen 
deaths  having  occurred  in  thirty  years. 

Sentences  vary  from  ten  days  to  two  and  a  half  years.  Re- 
peated short  sentences  are  common,  but  are  found  to  be  of  no 
use  ;  they  only  harden  the  more.  Punishment  by  death  is  only 
for  murder.  Public  opinion  is  believed  to  be  adverse  to  it. 
Imprisonment  for  debt  still  exists,  but  there  is  a  law  for  its 
abolition  which  will  come  into  operation  in  1879.  Public  opinion 
is  opposed  to  such  imprisonment. 

The  discipline  is  intended  to  be  reformatory,  but  as  a  matter  of 
fact  there  is  very  little  if  any  improvement,  owing  among  other 
causes  to  the  imperfect  and  insufficient  number  of  cells.  The 
authorities  are  often  forced  to  confine  three  prisoners  in  one  cell 
(cubic  feet  being  insufficient  for  one),  thus  affording  opportunity 
to  concoct  further  mischief. 

No  aid  societies  exist  to  meet  the  wants  of  liberated  prisoners, 
and  very  little  opportunity  is  afforded  of  judging  or  reporting 
upon  their  after  behavior.  Thefts  are  the  most  common  crimes, 
and  poverty  and  drunkenness  are  the  chief  causes.  There  are 
neither  reformatory  nor  preventive  agencies  of  any  sort  in  the 
colony.  The  system  is  reported  as  altogether  so  imperfect  that 
a  complete  revision  and  fundamental  change  are  needed. 


PART  n.]  IN  JAMAICA.  257 


CHAPTER  XX.  —  JAMAICA. 

THERE  are  four  classes  of  prisons  in  Jamaica:  i.  The  gen- 
eral penitentiary.  2.  County  jails.  3.  District  prisons.  4. 
Short-term  prisons.  The  associated  system  is  in  use  in  the  peni- 
tentiary, but  with  separate  sleeping-cells. 

The  governor  of  the  colony  constitutes  the  central  authority 
in  control  of  the  prison  administration.  The  managing  power 
is  lodged  with  an  inspector  of  prisons  subject  to  him.  All  the 
prisons  are  inspected  at  least  three  times  a  year,  and  the  general 
penitentiary  weekly  or  oftener.  The  officers  are  appointed  by 
the  governor  on  a  good-behavior  tenure.  Political  influence  has 
nothing  to  do  with  appointments.  There  is  no  training-school 
for  prison  officials ;  but  it  is  considered  advisable  when  possible 
that  an  officer  put  in  charge  of  a  district  or  short-term  prison 
should  have  spent  some  time  in  the  general  penitentiary. 

The  general  penitentiary  is  intended  for  prisoners  sentenced 
for  terms  varying  from  a  year  to  life.  Average  daily  number,  six 
hundred  and  twelve.  The  discipline  is  meant  to  be  both  deter- 
rent and  reformatory,  —  deterrent  by  means  of  treadmill,  shot-drill, 
and  crank  ;  reformatory  through  industrial  labor  and  other  agen- 
cies to  be  hereafter  noted.  The  very  intelligent  inspector,  Mr. 
H.  B.  Shaw,  does  not  regard  the  penal  labor  so  called  as  in  any 
marked  degree  deterrent  in  practice,  and  expresses  a  strong  pre- 
ference for  industrial  employments.  The  prisoners  in  the  general 
penitentiary,  after  being  a  certain  time  on  the  treadmill,  shot- 
drill,  and  crank,  are  taught  trades  of  every  description,  by  which 
when  released  they  can  earn  an  honest  living.  A  prisoner  on 
his  first  conviction,  if  his  conduct  has  been  good  during  the  first 
half  of  his  sentence,  is  promoted  to  the  licensed  class,  on  which 
he  obtains  a  remission  of  one-fourth  of  the  remaining  portion  of 
the  sentence.  This  gives  him  hope  and  keeps  him  steady.  If  he 
misconducts  himself  he  loses  this  advantage,  and  is  remitted  to 
his  former  class.  It  is  rare  that  a  prisoner  has  to  be  turned  back  ; 
sometimes  two  years  have  passed  without  an  instance  of  it. 

The  punishments  employed  are  chiefly  degradation,  withdrawal 
of  privilege,  and  confinement  in  a  solitary  cell  on  bread  and  water. 
Flogging  with  the  cat  is  allowed,  but  not  without  the  approval  of 
the  governor  of  the  colony,  to  whom  a  copy  of  the  evidence  must 
be  sent.  This  is  never  applied  to  the  female  prisoners. 

Volunteer  clergymen  conduct  the  religious  services  on  Sundays 
and  visit  the  hospital  once  a  week.  They  also  visit  the  dying 
when  sent  for.  There  is  a  prison  school  and  a  library,  which  lat- 
ter is  much  prized  by  prisoners  who  know  how  to  read. 

In  addition  to  the  penal  labor  the  prisoners  in  the  general  peni- 

17 


258  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BooK  ill. 

tentiary  are  taught  to  be  blacksmiths,  carpenters,  masons,  coopers, 
tailors,  shoe-makers,  brick-layers,  tinsmiths,  brush-makers,  lime- 
burners,  quarriers,  and  stone-cutters.  In  the  district  and  short- 
term  prisons  they  work  on  roads,  break  stones,  and  make  coir  from 
cocoanut  husks.  The  labor  is  directed  by  the  prison  authorities 
without  the  intervention  of  contractors ;  the  proceeds  do  not 
meet  the  cost.  The  general  penitentiary  earns  seven  thousand 
pounds  per  annum  and  costs  over  twice  that  sum.  The  other 
prisons  earn  in  a  far  less  proportion. 

The  proportion  of  women-prisoners  to  men  is  about  as  one  to 
ten,  or  ten  in  the  hundred. 

The  second  class  of  prisons  are  the  county  jails,  of  which  there 
are  two.  They  are  used  for  the  safe-keeping  of  fraudulent  debt- 
ors, misdemeanants,  and  untried  prisoners  who  cannot  find  bail. 
There  is  no  labor  done  in  them.  Of  the  district  prisons  there 
are  five,  to  which  are  sent  prisoners  sentenced  from  one  day  to 
twelve  months.  The  separation  of  the  sexes  as  in  the  general 
penitentiary  is  complete  in  them  all.  The  nearest  clergyman  acts 
as  chaplain.  To  the  short-term  prisons,  of  which  there  are  also 
five,  are  sent  persons  convicted  of  some  trifling  offence,  for  a  period 
not  exceeding  sixty  days. 

The  sanitary  condition  of  the  prisons  is  good  ;  the  utmost 
pains  is  taken  to  keep  the  buildings  and  the  persons  of  the  pris- 
oners scrupulously  clean.  The  average  death-rate  does  not  much 
if  at  all  exceed  two  per  cent. 

Terms  of  sentence  range  from  a  day  to  twenty  years.  Life 
sentences  are  not  given  pro  forma  ;  they  are  in  all  cases  sentences 
commuted  for  homicide  or  felonious  riot.  Executive  clemency 
often  intervenes  to  terminate  this  class  of  sentences,  but  not 
according  to  any  fixed  rule.  Repeated  short  sentences  for  minor 
offences,  of  which  many  are  given,  have  no  effect  whatever  (so 
reports  Inspector  Shaw)  to  diminish  crime  ;  on  the  contrary  they 
increase  it.  The  death-penalty  exists  for  murder  only.  So  far 
public  opinion  supports  it.  Imprisonment  for  debt  has  been  done 
away,  and  no  fault  found. 

Reformatory  results  are  not  conspicuous.  The  inspector  re- 
ports that  he  cannot  see  that  the  prisoners  are  either  better  or 
worse  for  their  imprisonment.  The  recidivists  in  custody  last 
year  were,  on  second  conviction,  thirteen  per  cent  of  the  whole 
number  imprisoned  ;  on  third  conviction,  four  per  cent  ;  on  fourth 
conviction  and  over,  three  per  cent. 

No  aid  societies  exist.  Witnesses  are  not  imprisoned  to  secure 
their  testimony  in  criminal  cases,  but  are  simply  bound  over  on 
their  own  recognizance. 

The  decrease  in  female  crime  since  1864  nas  exceeded  seventy 
per  cent,  and  this  diminution  is  not  more  remarkable  than  its 
cause.  It  does  not  appear  to  be  at  all  owing  to  any  moral  im- 


PART  n.]  IN  THE  BAHAMAS.  259 

provement  in  the  sex,  but  wholly  to  the  fact  that  in  1864  an  order 
was  issued  that  the  hair  of  women-prisoners  should  be  cut  close. 
There  is  nothing  a  negress  prizes  so  much  as  her  hair  ;  and  the 
decrease  of  feminine  criminality  commenced  immediately  on  the 
issuance  of  this  order.  At  present  it  is  not  an  uncommon  prac- 
tice for  them,  on  their  apprehension  and  before  trial,  to  have  their 
hair  cut  off  and  put  by  till  they  come  out  of  prison,  when  they 
fasten  it  on  again.  This  is  certainly  a  novel  4<  preventive  meas- 
ure," but  it  seems  highly  efficacious.  Regret  is  expressed  by 
Mr.  Shaw  that  nothing  so  effectual  has  been  discovered  or  in- 
vented as  a  "preventive"  of  masculine  crime. 

There  is  one  reformatory  on  the  island  for  boys  and  girls,  to 
which  two  classes  of  persons  are  committed  :  i.  Destitute  and 
neglected  children  under  fourteen.  2.  Children  under  sixteen, 
convicted  of  an  offence  by  any  court  of  law,  who  are  committed 
to  the  reformatory  instead  of  to  a  prison.  The  institution  may 
be  said  to  be  both  preventive  and  reformatory, —  preventive,  in 
that  it  places  the  helpless  and  abandoned  child  out  of  temptation  ; 
reformatory,  in  that  criminal  children  are  sent  to  it  to  be  trained 
to  a  better  mode  of  life. 

The  establishment  has  been  in  operation  for  too  short  a  time  to 
show  positive  results,  but  it  promises  well.  It  is  in  charge  of  a 
board  of  eight  visitors,  four  of  whom  are  official  and  four  non- 
official  members.  It  is  visited  once  in  each  month  by  two  mem- 
bers of  the  board  in  rotation,  who  inspect  the  institution  and  record 
their  observations.  These  are  communicated  to  the  governor  of 
the  colony,  and  are  acted  on  by  him  if  necessary.  They  are  also 
considered  at  the  general  meetings  of  the  board,  which  take  place 
once  every  four  months.  The  average  number  of  inmates  is  two 
hundred  and  sixty,  of  whom  two  hundred  and  thirteen  are  boys 
and  forty-seven  girls. 


CHAPTER  XXI.  —  BAHAMAS. 

^  INHERE  is  one  principal  prison  at  Nassau,  and  four  smaller 
J-  ones  in  other  parts  of  the  colony.  The  manuscript  report 
of  the  provost-marshal,  the  sole  authority  on  which  I  draw  for  the 
following  statements,  deals  only  with  the  first  of  these  establish- 
ments. The  system  is  that  of  associated  silent  labor  by  day  and 
separation  at  night.  The  prison  building  is  a  new  one,  completed 
in  1868  at  a  cost  of  twenty-five  thousand  pounds.  It  has  ninety- 
eight  cells,  containing  each  eight  hundred  cubic  feet  of  space. 
The  average  number  of  inmates  is  about  eighty. 

The  head  of  the  penitentiary  administration  is  the  governor  of 


26O  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  m. 

the  colony,  and  under  him  is  the  provost-marshal,  who  is  in  im- 
mediate control.  A  visiting  committee,  consisting  of  the  police 
magistrate  and  two  justices  appointed  annually  by  the  governor, 
visits  the  prison  weekly  to  inspect  the  cells  and  see  "  whether  the 
prisoners  have  any  complaints  to  make."  The  governor  of  the 
colony,  who  takes  much  interest  in  the  prison,  also  visits  it  fre- 
quently. In  addition,  the  chief -justice,  the  attorney-general,  the 
speaker  of  the  assembly,  all  justices  of  the  peace,  and  the  clergy 
of  all  religious  denominations  are  made  visitors  by  the  rules  of 
the  prison,  and  have  free  access  thereto. 

Political  influence  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  appointment  of 
officers.  Candidates  are  required  to  undergo  a  period  of  proba- 
tion to  test  their  fitness,  but,  when  appointed,  their  tenure  of 
office  is  permanent  ;  they  are  removable  only  for  cause.  There 
is  no  school  for  their  professional  education,  nor  is  the  compensa- 
tion paid  to  prison  officials  such  as  would  be  likely  to  secure  the 
services  of  specially  trained  men,  even  if  they  could  be  had. 

The  intention  is  to  make  the  discipline  both  deterrent  and  re- 
formatory. With  a  view  to  the  first  of  these  results,  shot-drill 
was  introduced  in  1872.  My  correspondent  claims  that  the  effect 
has  been  sensibly  to  diminish  the  number  of  reconvictions ;  but 
he  candidly  points  out  several  other  causes  operating  in  the  same 
direction,  and  quite  sufficient,  in  all  probability*  to  produce  the 
result  claimed,  particularly  the  extraordinary  demand  for  labor  in 
Florida,  which  has  drawn  thither  numbers  of  the  ex-convicts. 

A  system  of  good-conduct  marks  is  in  force,  by  the  accumula- 
tion of  which  prisoners  are  enabled  to  earn  a  considerable  reduc- 
tion of  their  terms  of  sentence. 

The  prison  has  a  salaried  chaplain,  of  the  Anglican  Church,  who 
statedly  holds  religious  services  for  the  inmates  Sunday  morning 
and  Wednesday  afternoon.  Similar  services  are  occasionally 
held  on  Sunday  afternoons  by  ministers  of  other  denominations. 
Whenever  prisoners  belonging  to  the  congregation  of  such  min- 
ister are  committed  to  the  prison,  he  is  apprised  of  the  fact  by  a 
letter  from  the  keeper.  Two  volunteer  lady  workers  —  Miss 
Fletcher  and  Miss  Sturt  —  have  a  class  for  instruction,  on  two 
week  days  and  on  Sunday,  in  the  female  department.  The  pris- 
oners show  an  interest  in  all  these  services.  A  prison  night- 
school  is  maintained  for  illiterate  adult  prisoners,  which  is  taught 
by  two  or  three  of  the  educated  prisoners.  The  juvenile  male 
prisoners  have  also  been  formed  into  a  Sunday  and  week-night 
class,  which  in  like  manner  is  conducted  by  a  prisoner.  The  re- 
mains of  a  small  library  still  exist,  and  those  who  can  read  are 
furnished  with  Bibles,  religious  books,  and  tracts. 

The  proportion  of  women  to  men  in  the  prison  at  Nassau  is 
as  one  to  six,  or  about  seventeen  per  cent. 

The  labor  is  wholly  devoted  to  public  works  of  various  descrip- 


PART  n.j  IN  THE  BAHAMAS.  26 1 

tions.  It  brings  in  no  revenue,  but  saves  the  Government  some- 
thing like  $1,000  a  year. 

The  sanitary  state  of  the  prison  is  reported  as  all  that  can  be 
desired,  including  excellent  ventilation,  drainage,  water-closet  ar- 
rangements, cleanliness  of  the  person  and  building,  bathing  accom- 
modations, etc.  The  daily  percentage  of  the  sick  and  the  annual 
death-rate  are  each  reported  at  about  two  per  cent. 

As  regards  sentences,  the  law  allows  the  chief-justice  to  pro- 
nounce a  sentence  of  imprisonment  for  life  ;  but  this  power  is  not 
used,  nor  has  it  been  during  the  incumbency  of  the  present  pro- 
vost-marshal, —  a  period  of  fifteen  years.  According  to  a  tabu- 
lar statement,  open  before  me,  of  an  aggregate  of  condemnations 
during  five  years,  only  eleven  were  for  five  years  and  more  ;  sev- 
enty were  for  periods  ranging  from  one  year  to  five  ;  two  hundred 
arid  twenty-five  were  for  terms  running  from  three  months  to 
a  year ;  while  fifteen  hundred  and  eighty-three  were  for  periods 
of  less  than  three  months.  The  report  speaks  of  one  prisoner,  a 
female  only  thirty-two  years  old,  who  had  been  sentenced  to  im- 
prisonment no  less  than  sixty-five  times  ;  and  of  sundry  others 
who  had  severally  undergone  thirty,  forty,  and  fifty  imprison- 
ments. It  pronounces  short  imprisonments  "  useless,  and  worse 
than  useless."  When  will  legislators,  magistrates,  and  peoples 
learn  wisdom  on  this  subject  ? 

The  death-penalty  is  maintained,  but  only  for  murder.  So  far 
public  opinion  is  strongly  in  its  favor.  Imprisonment  for  debt  has 
been  abolished  by  law,  but  it  still  lingers  in  exceptional  cases. 

The  "Digest  of  Information"  relating  to  colonial  jails  states  that 
"  floggings  may  be,  and  are  (though  seldom),  inflicted  by  sentence 
of  the  courts  of  the  Bahamas  for  a  great  variety  of  offences  com- 
mitted outside  of  the  jail,  —  from  rape  or  burglary  to  throwing 
down  a  fence  or  wall  (second  conviction),  sending  threatening 
letters,  '  demanding  by  writing  when  not  entitled,'  stealing  dog, 
beast,  or  bird,  stealing  from  employers,  etc. ;  and  in  most  cases  as 
many  as  three  public  whippings  may  be  inflicted." 

"  Reformatory  results  "  appear  rather  slender.  From  1871  to 
1875  inclusive  (a  period  of  five  years)  the  recidivists  were  in  the 
ratio,  on  the  average,  of  sixty-five  per  cent,  though  during  that 
time  it  fell  from  eighty-one  to  fifty-one  per  cent. 

No  provision  is  made  either  by  the  Government  or  by  private 
benevolence  for  the  relief  and  protection  of  prisoners  after  their 
discharge.  The  absence  of  such  provision  is  made  a  matter  of 
strong  lamentation. 

No  institution  exists  in  the  colony  for  the  reformation  of  ju- 
venile offenders. 


262  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  in. 


CHAPTER  XXII.  —  TRINIDAD. 

THE  island  of  Trinidad  lies  10°  3'  to  the  north  of  the  equator, 
and  immediately  opposite  to  the  north-eastern  coast  of 
Venezuela.  No  clothing  therefore  is  needed,  except  for  decency 
or  vanity ;  and  such  is  the  profuseness  of  Nature,  that  the  labor 
of  two  days  in  the  week  will  procure  a  man  for  the  other  five  all 
the  necessaries  of  life,  with  the  added  luxuries  of  rum  and  to- 
bacco. The  consequence  is  that  out  of  a  population  of  one  hun- 
dred thousand  souls  eight  thonsand  are  returned  as  without 
occupation  or  visible  means  of  support.  The  population  of  the 
island  is  extremely  mixed,  almost  every  nation  of  the  world  be- 
ing represented  in  it.  Trinidad  being  at  the  end  of  a  long 
chain  of  islands,  within  easy  reach  of  each  other,  has  caused  it  to 
become  a  resort  for  all  the  refugees  from  these  latter,  as  well  as 
from  the  neighboring  continent.  The  close  proximity  of  the  gold 
mines  of  Venezuelan  Guyana  has  also  been  the  cause  of  the  con- 
tinual flow  of  a  tide  of  adventurers,  who  resort  thither  to  seek 
their  fortune.  All  this  has  necessarily  been  very  demoralizing, 
and  must  have  had  an  influence  more  or  less  marked  on  the 
development  and  growth  of  crime. 

There  are  but  three  prisons  on  the  island  ;  namely,  the  royal 
jail  of  Port  Spain,  and  two  convict  depdts, —  one  at  Chaguanas, 
situated  in  the  centre  of  a  forest  belonging  to  the  crown,  some 
twenty  miles  distant  from  Port  Spain ;  the  other  on  Careras 
Island  in  the  gulf  of  Paria,  six  miles  from  the  same  city,  and  half 
a  mile  from  the  nearest  mainland.  The  system  of  imprisonment 
in  the  royal  jail  is  that  of  association  by  day  and  separation  by 
night,  and  the  same  at  the  convict  depot  of  Chaguanas  ;  but  at 
Careras  Island  the  prisoners  sleep  in  associated  wards,  which 
however  are  kept  lighted  up  through  the  night,  and  are  under 
the  constant  watch  of  night  guards.  However,  the  foundations 
of  a  stone  prison,  to  contain  fifty  separate  cells,  have  been  laid, 
and  the  structure  is  expected  to  be  very  soon  completed.  A 
rough  system  of  progressive  classification  has  been  introduced. 
There  is  a  penal  stage  and  an  advanced  stage,  in  the  latter  of 
which  a  mark  system  has  been  established,  Prisoners  sentenced 
for  three  months  or  less  serve  the  entire  term  in  the  penal  stage ; 
those  conmitted  for  more  than  three  months  and  less  than  a  year 
remain  for  three  months  in  that  stage  ;  and  those  committed  for 
a  year  and  upwards,  six  months.  Here  they  have  three  hours  a 
day  at  shot-drill,  half  in  the  morning  and  half  in  the  evening,  and 
in  the  intervals  are  employed  in  stone-breaking,  coir-beating, 
and  other  hard  and  uninteresting  labor.  After  entering  on  the 
advanced  stage,  the  prisoner  can  earn  daily,  for  special  industry 


PART  11.]  IN  TRINIDAD.  263 

and  good  conduct,  eight  marks  ;  for  ordinary  industry  and  good 
conduct,  seven  marks  ;  for  indifferent  industry  and  good  conduct, 
six  marks.  The  number  of  days  he  is  sentenced  to  serve  in 
prison,  multiplied  by  six,  gives  the  number  of  marks  he  has  to 
earn.  Thus,  a  sentence  of  two  years  =  730  days  x  6  gives  4,380. 
A  prisoner  who  earns  only  six  marks  a  day  must  serve  out  the 
whole  time  of  his  sentence  ;  he  who  earns  an  average  of  eight 
marks  daily  gets  a  remission  of  one  fourth  part  of  his  sentence  ; 
and  any  number  of  marks  earned  between  the  averages  of  six 
and  eight  marks  per  day  is  rewarded  with  a  proportional  re- 
mission. 

Trinidad  being  a  crown  colony,  the  prisons  are  under  the  im- 
mediate control  of  the  executive  government.  There  is  an 
inspector  of  prisons,  who  makes  a  yearly  report  to  the  governor 
of  the  colony,  and  is  looked  on  as  the  head  of  the  department. 
The  incumbent  for  the  last  dozen  years  has  been  Mr.  Lionel  M. 
Fraser,  who  is  too  modest  to  report  an  "efficient  inspection;"  but 
he  is  evidently  a  most  intelligent,  capable,  and  faithful  officer, 
and  the  reader  may  draw  his  own  conclusion  as  to  both  the  com- 
petency and  the  efficiency  of  his  inspection. 

The  inferior  officers  are  appointed  by  the  governor  of  the 
colony  on  the  nomination  of  the  superintendent  of  prisons,  and 
they  hold  office  during  good  behavior.  Appointment  is  in  no 
degree  controlled  by  political  considerations.  *No  special  schools 
exist  for  the  training  of  prison  officers  ;  nor,  it  is  claimed,  would 
such  be  possible  in  a  colony  like  that  of  Trinidad. 

The  purpose  is  to  make  the  discipline  reformatory  as  well  as 
deterrent.  The  agencies  to  this  latter  end  are  the  penal  disci- 
pline already  described,  seclusion  as  far  as  possible,  deprivation  of 
tobacco  and  ardent  spirits,  and  compulsory  abstinence  from  in- 
dulgence in  the  grosser  animal  passions.  The  reformatory  agen- 
cies are  reported  as  few  and  incomplete,  and  the  reformatory 
results  as  far  from  satisfactory,  the  proportion  of  recidivists  to 
the  whole  prison  population  being  on  the  average  nearly  fifty  per 
cent.  More  attention,  until  recently,  has  been  given  to  the  pun- 
ishment of  prisoners  than  to  their  reformation  ;  but  in  this  re- 
spect, and  under  the  present  administration,  matters  are  rapidly 
improving.  Volunteer  visitors  are  not  admitted,  nor  does  Mr. 
Fraser  feel  prepared  to  favor  that  idea  ;  wherein  I  venture  with 
respect  to  differ  from  his  opinion,  provided  discreet  and  earnest 
laborers  are  at  hand  ready  and  anxious  to  do  the  work. 

Not  more  than  one-fifth  of  the  prisoners  can  be  considered  as 
having  any  education  on  entering  the  prison,  and  even  of  them  by 
far  the  greater  number  can  barely  read  and  write.  Still  the  pro- 
portion that  have  this  low  degree  of  instruction  is  about  equal  to 
that  of  the  lower  orders  outside.  There  is  school  twice  a  week, 
from  five  to  six  P.M.,  which  the  long-term  prisoners  and  juveniles 


264  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  in. 

are  required  to  attend.     There  is  also  a  library  of  instructive 
works  for  the  use  of  the  prisoners. 

The  number  of  male  prisoners  is  about  eight  times  that  of  the 
female.  Average  number  of  men  in  1876,  380  ;  of  women,  45. 

The  industrial  labor  consists  of  quarrying,  felling  and  hauling 
timber  from  the  government  forests,  squaring  the  same,  shoe- 
making  and  tailoring,  washing  and  baking  for  the  government 
establishments.  The  labor  of  the  prisoners  is  entirely  managed 
by  the  administration.  It  would  be  impossible  to  maintain  any 
discipline  if  the  convicts  were  allowed  to  labor  for  contractors, 
particularly  on  work  outside  of  the  prison  walls. 

Great  attention  has  for  many  years  been  paid  to  the  mainten- 
ance of  a  high  standard  in  respect  to  cleanliness  of  buildings  and 
prisoners,  and  to  sanitary  matters  generally.  The  prisons  of  the 
colony,  especially  that  at  Port  Spain,  will  in  this  respect  com- 
pare favorably  with  other  like  establishments  in  other  parts  of  the 
world.  The  death-rate  per  annum  is  but  a  little  in  excess  of  two 
per  cent. 

Sentences  vary  from  twenty-four  hours  to  fifteen  years.  Sen- 
tences for  life  are  always  commutations  for  the  death-penalty. 
Provision  is  made  by  law  for  increasing  the  punishment  of  cer- 
tain offences  on  second  or  any  subsequent  conviction  ;  but  the 
practice  exists  of  giving  repeated  short  sentences  for  minor  of- 
fences. This  Mr.  Fraser  regards  as  tending  to  the  increase  of 
such  offences  rather  than  to  their  repression. 

The  death-penalty  exists,  but  only  in  the  case  of  murder.  Mr. 
Fraser  expresses  the  opinion  strongly  that  capital  punishment  is 
of  little  or  no  avail  as  a  deterrent ;  and  this  he  does  after  twelve 
years'  observation  of  its  effect.  Public  opinion  is  not  active  on 
this  question,  but  he  can  vouch  for  it  that  persons  who  like  him- 
self have  an  official  connection  with  the  question  concur  in  his 
view  of  the  matter. 

Imprisonment  for  debt  was  abolished  by  ordinance  in  1871,  but 
has  been  to  a  certain  extent  re-enacted  since,  in  deference  to  a 
strong  public  opinion  in  its  favor  on  the  part  of  the  mercantile 
community. 

There  is  no  organization  for  the  protection  and  encouragement 
of  prisoners  after  their  release.  Whatever  is  done  for  this  object 
is  done  by  individual  benevolence  The  general  public  does  not 
appear  to  take  the  slightest  interest  in  the  matter. 

Witnesses  unable  to  furnish  security  for  their  appearance  in 
court  to  give  testimony  in  a  criminal  case  are  detained  in  prison 
for  that  purpose. 

The  prevailing  character  of  crime  in  this  colony  is  vagrancy 
and  its  attendant  evils.  That  is  to  say,  idleness  and  improvidence 
are  at  the  root  of  the  greater  part  of  the  criminality  with  which 
the  courts  and  the  prisons  have  to  deal. 


PART  IL]  IN  ST.   VINCENT.  26$ 

There  is  as  yet  no  government  reformatory.  Two  private  in- 
dustrial schools  have  lately  been  established,  one  in  connection 
with  the  English  Church,  and  the  other  conducted  by  Sisters  of  the 
Dominican  Order.  Together  they  have  forty-three  inmates.  They 
are  of  too  recent  origin  to  have  yielded  positive  results  of  a  general 
character,  but  the  best  hopes  are  entertained. 


CHAPTER  XXIII.  —  ST.  VINCENT. 

THERE  is  but  one  prison  in  the  colony  of  St.  Vincent,  and 
the  information  received  concerning  it  from  the  provost- 
marshal  is  extremely  meagre.  The  system  is  that  of  association 
without  separation  even  at  night.  The  supreme  authority  is 
the  governor  in  council.  Under  him  the  managing  power  is  the 
provost-marshal,  who  inspects  the  jail  weekly.  The  officers  are 
appointed  by  the  governor,  and  hold  office  during  good  conduct ; 
politics  has  nothing  to  do  with  their  appointment.  ^\  school- 
master, appointed  by  the  Government,  gives  daily  lessons  to  the 
prisoners.  Not  one  in  fifty  can  read  on  his  entrance.  There 
is  a  chaplain  who  holds  divine  service  every  Sunday  morning. 
No  volunteer  visitors  are  admitted.  The  proportion  of  women  to 
men  in  the  prison  is  as  one  to  seven.  The  labor  (kinds  not  stated) 
is  managed  by  the  administration.  The  range  of  sentences  less 
than  life  is  from  seven  days  to  ten  years.  The  average  duration 
of  sentences  may  be  stated  at  one  year  and  ten  months.  The 
death-penalty  exists  for  murder,  and  to  that  extent  has  the  sup- 
port of  public  opinion.  Imprisonment  for  debt  is  still  retained. 
Reformation  of  the  criminal  is  not  aimed  at,  and  of  course  not 
attained.  No  marked  change  is  noticeable  in  the  prisoners  on 
leaving  prison.  There  is  no  reformatory  institution,  and  no  pri- 
soners' aid  society  in  the  colony. 

The  "  Digest  of  Information  on  Colonial  Prisons  "  says  :  "  The 
provost-marshal's  powers  of  punishment  are  too  large.  He  can 
give  a  month's  solitary  confinement  for  prison  offences  without 
making  any  report.  Crime  is  on  the  increase  in  St.  Vincent.  A 
debtor  has  been  confined  in  jail  for  fifteen  months  and  nineteen 
days.  Flogging  is  occasionally  inflicted  for  larcenies  outside  the 
jail,  with,  it  is  said,  deterrent  effect." 


266  STATE   OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  in. 


CHAPTER  XXIV.  —  GRENADA. 

THE  "Digest  of  Information"  referred  to  above  draws  a  shock- 
ing picture  of  the  one  prison  of  this  island  colony,  or  rather 
copies  the  picture  drawn  by  the  administrator  of  the  government 
in  1865.  Upon  his  representation  the  colonial  legislature  re- 
solved that  a  new  prison  should  be  forthwith  built,  but  for  some 
unexplained  cause  that  resolve  was  not  carried  into  effect,  and  the 
old  structure  is  still  made  to  do  duty  as  a  jail.  However,  the  new 
one  has  at  length  been  begun.  The  memorandum  furnished  by 
Mr.  Sharpe,  the  provost-marshal,  affords  but  scant  information, 
and  that  with  few  details.  Neither  day  nor  night  rooms  furnish 
any  chance  for  separation.  The  daily  average  of  prisoners  in 
1877  was  fi^y»  of  whom  about  one-fifth  were  women.  The  prison 
is  under  the  charge  of  the  provost-marshal,  with  a  jailer  and  under- 
officers,  who  are  appointed  by  the  governor  on  his  nomination. 
The  tenure  of  office  is  that  of  good  behavior.  The  chief  punish- 
ment is  the  solitary  cell  with  short  and  coarse  rations.  Flogging 
is  used  in  extreme  cases.  For  unexceptional  conduct  and  in- 
dustry the  prisoner  is  rewarded  by  the  remission  of  a  portion  of 
his  sentence.  A  stated  chaplain  of  the  Anglican  Church  is  em- 
ployed, but  all  other  ministers  have  free  access  to  the  prisoners  of 
their  several  persuasions.  The  prison  population  is  composed  of 
the  most  ignorant  class,  and  no  school  is  established  for  them, 
on  the  ground  apparently  that  any  attempt  at  improving  their 
minds  would  fail.  The  labor  for  the  first  three  months  is  what  is 
called  penal ;  namely,  shot-drill  and  stone-breaking.  After  that 
the  prisoners  work  in  gangs  outside,  repairing  roads,  keeping  pub- 
lic grounds  in  order,  etc.  They  are  never  hired  to  contractors, 
and  no  cash  income  is  derived  from  their  work.  The  health  of 
the  prison  is  good,  and  one  death  in  a  year  is  considered  extra- 
ordinary. Cleanliness  is  rigidly  exacted.  Sentences  pronounced 
by  the  supreme  court  range  from  six  months  to  two  years  ;  by 
the  magistrates'  courts,  from  ten  days  to  three  months.  These 
latter  constitute  ninety  per  cent  of  all  that  are  given.  No  life- 
sentences  are  awarded.  The  death-penalty  exists,  but  for  wilful 
homicide  only.  Imprisonment  for  debt  is  practised,  and  debtors 
so  confined  occupy  the  same  wards  with  the  other  prisoners,  and 
receive  the  ordinary  prison  fare  in  case  of  their  not  being  able  to 
procure  food  from  friends  or  otherwise.  The  recommittals  in 
1877  were  fifty-two  out  of  a  total  prison  population  of  two  hundred 
and  fifty-four.  Neither  aid  societies  nor  reformatories  are  found 
in  the  colony. 


PART  n.]  IN  BARBADOES.  267 


CHAPTER  XXV.  —  BARBADOES. 

THERE  are  five  prisons  in  this  colony ;  namely,  a  convict 
prison  at  Glendairy  and  four  rural  prisons.  The  Glen- 
dairy  prison  comprises  two  departments,  called  the  upper  and 
lower  prisons,  —  the  former  used  for  male  convicts  only  (felons), 
in  which  the  cellular  system  prevails ;  the  latter  for  prisoners 
sentenced  for  minor  offences  and  those  awaiting  trial :  in  this 
the  associated  system  is  practised.  The  number  of  prisoners  at 
Glendairy  is  two  hundred  and  thirty-two.  Of  the  four  rural  pris- 
ons two  are  for  women,  one  for  adult  males,  and  one  for  juveniles 
(boys).  The  average  number  in  all  the  prisons  for  the  year  1876 
was  420,  —  295  men,  109  women,  and  16  juveniles. 

The  supreme  control  of  the  prison  system  is  vested  in  the 
governor-in-chief,  by  whom  visits  of  inspection  are  made,  gener- 
ally without  notice.  The  office  of  inspector  of  prisons  is  filled 
by  the  senior  judge  of  the  assistant  court  of  appeal,  and  its 
duties  seem  to  be  efficiently  performed.  The  officers  are  ap- 
pointed by  the  governor,  and  hold  office  during  good  behavior ; 
politics  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  matter.  There  is  no  special 
school  for  the  professional  education  of  prison  officials  ;  but  the 
inspector,  Judge  Watts,  thinks  that  such  an  institution  would  be 
invaluable.  Under  Governor  Strahan,  the  actual  incumbent,  the 
system  has  been  adopted  of  requiring  prison  officers  to  undergo 
a  term  of  probation  prior  to  their  confirmation,  to  test  their  fit- 
ness for  the  position  ;  which  fitness  is  regarded  as  comprising 
sound  moral  character,  a  fair  education,  a  thorough  knowledge  of 
the  duties  required,  combined  with  firmness,  calm  temper,  hu- 
manity, a  strict  compliance  with  all  rules  and  orders,  and  a  due 
enforcement  of  the  same. 

The  discipline  is  intended  to  be  both  deterrent  and  reforma- 
tory, —  deterrent  through  treadmill,  shot-drill,  quarrying,  and 
stone-breaking ;  reformatory  through  kindly  admonition,  wise 
counsels,  religious  teaching,  good  example,  progressive  classifica- 
tion, and  conditional  liberation.  A  regular  chaplain  is  employed, 
and  prisoners  of  a  different  persuasion  from  that  of  the  Church  of 
England  are  allowed  to  be  visited  by  their  own  ministers.  Only 
in  the  case  of  hardened  and  incorrigible  offenders  are  punishments 
the  chief  reliance  for  the  enforcement  of  discipline.  In  the  mind 
of  the  young  convict  the  hope  of  a  conditional  pardon  by  a  ticket- 
of-leave  acts  as  a  strong  incentive  to  good  conduct  while  under- 
going sentence ;  but  unfortunately  with  numbers  of  them  ^the 
hardships  of  a  prison  life  are  soon  forgotten,  and  they  relapse  into 
crime,  and  are  returned  to  complete  their  sentences.  The  severer 
punishments  are  flogging  (but  never  in  the  case  of  females),  soli- 


268  STATE   OF  PRISONS,   ETC,  [BooK  in. 

tary  confinement,  not  exceeding  twenty-eight  days,  and  degradation 
from  a  higher  to  a  lower  class.  These  punishments  are  awarded 
only  by  the  visiting  justices  after  trial,  on  which  evidence  is  taken 
under  oath  ;  and  the  sentences  must  be  confirmed  by  the  governor 
of  the  colony  before  they  can  be  carried  into  effect.  There  was 
not  a  single  case  of  corporal  punishment  in  1876.  Minor  punish- 
ments may  be  awarded  by  the  prison  officers  ;  but  they  must  all 
be  recorded  in  a  book  kept  for  the  purpose,  and  submitted  to  the 
inspection  and,  if  need  be,  the  action  of  the  visiting  justices. 
The  rewards  to  convicts  are  promotion  to  a  higher  class  for 
good  conduct  after  a  certain  time,  and  ultimately  a  conditional 
pardon  by  ticket-of-license.  The  effect  is  good. 

A  great  number  of  prisoners  on  commitment  are  able  to  read. 
Their  average  education  is  about  equal  to  that  of  the  non-criminal 
population.  Only  at  Glendairy  prison  is  there  a  schoolmaster ;  he 
gives  instruction  to  convicts  that  require  it.  There  is  a  library  in 
that  prison,  well  stocked  with  books  suited  to  the  prisoners'  use. 

The  proportion  of  women  committed  to  prison  in  this  colony 
is  enormous;  indeed,  almost  unprecedented,  being  nearly  forty 
per  cent  of  the  whole  number.  I  know  nothing  equal  to  it  ex- 
cept at  Liverpool,  where  the  number  of  women  was  greater  than 
that  of  men  on  my  visit  to  the  jail  in  1875,  and  is,  I  was  told, 
uniformly  so.  The  aggregate  numbers  of  the  sexes  committed 
to  the  different  prisons  of  the  colony  in  1876  were,  of  women 
1,313;  of  men,  2,235.  The  average  daily  number  of  females  was 
109,  of  males  (including  juveniles)  311.  Here  the  proportion 
was  only  a  fraction  over  twenty-five  per  cent,  —  showing  a  much 
shorter  average  duration  of  sentence  for  women  than  for  men. 

All  labor  is  penal,  inflicted  as  a  deterrent ;  consequently  there 
are  no  proceeds  to  meet  any  part  of  the  cost.  Does  not  this  ac- 
count for  the  large  proportion  returned  to  the  prison  after  dis- 
charge on  ticket-of-leave ?  If  this  conjecture  is  correct,  it  would 
seem  that  deterrence  does  not  deter. 

The  sanitary  state  of  the  prison  appears  to  be  excellent,  the 
dietary  is  liberal  and  nutritious,  the  clothing  ample  for  the  cli- 
mate, ventilation  and  drainage  complete,  the  water  supply  in  all 
the  prisons  abundant ;  the  death-rate  is  reported  as  so  small  as 
hardly  to  be  worthy  of  notice. 

Sentences  given  by  the  court  of  grand  sessions  range  from 
three  months  hard  labor  to  fourteen  years  penal  servitude.  In 
the  magistrates'  courts  the  practice  exists  of  giving  repeated  short 
sentences  for  minor  offences,  with  little  or  no  effect  as  regards  the 
diminution  of  crime.  Life-sentences  exist  only  through  commu- 
tation of  the  sentence  of  death,  and  there  has  been  but  one  such 
within  the  last  ten  years.  In  such  cases,  after  fifteen  years  of 
imprisonment  the  sentence  is  generally  terminated  by  the  inter- 
vention of  executive  clemency,  but  not  according  to  any  fixed 
rule. 


PART  ii/J  IN  BARBADOES.  269 

The  penalty  of  death  exists  in  the  colony,  but  is  inflicted  solely 
for  the  crime  of  wilful  murder ;  and  so  far  public  sentiment  fa- 
vors the  infliction. 

Imprisonment  for  debt  exists  on  the  face  of  the  statute,  but  is 
practically  abolished  by  the  closing  of  the  only  prison  where 
alone  debtors  could  be  received. 

As  regards  reformation,  the  inspector,  Judge  Watts,  while  ad- 
mitting that  a  large  number  of  the  prisoners  leave  the  prison- 
house  worse  than  when  they  entered  it,  still  thinks  that  many 
leave  it  morally  improved.  At  the  Glendairy  prison  there  were 
confined  at  the  date  of  his  communication  one  hundred  and 
eighty-two  convicts.  Of  these  ninety-three  (a  fraction  over  one- 
half)  were  recidivists,  much  the  greater  part  by  the  previous  com- 
mission of  felonies.  The  reader  can  draw  his  own  inference. 

There  is  nothing  done  outside  the  prison  to  save  the  discharged 
prisoner  from  a  return  to  a  criminal  career,  nor  is  there  any  legis- 
lative provision  to  that  end.  This  the  inspector  thinks  a  grave 
and  regrettable  omission;  and  he  considers  it  a  still  greater, — 
in  which  all  right-thinking  men  will  agree  with  him, — that  no 
comprehensive  system  exists  which  would  prepare  prisoners,  long- 
sentenced  ones  especially,  by  teaching  them  some  trade  or  handi- 
craft, to  earn  an  honest  living  after  their  release.  The  lack  of 
such  a  system  is  the  more  to  be  deplored  and  even  censured, 
since  he  adds  :  "  Measures  for  instructing  prisoners  in  a  trade 
could  easily  be  adopted  here." 

Witnesses  in  criminal  cases  are  never  detained  in  prison  for 
want  of  bail  to  give  testimony  at  the  criminal  courts.  They 
are  bound  over  on  their  own  bonds  to  appear  and  give  evidence 
against  the  prisoner. 

Larceny  is  the  prevalent  crime  in  the  colony.  The  number 
is  large  of  those  who  will  not  work  for  what  they  can  get  by 
stealing.  Crimes  of  violence  are  on  the  increase. 

There  is  one  prison  for  juveniles,  called  a  juvenile  reformatory, 
but  is  so  only  in  name.  It  was  intended  by  its  friends  to  be 
really  such,  but  an  amendment  was  engrafted  on  the  Act  creat- 
ing it,  which,  as  often  happens,  effectually  destroyed  that  intent 
and  made  of  it  only  a  prison.  However,  the  hope  is  entertained 
that  this  important  question  will  soon  be  again  considered  by 
the  legislature,  and  such  measures  be  adopted  as  will  effectually 
meet  one  of  the  gravest  evils  in  the  actual  social  system  of  the 
colony. 


2/0  STATE   OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BooK  in. 


CHAPTER  XXVI.  —  TOBAGO. 

THE  information  embodied  in  the  following  paragraphs  was 
received  from  Lieutenant-Governor  Gore,  who  remarks,  at 
the  beginning  of  his  communication,  that,  "with  such  a  small 
population  as  that  of  Tobago,  —  about  eighteen  thousand  souls,  — 
prison  discipline  is  unavoidably  of  a  very  elementary  kind,  there 
being  only  one  prison  for  all  descriptions  of  criminals,  and  the 
means  at  the  disposal  of  the  Government  for  this  service  being 
less  than  ,£1,000  a  year,  including  the  maintenance  of  the  con- 
victs." 

The  one  prison  contains  both  male  and  female  convicts,  and 
other  classes  of  prisoners,  including  debtors.  The  congregate 
system  prevails,  the  men  working  in  classified  gangs  ;  the  women, 
very  few  in  number,  all  together.  The  average  daily  number  of 
prisoners,  one  year  with  another,  is  about  thirty.  Prisoners  await- 
ing trial  and  debtors  are  each  kept  in  separate  associated  wards. 
Long-sentenced  convicts  are  worked  inside  the  walls  ;  five-year 
men  and  under,  if  well-behaved,  outside.  The  labor  of  the  for- 
mer consists  in  breaking  stone  and  picking  oakum  ;  of  the  latter, 
in  road-making,  clearing  brush,  carrying  water,  and  other  miscel- 
laneous work.  Shot-drill  is  in  use  for  all  male  convicts  sentenced 
to  hard  labor  for  any  term  exceeding  one  month.  Sentences  range 
from  seven  days  to  five  years.  Flogging  is  permitted  only  in 
punishment  of  violent  assaults  on  prison  officials  or  for  escapes. 
The  death-penalty  remains  on  the  statute  book,  but  no  capital 
sentence  has  been  carried  into  effect  since  1846.  The  discipline 
is  chiefly  of  a  deterrent  nature,  yet  the  convicts  receive  both  re- 
ligious and  secular  instruction,  the  former  from  a  chaplain,  the 
latter  from  a  schoolmaster ;  both  regular  officers  of  the  prison. 
The  system  of  conditional  pardon  on  ticket-of-leave  is  about  to  be 
introduced  under  Lieutenant-Governor  Gore,  who  is  the  supreme 
head  of  the  penitentiary  system ;  and  his  Excellency  has  taken 
pains  personally  to  explain  to  the  prisoners  that  absence  from 
the  visiting  justices'  book  will  be  a  sine  qiia  non  to  the  granting 
of  a  ticket-of-leave  to  any  prisoner.  So  that  it  is  to  be  hoped, 
that  the  discipline  will  gradually  take  6n  more  of  a  reformatory 
character. 

A  reformatory  for  juveniles  would,  the  governor  remarks,  be 
an  excellent  institution  in  Tobago  ;  but,  fortunately,  the  number 
of  youthful  criminals  is  so  small  that  the  work  of  reformation 
could  only  be  carried  forward  at  such  an  extravagant  cost,  com- 
pared with  the  highest  results  attainable,  that  the  colony  would 
hardly  be  justified  in  assuming  it.  There  is  no  aid  society  in 
Tobago ;  nor,  indeed,  can  such  be  said  to  be  needed,  for  on 


PART  n.]  IN  SANTA  LUCIA.  27 1 

discharge  from  jail  criminals  are  received  by  their  friends  and 
acquaintances  as  if  they  had  been,  from  sheer  force  of  circum- 
stances, unavoidably  absent  from  their  usual  avocations :  no 
stigma  attaches  to  the  fact  of  having  been  in  jail.  This  unfortu- 
nate phase  of  public  opinion  (unfortunate  because  necessarily 
demoralizing  and  deleterious)  is  reported  as  existing  in  several 
of  the  West  Indian  colonies  of  the  British  Crown.  There  is  a 
criminal  class  in  Tobago  (and  assuredly  no  marvel,  when  no 
stigma  attaches  to  crime),  as  the  reconvictions,  amounting  to 
more  than  half  of  the  jail  population,  clearly  demonstrate.  But 
it  is  gratifying  to  be  informed,  that,  with  the  exception  of  a  single 
year,  when  a  great  riot  took  place,  crime  has  been  for  a  series  of 
years  gradually  diminishing  in  this  colony. 


CHAPTER  XXVII.  —  SANTA  LUCIA. 

THERE  is  but  one  prison  in  this  colony,  —  the  jail  in  the  tower 
of  Castries,  in  which  the  system  of  association  prevails. 
There  is  a  sort  of  classification,  but  not  upon  any  progressive 
principle,  with  a  view  to  having  it  act  upon  the  prisoners  as  an 
incentive  to  good  conduct. 

The  governor  of  the  colony  is  the  supreme  authority  in  charge 
of  the  penitentiary  system.  Under  him  the  chief  of  police  is  in- 
spector, who  is  required  to  have  a  constant  supervision  over  the 
prison  ;  a  duty  which  seems  to  be  well  and  efficiently  discharged. 
The  keeper  is  appointed  by  the  governor,  and  holds  office  during 
good  behavior.  The  other  officials  are  selected  from  among  the 
best  members  of  the  police,  and  are*  removable.  The  discipline 
is  intended  both  to  deter  and  to  reform,  but  the  limited  capacity  of 
the  jail  renders  it  difficult  to  secure  satisfactory  results.  Remis- 
sion of  a  portion  of  the  imprisonment  for  uniform  good  conduct 
is  in  operation,  and,  as  a  rule,  prisoners  secure  the  benefit  of  it. 

There  is  no  chaplain,  but  ministers  of  religion  are  allowed  free 
access  to  the  prisoners  of  their  respective  persuasions,  though 
no  visits  of  laymen  are  permitted.  The  mass  of  the  prisoners 
are  extremely  ignorant;  very  few  can  read  or  write,  which  is  also 
the  case  with  the  bulk  of  the  population  outside.  No  provision 
is  made  for  their  mental  improvement  in  prison. 

The  proportion  of  women  to  men  is  about  that  of  one  to  five,  or 
twenty  per  cent,  there  having  been  committed  to  prison  in  1876 
three  hundred  and  eighty  males  and  seventy-seven  females. 

The  male  prisoners  are  employed  within  the  walls  in  stone- 
breaking,  and  outside  on  government  works.  The  female  prison- 


272  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BooK  in. 

ers  wash  the  clothes  of  the  prison  and  of  some  other  government 
institutions.  The  convict  labor  has  a  certain  value,  but  it  falls 
far  short  of  the  cost  of  the  prison. 

The  sanitary  state  of  the  prison  is  reported  satisfactory,  —  com- 
prehending the  dietary,  clothing,  ventilation,  drainage,  and  clean- 
liness of  person  and  building.  There  was  very  little  sickness  and 
only  three  deaths  during  the  year  1876. 

The  longest  imprisonment  which  the  law  can  award  is  for  six 
years.  Sentence  of  death  is  sometimes  commuted  to  imprison- 
ment for  life  or  a  long  term  of  years,  which  may  be  and  often  is 
sooner  terminated  by  executive  clemency  in  cases  of  unexcep- 
tionable conduct  during  imprisonment.  The  death-penalty,  as 
seen  above,  exists ;  it  is  a  punishment,  however,  inflicted  only  in 
cases  of  wilful  murder.  Public  opinion  undoubtedly  favors  it,  al- 
though it  has  never  been  aroused  so  far  as  to  express  itself  form- 
ally on  the  subject. 

Imprisonment  for  debt  still  exists,  but  an  ordinance  has  been 
passed  by  the  legislature  abolishing  it  in  the  future,  except  in 
cases  where  fraud  is  shown.  The  ordinance  only  awaits  con- 
firmation by  the  colonial  secretary  of  state.  Debtors  are  not 
treated  as  imprisoned  criminals.  They  are  allowed  every  liberty 
consistent  with  their  detention  within  the  walls  and  the  mainte- 
nance of  the  necessary  discipline.  The  current  of  public  opinion 
is  against  imprisonment  for  debt. 

The  circumstances  of  the  prison  are  such  as  to  forbid  the  use 
of  systematic  means  for  the  reformation  of  criminals.  Still  the 
percentage  of  recidivists  is  reported  for  1876  as  only  three  and  a 
half  in  the  hundred.  This  report  differs  so  widely  from  those 
given  of  all  the  other  colonies,  that  without  explanation  one  can 
hardly  resist  the  impression  that  the  statement  is  a  lapsus  which 
has  crept  in  through  inadvertence. 

No  patronage  society  in  aid  of  liberated  prisoners  exists. 

Where  a  material  witness  could  not  find  bail  for  his  appear- 
ance to  testify  in  a  criminal  case,  he  would  be  detained  in  prison 
to  make  sure  of  his  presence  at  the  trial.  Such  cases,  however, 
are  extremely  rare.  As  a  rule,  the  evidence  of  witnesses  is  taken 
by  the  magistrate  before  whom  the  person  charged  with  an 
offence  is  brought,  and  is  afterwards  forwarded  to  the  attorney- 
general. 

Larceny  and  assault  are  the  crimes  most  prevalent.  The  chief 
causes  which  lead  to  crime  are  gross  ignorance  and  superstition, 
and  the  free  use  of  a  cheap  liquor  known  as  "  common  rum." 

There  is  no  preventive  or  reformatory  institution  for  the  young. 
With  rare  exceptions  all  the  persons  convicted  of  offences  are 
adults. 

It  is  admitted  that  there  is  great  room  for  reform  in  the  prison 
system  of  the  colony ;  but  doubt  is  expressed  whether  under  pres- 


PART  IT.]  IN  ANTIGUA   AND  BRITISH  HONDURAS.  2/3 

ent  circumstances  the  expenditure  necessary  for  introducing  mod- 
ern improvements  would  be  justified.  Should  the  scheme,  which 
appears  to  be  more  or  less  talked  of,  for  the  establishment  of  a 
central  prison  for  the  Windward  Islands  (and  which  seems  desir- 
able) be  carried  into  effect,  an  opportunity  would  be  afforded  for 
introducing  a  better  system  in  Santa  Lucia. 


CHAPTER  XXVIII. — ANTIGUA.  —  BRITISH  HONDURAS. 

THE  provost-marshal  of  this  colony  apologizes  for  the  incom- 
pleteness of  his  report  by  referring  to  the  shortness  of  his 
experience  there. 

There  is  but  one  prison,  which  has  the  name  of  the  "  common 
jail,"  and  in  this  the  system  of  association  prevails.  The  gov- 
ernor in  council  is  the  supreme  authority.  Under  him  is  the 
provost-marshal,  who  has  the  immediate  management  and  direc- 
tion of  the  establishment.  The  chaplain,  medical  officer,  and 
keeper  are  appointed  by  the  governor,  the  under-officers  by  the 
provost-marshal ;  but  their  appointment  and  removal  are  subject 
to  the  approval  of  the  governor. 

Punishments  rather  than  rewards  are  mainly  relied  on  in  ad- 
ministering the  discipline  ;  but  the  governor  occasionally  exer- 
cises his  prerogative,  and  liberates,  a  prisoner  on  petition,  or  on 
occasion  of  a  visit  to  the  prison.  The  punishments  are  confine- 
ment in  solitary  or  darkened  cell,  a  diet  of  bread  and  water,  con- 
finement in  the  stocks,  and,  as  a  last  resort,  the  cat ;  but  this  is 
seldom  used. 

Divine  service  is  held  in  the  prison  every  Sunday  morning 
and  Thursday  afternoon,  conducted  by  the  chaplain.  The  pris- 
oners are  also  visited  by  clergymen  of  their  respective  denom- 
inations. Many  of  the  prisoners  when  admitted  can  read  and 
write  ;  but  their  education  rarely  goes  beyond  that  point.  There 
is  no  regular  prison-school,  but  the  chaplain  instructs  the  younger 
prisoners  every  Thursday  afternoon,  previous  to  holding  the  reg- 
ular service. 

The  average  number  of  prisoners  in  1876  was  eighty-five,  of 
whom  sixty-eight  were  males  and  seventeen  females  ;  so  that  the 
proportion  of  women  to  men  is  as  one  to  four,  or  twenty-five 
per  cent. 

All  the  labor  in  the  prison  is  more  or  less  deterrent,  and  is  tech- 
nically known  as  "  penal."  Prisoners  who  are  artisans  are  occa- 
sionally employed  at  their  trades  within  the  walls  for  purposes 
connected  with  the  prison. 

18 


2/4  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BooK  in. 

Sanitary  condition  fair  ;  death-rate  very  small. 

The  range  of  sentences  less  than  life  is  from  six  months  to 
five  years.  Life-sentences  are  never  given  in  the  first  instance,  — 
they  only  exist  as  commuted  sentences  for  the  penalty  of  death. 
The  executive  clemency  has  occasionally  intervened,  but  not 
according  to  any  established  rule,  to  terminate  such  sentences, 
generally  after  the  convict  has  undergone  several  years  of  im- 
prisonment. Repeated  short  sentences  have  been  given  for 
minor  offences,  resulting  in  no  apparent  diminution  of  crime. 
The  death-penalty,  as  will  have  been  observed,  still  exists  ;  but 
there  has  been  no  execution  for  the  last  nineteen  years.  Sen- 
tence of  death  is  given  only  for  murder,  a  crime  not  often  com- 
mitted in  the  colony. 

Imprisonment  for  debt  exists,  but  imprisoned  debtors  are 
treated  differently  from  imprisoned  criminals. 

The  reformation  of  criminals  while  in  prison  is  made  to  a  cer- 
tain extent  an  object  of  their  treatment ;  and  a  few,  apparently, 
leave  the  prison  better  than  they  entered. 

Nothing  is  done,  at  least  upon  system,  for  liberated  prisoners. 

Witnesses  are  bound  over  on  their  own  recognizance  to  appear 
at  the  supreme  court  to  give  their  testimony  in  criminal  cases. 

Larceny  is  the  prevailing  crime. 

There  is  no  institution  of  a  preventive  or  reformatory  character 
for  the  young. 

BRITISH  HONDURAS.  —  The  following  short  extract  from  a  let- 
ter addressed  by  the  lieutenant-governor  to  the  governor  of  this 
colony  is  all  that  I  have  in  relation  to  its  penitentiary  affairs :  "  Lord 
Carnarvon  expresses  a  wish  that  the  information  sought  by  Dr. 
Wines  from  the  various  colonies  may  be  supplied.  I  respectfully 
submit  for  his  lordship's  information,  that  the  prison  system  of 
this  colony  is  too  crude  and  rudimentary  to  enable  me  to  furnish 
any  information  that  would  be  of  any  service  to  the  international 
penitentiary  commission." 


CHAPTER  XXIX. —  MAURITIUS. 

THE  report  on  the  colony  of  Mauritius  prepared  by  the  direc- 
tion of  Sir  Arthur  P.  Phayre,  governor,  who  evidently 
takes  a  profound  as  well  as  enlightened  interest  in  the  question 
of  prison  discipline,  is  one  of  much  value.  I  therefore  much 
regret  that  I  can  only  give  a  condensed  summary  of  the  informa- 
tion conveyed  in  it. 

The  associated  or  mixed  system  exists  in  the  prisons  of  this 


PART  n.]  IN  MAURITIUS. 

colony,  of  which  there  are  ten.  Port  Louis  is  the  principal  prison, 
designed  mainly  for  prisoners  sentenced  for  the  more  heinous 
crimes,  though  other  classes  are  committed  to  it.  The  Grand- 
River  vagrant  depot  is  for  vagrants  only.  In  the  others  are  de- 
tained all  persons  condemned  by  the  courts  of  the  different  dis- 
tricts in  the  colony. 

Each  of  the  prisons  is  governed  by  a  committee  appointed 
yearly  by  the  governor.  Prison  keepers  and  assistant  keepers 
are  named  by  the  governor  ;  other  officials  by  the  committee, 
subject  to  his  approval.  Political  influence  has  nothing  to  do 
with  these  appointments.  Complaint  is  made  that  the  right  kind 
of  men  for  the  subordinate  posts  cannot  be  had  because  of  the 
lovvness  of  the  salaries  paid.  It  is  believed  that  much  of  the 
success  of  penal  administration  lies  in  this,  that  the  chief  officer 
in  each  prison  has  an  aptitude  for  his  position  and  an  interest  in 
his  work. 

The  intent  is  that  the  discipline  be  at  once  deterrent  and  re- 
formatory, —  deterrent  by  penal  labor,  and  reformatory  by  instruc- 
tion both  moral  and  industrial.  In  the  opinion  of  Mr.  Colin, 
procureur  and  advocate-general,  the  system  has  deplorably  failed. 
Most  of  the  prisoners  are  Indian  and  African  laborers.  To  put 
them  to  work  outside  the  walls  under  custodians  in  whom  no 
trust  can  be  placed,  —  towards  which  system  there  is  a  daily  in- 
creasing tendency,  —  he  thinks  is  converting  penal  servitude  into 
a  solemn  farce.  The  lash,  wearing  chains,  solitary  confinement, 
and  forfeiture  of  part  rations  are  the  punishments  used  ;  none  of 
which  except  the  second,  for  reasons  explained,  is  believed  to  be 
of  much  efficacy  as  a  deterrent. 

Ministers  of  ail  creeds,  as  also  catechists,  are  allowed  free  access 
to  the  prisoners  on  certain  days.  On  Sundays  regular  religious 
services  are  held,  and  twice  a  week  religious  instruction  is  given 
to  all  who  like  to  attend.  Attendance  is  entirely  optional,  which 
is  necessitated  by  the  fact  that  most  of  the  prisoners  are  Hin- 
dus or  Mahometans.  It  is  noticeable  that  many  more  attend 
on  working  days  than  on  Sundays. 

Few  of  the  prisoners  know  how  to  read  when  committed,  but 
many  learn  the  elementary  branches  through  the  help  of  their 
fellow-prisoners,  during  their  meals  and  after  work-hours.  No 
libraries  are  attached  to  the  prisons,  nor  are  there  any  other 
means  of  instruction  than  those  already  mentioned.  '  This,  in 
my  opinion,"  says  Mr.  Colin,  "  is  wrong.  There  should  be  a  li- 
brary of  good  books,  not  simply  religious  tracts  or  the  like,  but 
books  which  can  instruct  and  enlighten." 

The  proportion  of  women-prisoners  to  men  is  only  a  little  more 
than  one  in  the  hundred,  — there  having  been  admitted  during 
the  last  four  years  303  women  against  23,099  men;  the  total  popu- 
lation of  the  colony  being  of  males  207,578,  of  females  138,3/7- 


2/6  STATE   OF  PRISONS,   ETC.  [BOOK  HI. 

Besides  shot-drill  and  stone-breaking,  regarded  as  "  penal  labor," 
carpentering,  coopering,  shoemaking,  with  other  trades,  among 
them  printing,  have  been  introduced.  All  this  is  in  the  Port- 
Louis  prison,  besides  which  a  considerable  number  of  the  pris- 
oners are  employed  outside  the  walls  on  public  works.  Those  in 
the  vagrant  depot  and  district  prisons  are  exclusively  employed 
at  out-door  labor,  such  as  road-making,  etc.  None  of  the  labor 
has  ever  been  let  to  contractors.  The  cost  of  the  prisons  far 
exceeds  the  value  of  the  labor. 

The  sanitary  state  of  the  prisons  is  reported  as  in  most  re- 
spects satisfactory ;  the  death-rate  is  a  little  short  of  two  and  a 
half  per  cent. 

Sentences  for  life  are  not  given,  and  the  longest  term  of  penal 
servitude  is  twenty  years.  Repeated  short  sentences  have  no 
effect  to  diminish  crime. 

The  death-penalty  may  by  law  be  inflicted  on  a  number  of 
crimes  ;  in  fact,  it  is  restricted  to  one,  —  murder.  There  is  much 
diversity  of  opinion  on  the  subject,  but  if  capital  punishment  is  to 
be  inflicted  at  all,  there  is  thought  to  be  a  strong  sentiment  in 
favor  of  changing  the  mode  of  execution  from  hanging  to  decapi- 
tation. 

Imprisonment  for  debt  exists  only  in  the  case  of  fraudulent 
debtors.  They  are  not  treated  as  the  other  prisoners,  being 
allowed  to  wear  their  own  clothing,  and  to  receive  their  food 
from  outside. 

Reformatory  results  are  not  large.  The  percentage  of  recidi- 
vists for  the  last  four  years  has  been  about  seventeen. 

Prisoners  who  have  worked  at  a  trade  while  in  prison  are 
allowed,  if  their  conduct  has  been  good,  a  small  sum  of  money 
on  their  discharge ;  or,  if  they  have  learned  a  trade  in  prison,  a 
set  of  tools,  to  prevent  their  being  thrown  upon  the  world  penni- 
less. No  aid  society  exists.  Mr.  Colin  remarks :  "  I  hope  there 
is  a  growing  sentiment  in  favor  of  efforts  to  aid  prisoners  to 
reform,  and  to  save  them  when  liberated." 

Witnesses  sign  a  recognizance  for  their  appearance  before  the 
court  of  assize  to  give  evidence  in  criminal  cases.  They  are  not 
imprisoned  unless  they  decline  to  sign  this  recognizance,  which 
they  take  good  care  not  to  do. 

The  crimes  which  are  oftenest  committed  are  larcenies  and 
assaults.  The  first  is  due  primarily  to  the  natural  thieving  pro- 
pensities of  the  lower  and  laboring  class,  which  no  doubt  are 
stimulated  into  greater  activity  by  the  facility  thieves  find  for  dis- 
posing of  stolen  articles.  The  second  is  largely  caused  among 
the  Indian  population  by  the  paucity  of  women,  quarrels  as  to 
wives  being  not  infrequent,  and  sometimes,  unfortunately,  ending 
in  the  death  of  one  or  other  of  the  parties. 

There  is  one  juvenile  reformatory  in  the  colony.      Children 


PART  n.]  IN  MAURITIUS.  277 

whom  it  is  desirable  to  remove  from  evil  influences,  as  well  as 
those  who  have  broken  the  laws,  are  sent  to  the  same  institution. 
The  number  of  inmates  at  the  end  of  1876  was  one  hundred  and 
forty,  —  all  males,  and  all  offenders  against  the  law.  They  are 
taught  trades  and  gardening.  The  aptitude  of  the  boy  and  his 
own  preference  are  considered  in  assigning  him  to  one  handicraft 
rather  than  another.  The  boys  learning  the  same  trade  work 
together.  They  attend  school  zor  two  hours  daily.  There  is  now 
before  the  legislature  a  bill  to  amend  the  law  relating  to  reforma- 
tory schools,  which,  if  enacted  into  a  law,  will  be  likely  to  work 
much  good.  It  will  then  be  obligatory  on  courts,  and  not  merely 
optional,  to  send  offenders  under  sixteen  years  to  the  reformatory. 
They  will  no  longer  be  mixed  up  with  the  hideous  crowd  of  mur- 
derers, burglars,  and  highway  robbers,  who  form  the  bulk  of  the 
jail  population.  There  will  then  be  a  chance,  a  reasonable  hope, 
that  being  morally  trained,  fairly  educated,  taught  a  trade,  and 
kept  under  strict  but  kindly  and  loving  discipline,  they  may  turn 
out  good,  industrious,  and  worthy  citizens  instead  of  the  drones 
and  pests  of  society. 

Upon  the  whole,  the  attorney-general  comes  to  the  conclusion 
that  the  actual  penal  system  of  Mauritius  is  worthless,  whether 
viewed  as  to  its  preventive  or  reformatory  action.  And  he  goes 
at  considerable  length,  and  with  a  strong  infusion  of  common- 
sense,  into  suggestions  looking  towards  its  reform.  They  are : 
I.  A  greater  use  of  cellular  separation,  whereby  the  criminal  may 
be  studied  and  treated  as  an  individual.  2.  The  prisons  should 
be  turned  into  great  industrial  reformatories,  in  which  trades 
should  be  taught,  and  which  should  be  made  to  pay  the  expenses, 
if  not  wholly,  yet  in  large  part.  3.  Education  should  be  imparted 
to  the  illiterate,  and  good  libraries  provided  in  all  the  prisons.  No 
penal  law  could  intend  that  the  mind  should  be  enfeebled  at  the 
same  time  that  the  body  is  punished.  4.  The  officers  should  be 
better  paid,  so  that  more  competent  men  might  be  secured  and 
retained.  5.  There  should  be  one  responsible  and  competent  per- 
son placed  at  the  head  of  the  whole  system,  with  proper  authority 
to  appoint  and  dismiss  under-officers,  who  form  what  may  be  called 
the  police  force  of  the  prison.  Committees  he  looks  upon  as  cum- 
brous, slow,  and  uncertain ;  he  does  not  believe  in  them  as  a  rule. 
6.  No  iron  principle  should  be  laid  down  as  to  food.  The  rule 
here  should  be  broad  and  general,  permitting  the  ration  to  be 
varied  with  the  climate  and  according  to  the  habits  and  necessi- 
ties of  different  races.  One  rule,  hard  and  unbending  in  its  uni- 
formity, would  inevitably  produce  this  result,  —  that  for  the  same 
offence  two  criminals,  of  different  origin,  would  suffer  widely  dif- 
ferent sentences.  7.  A  bond  fide  reformatory  character  should  be 
impressed  upon  the  whole  discipline.  To  change  bad  men  into 
good  ones  should  be  made  the  aim,  and  ordinarily  attained  as  the 
issue. 


2/8  STATE   OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  HI. 


CHAPTER  XXX.  —  TURKS  ISLANDS.  —  BRITISH   GUIANA. — 
ST.  KITS.  —  NEVIS. — VIRGIN  ISLANDS.  —  DOMINICA. 

HAVING  received  no  special  reports  on  the  colonies  included 
in  the  present  chapter,  for  what  relates  to  them  I  draw 
upon  the  "Blue  Book,"  printed  by  parliament  in  1867,  under  the 
title  already  cited  :  "  Digest  and  STimmary  of  Information  respect- 
ing Prisons  in  the  Colonies." 

TURKS  ISLANDS.  —  There  is  but  one  prison  in  this  colony, 
which  had  been  condemned  as  unfit  for  the  purposes  of  a  prison  ; 
but  a  new  one  had  been  determined  upon,  and  it  is  to  be  hoped 
has  ere  this  been  constructed.  The  prison,  such  as  it  was,  would 
appear  to  have  been  neither  well-managed  nor  efficiently  in- 
spected, for  the  "  Digest "  declares  that  "  the  powers  of  the  vis- 
itors are  nominal  and  seldom  exercised."  It  further  states  that, 
"  in  violation  of  the  prison  rules,  the  female  prisoners  have  not 
been  attended  by  a  matron." 

BRITISH  GUIANA.  —  The  prisons  in  British  Guiana  are  a  "penal 
settlement,"  three  local  jails,  and  one  hundred  and  four  lock-ups. 

Up  to  1863  the  "penal  settlement"  establishment  had  been 
badly  managed,  but  at  that  date  a  radical  reform  was  effected. 
The  "  Digest "  reports  the  state  of  things  as  on  the  whole  "  satis- 
factory." The  sanitary  arrangements  were  good,  except  that  the 
cells  were  too  small,  and  in  the  old  wing  ill-ventilated. 

The  progressive  principle  is  introduced  here.  All  convicts  are 
subjected  to  a  preliminary  period  of  six  months  in  solitary  con- 
finement, with  reduced  diet  and  shot-drill.  Thence  by  good  con- 
duct they  may  rise  through  successive  stages,  and  at  the  expiration 
of  three-fourths,  or  in  the  case  of  sentences  from  six  to  twelve 
years  two-thirds,  of  their  term  they  may  be  discharged  on  ticket- 
of-leave. 

Instruction,  both  religious  and  secular,  is  provided  for  the  pris- 
oners in  the  penal  settlement.  The  prison  however,  with  all  its 
appliances  of  progressive  classification  and  teaching,  does  not 
appear  to  have  any  marked  reformatory  influence,  for  the  "  recon- 
victions  "  are  reported  as  "  numerous." 

Inspection  can  hardly  be  thorough  or  effective,  as  neither  the 
prison  board  nor  the  inspector  of  prisons  can  visit  oftener  than 
once  a  month ;  nor  can  they  do  so  without  notice,  since  the  only 
means  of  reaching  the  settlement  is  by  the  regular  monthly 
steamer. 

Two  of  the  local  jails  seem  to  be  reasonably  good,  but  the 
other  is  extremely  bad.  No  latrines  ;  means  of  ventilation  defec- 
tive ;  rooms  so  crowded  that  their  floors  are  "  one  general  bed," 


PART  n.]  IN  THE    VIRGIN  ISLANDS. 


279 


the  prisoners  lying  for  twelve  hours  side  by  side,  with  no  space 
between  them.  An  allowance  of  two  feet  is  made  for  each 
prisoner,  but  it  is  often  found  necessary  to  give  less  room.  Un- 
convicted  prisoners  are  associated  with  the  others. 

ST.  KITS.  —  There  is  but  one  prison  in  the  colony, — the  Basse- 
terre jail.  Its  condition  is  reported  to  be  briefly  this :  Sewerage 
and  drainage  defective ;  no  lavatory ;  space  per  capita  insufficient ; 
no  separation  ;  prison  unhealthy ;  discipline  not  well  maintained  ; 
no  reformatory  system,  except  that  extra  work  appears  to  be 
sometimes  made  a  ground  of  remission  of  part  of  the  sentence. 
Twelve  hours  are  allowed  for  sleep.  Diarrhoea  and  low  fever 
prevail,  and  the  number  of  sick  is  out  of  all  just  proportion  to  the 
prison  population. 

NEVIS.  —  One  prison  only  exists  here,  which  is  without  sewer- 
age or  drainage.  There  is  but  a  single  bath,  "attached  to  the 
well."  The  cells  are  insufficient  in  size.  The  prisoners  are 
generally  separated  at  night  ;  but  labor  appears  not  to  be  rigor- 
ously enforced.  The  only  work  is  on  roads,  or  in  breaking  stone. 
The  regulation  amount  of  stone  (sixteen  bushels)  is  never  broken, 
though  at  St.  Kits  the  same  amount  is  often  exceeded  by  one- 
fourth  part. 

There  is  no  reformatory  for  juveniles,  but  it  is  thought  highly 
desirable  that  there  should  be  one. 

VIRGIN  ISLANDS.  —  The  one  small  prison  in  this  colony  serves 
also  as  a  lunatic  asylum.  Small  as  it  is,  it  is  large  enough  to 
count  a  considerable  number  of  defects ;  for  example,  lax  disci- 
pline, no  sewerage,  no  separation,  labor  too  light,  hours  of  sleep 
excessive,  and  dietary  too  high.  Barring  these  drawbacks,  "  the 
prison  seems  to  be  as  good  as  the  circumstances  of  the  colony 
will  allow." 

The  number  of  serious  cases  is  few,  as  professional  criminals 
generally  betake  themselves  to  St.  Thomas,  finding  here  small 
field  for  their  exertions.  A  curious  story  is  told  of  a  prisoner 
who  had  been  repeatedly  committed  to  the  jail,  was  often  turbu- 
lent, and  had  proved  quite  incorrigible  by  any  of  the  customary 
deterrents,  such  as  shot-drill,  solitary  confinement,  flogging,  etc. 
At  length  a  new  method  was  invented  and  applied.  He  was  con- 
fined within  the  prison  walls,  and  made  to  pick  up  a  large  stone, 
carry  it  to  the  other  end  of  the  yard,  put  it  down,  pick  it  up  again, 
and  carry  it  back  to  the  starting  point ;  and  so  on  indefinitely. 
The  stone  weighed  seventy  pounds  !  This  discipline  proved 
effective.  The  man  never  came  back,  and  he  is  now  earning  an 
honest  living  at  St.  Thomas  as  a  porter,  —  a  position  for  which  he 
ought  certainly  to  be  well  qualified,  after  his  experience  at  the 


28O  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  HI. 

Virgin  Islands  !  The  story  itself  is  suggestive ;  but  perhaps  the 
additional  suggestion  may  be  ventured,  that  a  stone  of  lighter 
weight  might  serve  the  purpose  just  as  well.  It  is  a  punishment 
that  could  hardly  be  applied  in  the  original  form  to  every  prisoner. 
In  this  case  "  deterrence  deterred,"  which  is  more  than  can  be 
said  of  it  in  many  others. 

DOMINICA.  —  One  prison  only,  —  the  Roseau  jail.  In  accommo- 
dation, sanitary  provisions,  and  penal  discipline  it  is  very  defec- 
tive. There  is  no  sewerage,  only  surface  drainage.  The  latrines 
in  the  entrance  and  hospital  yards  are  not  well  placed,  and  are 
"often  offensive."  The  ventilation  is  imperfect.  There  is  no 
lavatory,  nor  any  bath,  except  a  tub  which  belongs  to  the  keeper. 
The  cells  are  much  too  small  for  the  numbers  placed  in  them. 
The  hospital  ward  for  males  is  ill-placed  and  ill-ventilated.  There 
is  no  separation.  The  classification  required  by  the  rules  cannot 
be  carried  out.  Criminals  are  not  separated  from  debtors  at 
exercise.  Felons  are  associated  with  misdemeanants,  and  old 
with  young.  There  is  no  "  penal"  labor  for  the  men  ;  the  women 
are  set  to  a  rude,  unregulated  shot-drill.  The  only  attempt  at 
reformation  is  through  the  granting  of  remissions  ;  but  evidently 
with  no  good  effect,  as  seventy-six  per  cent  of  the  committals  are 
old  offenders  reconvicted.  Yet,  in  the  face  of  all  these  deficiencies, 
the  jail  is  reported  as  "well-kept,  clean,  and  healthy,  the  prisoners 
generally  leaving  the  prison  in  better  condition  physically  than 
when  they  enter." 

The  labor  performed  within  the  jail  by  the  men  consists  in 
cleaning  the  premises,  drawing  water,  and  breaking  stone  for 
roads.  That  done  by  the  women  is  cleaning,  washing,  making 
and  mending  the  prisoners'  clothes,  and  carrying  shot  from  one 
point  to  another.  The  male  prisoners  are  employed  outside  the 
jail  in  cleaning  and  keeping  in  order  the  government  house, 
grounds,  and  premises,  digging  graves  for  paupers,  laboring  on 
public  works,  etc.  That  this  labor  is  wholly  inefficient  to  any 
purpose  of  reformation  is  shown  in  the  fact  that  more  than  three- 
fourths  of  all  the  committals  are  on  reconviction. 

The  inspection  and  supervision  do  not  seem  to  be  either  thorough 
or  efficient.  It  is  the  duty  of  the  board  of  superintendence  to 
visit  and  inspect  every  month,  and  report  to  the  lieutenant-gover- 
nor,—  a  duty  by  no  means  performed  with  regularity.  Yet  the 
chairman  is  the  chief -justice  of  the  colony,  and  the  senior  law- 
officer  is  another  member  of  the  board.  The  inspector  of  prisons 
visits  only  once  a  year ;  magistrates  not  on  the  board  of  super- 
intendence scarcely  ever  visit,  and  no  visits  are  by  surprise. 

The  longest  sentence  known  to  the  law  of  Dominica  is  four 
years.  The  lieutenant-governor  has  the  intention  of  recommend- 
ing an  improved  scale  of  sentences,  accompanied  by  a  proposition 
to  establish  in  connection  therewith  a  system  of  tickets-of-leave. 


PART  11.]  IN  GIBRALTAR  AND  NATAL.  28 1 


CHAPTER  XXXI.  —  GIBRALTAR.  —  NATAL. 

THERE  are  but  two  prisons  in  Gibraltar,  —  a  criminal  prison, 
consisting  of  common  jail  and  convict  department,  and  a 
debtors'  prison.  The  system  is  that  of  separation  at  night,  and 
associated  silent  labor  by  day.  The  criminal  prison  is  a  building 
outside  of,  though  attached  to,  the  walls  of  the  old  Moorish  castle. 
It  has  the  appearance,  with  its  successive  alterations  and  additions, 
of  a  makeshift  concern.  It  should  be  mended  with  a  new  one. 
The  location  is  bad ;  the  yards  are  in  small,  sloping  terraces, 
restricted  as  to  space,  and  exposed  to  the  direct  power  of  the  sun. 
It  is  utterly  unsuitable  as  a  place  of  punishment,  and  still  more 
so  as  a  place  for  reformation. 

The  supreme  authority  is  in  the  hands  of  the  governor  of  the 
colony.  Inspections  are  frequent,  generally  by  surprise,  and 
highly  beneficial. 

The  officers  are  appointed  by  the  governor,  and  hold  office 
during  good  behavior.  There  is  nothing  political  in  these  appoint- 
ments. 

It  is  intended  that  the  discipline  should  both  deter  and  reform, 
—  the  first  by  a  strict  enforcement  of  disciplinary  rules,  the  sec- 
ond by  religious  and  scholastic  instruction.  The  principal  pun- 
ishment is  confinement  in  a  solitary  cell,  on  a  diet  of  bread  and 
water. 

The  prison  is  provided  with  a  chaplain  and  a  schoolmaster, 
who  discharge  with  fidelity  their  respective  duties.  Few  prison- 
ers can  read  when  committed,  but  many  learn  during  their  incar- 
ceration. A  library  is  provided  for  their  use. 

A  little  more  than  two  per  cent  of  the  inmates  are  women. 

All  the  labor  is  industrial,  and  is  managed  by  the  administra- 
tion. 

The  sanitary  state  of  the  prison  is  reported  as  satisfactory. 
The  clothing,  suited  to  the  climate,  is  changed  weekly.  Ven- 
tilation and  drainage  good.  Prisoners  bathe  twice  a  week  in 
summer,  and  once  a  week  in  winter.  The  building  is  kept  scru- 
pulously clean  in  all  its  parts.  The  cells  are  lighted  with  gas. 
The  death-rate  nil  (sic). 

The  sentences  of  "  convicts  "  (that  is,  as  I  suppose,  criminals 
condemned  to  penal  servitude)  range  from  five  years  to  fifteen  ; 
one  fourth  of  which,  if  I  understand  the  report,  may  be  remit- 
ted for  good  conduct.  Other  prisoners  (misdemeanants)  are  sen- 
tenced to  periods  varying  from  two  days  to  three  years.  A 
repetition  of  minor  offences  is  followed  by  punishment  of  in- 
creased severity. 

For  wilful  murder  the  death-penalty  is  retained.  Public  opinion 
is  divided  as  to  the  wisdom  of  such  retention. 


282  STATE   OF  PRISONS,   ETC,  [BOOK  III. 

Imprisonment  for  debt  still  exists,  but  imprisoned  debtors  are 
treated  as  gentlemen.  Public  opinion  strongly  favors  its  abo- 
lition. 

It  is  claimed  that  many  prisoners  leave  the  prison-house  much 
improved,  morally  as  well  as  physically.  Yet  the  reformatory 
results  would  not  appear  to  be  conspicuous,  as  the  average  of 
reconvictions  is  reported  at  forty-one  per  cent. 

Nothing  is  done  for  the  protection  of  liberated  prisoners. 

Witnesses  are  never  imprisoned.  Their  personal  recognizances 
are  accepted.  If  they  fail  to  appear  at  the  trial,  their  deposi- 
tions, taken  when  the  prisoner  was  examined  and  committed,  are 
received  in  evidence  against  him. 

Thefts  and  assaults  are  the  prevalent  forms  of  criminality. 
Drunkenness,  idleness,  and  misery  are  chief  causes  of  crime  in 
the  case  of  adults  ;  with  juveniles,  loss  of  parents  and  of  home. 

There  are  no  preventive  or  reformatory  institutions  for  the 
young.  In  the  prison,  juveniles  are  kept  as  much  as  possible 
from  adults  when  at  work.  When  not  at  work,  the  separate  sys- 
tem is  enforced  with  respect  to  all  ages. 

Mr.  Gates,  superintendent  of  the  Gibraltar  prison,  makes  the 
following  sensible  remarks  on  the  subject  of  the  reforms  needed 
in  the  colony  :  — 

"  The  existing  prison  does  not  admit  of  the  required  means  to  carry 
out  reforms.  A  new  prison,  provided  with  the  requisite  number  of  wards, 
is  needed  for  efficient  reforms,  particularly  with  respect  to  the  young. 

"Task-labor  of  a  remunerative  nature,  sufficient  to  make  the  prison 
self-supporting  or  nearly  so,  should  supersede  all  kinds  of  non-productive 
labor  in  prisons.  The  enforcing  of  the  task-work  system  would  make 
such  labor  both  deterrent  and  reformatory. 

"  It  seems  that  a  first  offence  of  the  general  run  of  crime  should  be 
more  leniently  dealt  with.  Men  convicted  a  first  time  and  committed  to 
prison  feel  damaged  in  reputation.  The  purity  of  their  lives  appears  to 
be  sullied  by  a  first  confinement  within  the  dread  prison  walls ;  and  in 
many  instances  a  first  committal  may  and  does  result  in  the  commission 
of  further  and  more  serious  offences. 

"  A  life-sentence  is  a  fearful  penalty  for  a  first  offence.  It  would  seem 
to  be  justified  only  for  crime  approaching  in  heinousness  that  of  wilful 
murder." 

NATAL.  —  In  a  dispatch  addressed  to  Lord  Carnarvon  by  Sir 
Henry  Bulwer,  lieutenant-governor  of  the  colony,  under  date  of 
March  5,  1878,  he  says  :  — 

"  In  my  dispatch  of  the  28th  June  last  I  informed  your  lordship  that, 
upon  a  consideration  in  the  Executive  Council  of  the  proposal  made  by 
Dr.  Wines,  it  was  decided  that,  the  prison  system  of  this  colony  not 
being  as  yet  in  a  sufficiently  advanced  stage,  this  Government  would 
hardly  be  in  a  position  to  send  representatives  to  the  proposed  Peniten- 


PART  n.j  IN  CAPE  OF  GOOD  HOPE,  283 

tiary  Congress  at  Stockholm ;  and  I  may  now  add,  for  your  lordship's 
information  with  reference  to  the  wish  expressed  by  Dr.  Wines  that  a 
report  should  be  furnished  on  the  subject  of  the  prisons  and  the  prison 
discipline  of  the  several  colonies,  that  the  experience  of  this  colony  is  not 
such  as  to  enable  us  to  give  any  useful  information  on  the  subject.  This 
Government  has  in  point  of  fact  yet  to  establish  those  principles  of  sound 
prison  management  which  the  experience  of  other  countries  has  accepted, 
but  which,  owing  to  causes  with  which  your  lordship  is  well  acquainted, 
cannot  at  once  be  adopted  in  new  colonies  and  among  young  communi- 
ties, whose  public  wants  of  this  nature  increase  out  of  all  proportion  to 
the  means  necessary  to  meet  them  effectively.  The  principal  obstacle 
to  establishing  and  carrying  out  a  really  efficient  system  of  prison  disci- 
pline in  this  colony  at  this  moment  is  the  want  of  sufficient  accommoda- 
tion, that  which  has  hitherto  been  provided  having  been  left  far  behind  by 
the  rapidly  increasing  wants  of  the  community.  That  this  Government 
desires  to  effect  an  improvement  in  its  prison  system  your  lordship  will 
have  learned  from  my  dispatch  (No.  4)  of  the  pth  January  last.  The 
chief  obstacle,  as  I  have  just  said,  is  the  insufficiency  of  the  accommoda- 
tion ;  but  steps  are  being  taken  to  provide  a  considerable  addition  to  the 
accommodation  in  the  two  central  jails,  and  accommodation  of  a  proper 
character ;  and  when  that  is  done,  but  not  till  then,  we  shall  have  it  in 
our  power  to  carry  out  those  conditions  of  prison  management  which  are 
essential  to  a  sound  penal  system." 


CHAPTER  XXXII.  —  CAPE  OF  GOOD  HOPE. 


at  stations  in  this  colony  are  divided  into  two 
classes;  namely,  (i)  penal,  and  (2)  probation.  In  all  cases 
in  which  their  characters  are  known  to  be  bad,  or  their  sentences 
not  less  than  five  years,  convicts  on  arriving  after  sentence  are 
placed  in  the  "  penal  class,"  where,  without  abridgment  or  miti- 
gation, they  undergo  one  sixth  of  the  sentence  passed  on  them 
previous  to  promotion  to  the  superior  class. 

In  the  "  probation  class  "  the  period  of  servitude  (unless  re- 
duced by  the  special  authority  of  the  governor)  is  four  fifths.  If, 
at  the  termination  of  that  period,  the  records  show  steady  and 
uninterrupted  progress  in  general  conduct,  in  character,  and  hab- 
its of  self-restraint,  the  remainder  of  the  sentence  is  remitted. 
This  rule  does  not  apply  to  second  or  reiterated  convictions.  The 
amount  of  indulgences  accorded  is  decided  upon  the  merits  of  the 
case.  The  average  number  of  prisoners  in  the  "penal  class"  is 
about  fifteen  per  cent. 

The  under-colonial  secretary  has  control  of  the  convict  sta- 
tions. To  him  are  referred  all  recommendations  for  mitigations 


284  STA7^E  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BooK  in. 

and  indulgences  of  either  nature,  together  with  questions  refer- 
ring to  general  management  and  discipline. 

Prison  officers  are  appointed  by  the  colonial  government  dur- 
ing pleasure.  Political  influence  has  nothing  to  do  with  appoint- 
ments. Situated  as  the  colony  is,  the  Government  is  compelled 
to  accept  the  services,  in  the  subordinate  appointments,  of  men 
not  possessing  any  peculiar  qualifications  for  their  offices.  Pre- 
vious good  character  is,  however,  always  insisted  upon.  Breaches 
of  discipline  entail  fines  and  dismissal. 

The  discipline  is  intended  to  be  deterrent  and  reformatory. 
Punishments  can  be  inflicted  to  the  extent  of  fourteen  days  soli- 
tary confinement  upon  spare  diet,  or  twenty-five  lashes  for  minor 
offences.  In  cases  of  desertion,  two  years  additional  hard  labor 
and  seventy-five  lashes  can  be  inflicted  by  visiting  magistrates. 
Pecuniary  rewards,  payable  on  discharge,  are  granted  to  men  of 
good  character,  and  in  some  cases  a  slight  addition  to  the  daily 
ration  is  allowed,  generally  consisting  of  coffee  and  sugar,  which 
do  not  form  part  of  the  regular  ration. 

Chaplains,  or  religious  instructors,  are  attached  to  the  stations ; 
prayers  held  morning  and  evening ;  divine  service  in  English  and 
Dutch  on  the  Sabbath.  Volunteer  visitors  are  not  admitted  into 
the  stations. 

Prisoners  are  generally  totally  ignorant  on  admission.  Schools 
for  elementary  secular  instruction  are  established  at  each  station, 
and  the  convicts  attend  them  once  a  week.  A  library  in  charge 
of  the  chaplain  or  religious  instructor  is  attached  to  each  station. 

The  cost  and  value  of  the  labor  are  nearly  equal.  The  men  are 
employed  on  large  public  works  which  could  not  be  constructed 
by  free  labor  except  at  a  greatly  increased  expenditure. 

The  health  of  prisoners  on  reception  is  generally  good  ;  venti- 
lation and  drainage  satisfactory.  Convicts  bathe  once  a  week, 
and  have  clean  linen  twice  a  week.  Lighting  is  secured  by 
means  of  gas  and  paraffine  lamps.  Amount  of  sickness  averages 
about  five  per  cent;  death-rate  about  two  per  cent.  Deaths 
occur  principally  among  the  older  convicts  who  are  impatient  of 
restraint,  or  are  received  with  the  germs  of  disease  in  their 
systems. 

Life-sentences  are  not  commonly  ended  by  death.  Large  miti- 
gations are  frequently  given,  and  the  average  period  of  servitude 
may  be  calculated  at  from  ten  to  twelve  years. 

The  death-penalty  still  exists,  and  is  inflicted  for  murder  and 
rape,  —  for  the  latter  only  in  very  aggravated  cases.  Such  cases 
are  very  few  in  number. 

Imprisonment  for  debt  exists. 

Prisoners  as  a  general  rule  leave  the  stations  better  than  when 
they  enter  them.  Frequent  convictions  are  very  limited.  In  a 
country  so  sparsely  populated  as  this  is  it  is  not  possible  to  do 


PART  n.]  IN  GAMBIA.  285 

much  towards  saving  such  from  a  return  to  crime ;  there  are  no 
organized  societies  to  this  end.  The  convict  as  a  rule,  imme- 
diately after  his  liberation,  makes  for  his  home,  which  often  is 
some  two  hundred  or  three  hundred  miles  distant  from  the  sta- 
tion, and  is  absorbed  in  the  native  population.  The  chaplains  do 
their  best  by  giving  them  recommendations  to  other  ministers  of 
religion ;  but  it  is  not  possible  to  say  whether  they  are  presented 
or  not,  or,  if  made  use  of,  with  what  result. 

Thefts  and  receiving  stolen  goods  are  the  crimes  oftenest  com- 
mitted. Frequent  droughts,  occasioning  scarcity  of  food,  and  an 
innate  proclivity  to  appropriate  what  does  not  belong  to  them 
may  be  taken  to  be  the  chief  causes. 

There  are  no  reformatory  institutions  for  the  young;  juvenile 
crime  is  very  rare.  Youths  are  kept  and  worked  at  the  convict 
stations  as  much  as  possible  apart  from  the  other  criminals. 


CHAPTER  XXXIII.  —  GAMBIA. 

THERE  is  but  one  prison  in  this  colony,  —  the  jail  at  Bathurst. 
The  system  is  that  of  association.  The  average  daily  num- 
ber of  prisoners  for  the  last  five  years  has  been  thirty-eight  and 
a  half. 

The  supreme  control  is  in  the  hands  of  the  administrator  of 
the  government,  in  conjunction  with  the  legislative  council.  An 
efficient  inspection  is  maintained  by  the  administrator,  a  visiting 
justice,  and  the  medical  officer. 

The  officers  are  appointed  by  the  administrator,  and  their  ten- 
ure of  office  is  for  such  period  as  they  perform  their  duties  in  a 
satisfactory  manner.  Political  considerations  are  of  no  account 
in  making  these  appointments.  Mr.  Gouldsbury,  the  actual  in- 
cumbent, sketches  in  a  discriminating  and  admirable  manner  his 
ideal  of  a  prison  official  as  follows  :  — 

"  I  think  that  a  prison  officer  should  be  a  man  of  unblemished  charac- 
ter, and  of  sound  sense  and  judgment.  He  should  be  possessed  in  no 
small  degree  of  the  faculties  of  observation  and  reflection ;  and  should  be 
a  man  of  determination,  and  yet  of  forbearance  and  ready  sympathy.  He 
should  be  able  to  discriminate  between  premeditated,  intentional  evil  and 
unpremeditated  evil,  and  again  between  those  two  and  what  I  may  call 
accidental  evil.  He  should  possess  in  an  eminent  degree  the  power  of 
reading  character ;  and,  finally,  he  should  be  a  man  of  patience  and 
charity.  ...  No  special  schools  for  the  professional  education  of  prison 
officials  exist  in  this  colony.  I  consider  such  special  education  necessary 
to  the  highest  efficiency  of  penal  administration.  Perhaps  in  no  way 
would  schools  for  such  special  training  be  more  useful  than  in  the  means 


286  STATE   OF  PRISONS,   ETC.  [BOOK  III. 

they  would  afford  for  determining  the  natural  fitness  or  otherwise  for 
prison  work  of  those  who  were  candidates  for  office  in  the  penal  depart- 
ment." l 

The  discipline  in  the  jail  in  this  settlement  is  almost  entirely 
deterrent ;  and  the  principal  agencies  of  such  are  separate  con- 
finement, limited  diet,  observance  of  strict  rules  and  regulations, 
and  enforced  labor  both  penal  and  productive.  The  only  reform- 
atory discipline  is  that  embodied  in  the  teachings  and  exhortations 
of  the  colonial  chaplain  who  periodically  visits  and  holds  services 
in  the  prison.  There  are  no  special  efforts  made  to  plant  hope  in 
the  heart  of  the  prisoner.  Punishment  and  fear  are  the  agents 
relied  on  in  administering  the  discipline.  Generally  when  a  pris- 
oner commits  an  offence  against  discipline  he  is,  according  to  its 
gravity,  punished  by  confinement  in  a  solitary  cell,  reduction  of 
diet,  or  flogging.  This  last  is  occasionally  inflicted  for  larceny 
committed  outside  the  prison,  with  (so  says  the  "  Digest  of  In- 
formation ")  "  good  effect."  Inflicted  for  prison  offences,  accord- 
ing to  the  same  authority,  it  is  ineffectual  when  repeated  in  the 
case  of  old  offenders. 

The  general  condition  of  criminals  in  point  of  education  is  one 
of  total  ignorance  ;  but  in  this  respect  they  are  on  a  level  with  the 
outside  population.  No  provision  is  made  for  their  mental  im- 
provement during  their  incarceration. 

The  women  form  about  one-eighth  of  the  prison  population. 

A  distinction  is  made  between  "  penal "  and  "  productive " 
labor.  The  productive  labor  consists  principally  in  breaking 
stone,  making  and  mending  roads,  cleaning  drains,  transporting 
materials,  etc.  All  of  it  is  done  on  account  of  the  Government 
and  managed  by  the  administration  ;  none  is  ever  let  to  con- 
tractors. 

The  sanitary  state  of  the  prison  does  not  appear  satisfactory, 
—  ventilation,  drainage,  cleanliness,  etc.,  being  apparently  quite 
defective.  The  death-rate  is  reported  as  thirty-one  in  every  one 
thousand  received. 

Sentences  to  penal  servitude  less  than  life  range  from  three  to 
fourteen  years  ;  for  minor  offences,  from  two  years  downwards. 
The  death-penalty  may  by  law  be  pronounced  for  several  crimes, 
but  in  point  of  fact  it  is  very  rarely  inflicted  for  any,  and  never 
except  in  murder  cases.  To  this  extent  public  opinion  sanctions 
it  as  just.  The  practice  prevails  of  giving  repeated  short  sen- 
tences for  small  offences,  but  it  is  without  avail  as  an  agency  for 

i  This  is  precisely  what  is  noticed  by  M.  Demetz,  founder  and  late  director  of 
Mettray,  in  France,  as  one  of  the  best  and  most  valuable  issues  of  his  ecole  prepara- 
toire,  organized  before  the  colony  was  founded,  and  kept  up  ever  since.  "  If  that 
training-school  should  be  destroyed,"  said  M.  Demetz,  "  Mettray  itself  would  be  de- 
stroyed." 


PART  n.]  IN  GAMBIA.  287 

making  crime  less.  When  a  prisoner  has  been  twice  summarily 
convicted,  it  is  in  the  power  of  the  magistrate,  on  a  third  appear- 
ance before  him,  to  commit  such  prisoner  for  trial ;  and  if  con- 
victed of  the  offence  charged,  however  trivial,  the  judge  may  pass 
a  heavier  sentence  upon  him.  Mr.  Gouldsbury  does  not  state 
whether  this  is  actually  done ;  nor,  if  so,  with  what  effect ;  nor 
whether  the  sentence,  on  further  repetition,  may  be  made  pro- 
gressively cumulative.  It  would  have  been  interesting  and  in- 
structive to  know  these  things  as  well  as  what  is  told. 

Imprisonment  for  debt  no  longer  exists  in  this  colony. 

The  reformation  of  criminals  is  not  made  a  primary  object.  It 
is  questionable  whether  any  moral  change  for  the  better  is  wrought 
upon  them  during  their  imprisonment. 

Nothing  special  is  done  to  save  liberated  prisoners  from  a  return 
to  crime.  No  aid  society  exists. 

Witnesses  in  criminal  cases  are  allowed  to  give  their  own  bonds 
to  appear  at  the  trial,  no  matter  in  what  position  of  life  they  are. 
Should  they  fail  to  appear,  the  judge  may  allow  the  deposition, 
taken  in  the  presence  of  the  accused  at  the  time  of  his  examina- 
tion, to  be  used  at  the  trial. 

The  chief  crime  committed  in  the  colony  is  larceny.  The  causes 
that  lead  to  it  are  idleness,  ignorance,  improvidence,  and  a  low 
and  depraved  state  of  public  opinion.  A  man  does  not  lose  caste 
by  stealing,  and  on  his  release  from  prison  he  is  as  much  thought 
of  by  his  neighbors  as  he  was  before  his  conviction. 

There  is  neither  preventive  nor  reformatory  institution  in  the 
colony. 

Mr.  Gouldsbury  makes  certain  suggestions  on  the  general  ques- 
tion of  prison  reform,  i.  He  thinks  that  in  many  cases  crime  is 
committed  thoughtlessly,  or  under  the  pressure  of  want,  or  on  a 
sudden  and  strong  temptation.  In  such  cases,  there  being  no 
innate  or  habitual  tendency  to  crime,  after  a  first  conviction  and 
imprisonment  he  would  have  the  offence  blotted  out,  so  as  never 
to  rise  up  against  the  offender  in  future,  on  any  occasion  or  to 
any  purpose :  this  in  the  hope  that  such  complete  rehabilitation 
would  operate  as  an  effectual  check  to  all  further  criminal  attempts. 

2.  After  this  he  strongly  favors  a  system  of  cumulative  sentences. 

3.  Then,  as  regards  robbery  with  violence,  the  beating  and  wound- 
ing  of   women   and   children,  more    especially  wife-beating,   he 
queries  whether  they  would  not  be  best  and  most  effectually  pre- 
vented by  a  more  general  infliction  of  punishment  by  stripes  than 
is  now  practised.     4.   With  a  more  special  reference  to  the  peni- 
tentiary system  of  Gambia,  he  favors  the  nse  of  means  for  the 
education  of  the  prisoners,  and  particularly  for  the  teaching  of 
trades  to  those  whose  sentences  are  long  enough  to  permit  it ; 
and,  in  the  case  of  others,  he  would  at  least  have  the  first  prin- 
ciples taught  and  the  groundwork  laid  of  some  useful  and  remun- 
erative handicraft. 


288  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  in. 


CHAPTER  XXXIV.  —  MALTA.  —  ST.  HELENA. 

NO  report  was  received  from  the  authorities  of  Malta,  and 
I  have  only  the  "  Blue  Book  Digest"  to  draw  upon,  whose 
statements  are  of  the  narrowest  and  most  restricted  character. 
Why  this  should  be  so  is  matter  of  surprise,  when  the  "Digest" 
pronounces  one  of  the  establishments  "  in  most  respects  a  model 
prison  of  its  kind."  There  are  four  prisons  at  Malta  ;  namely, 
two  houses  of  detention  —  Valletta  and  Gozo  —  which  are  really 
nothing  more  than  police  lock-ups  ;  a  female  prison  (Ospizio) ;  and 
a  large  prison  and  house  of  correction  for  males  at  Corradino. 

In  the  Ospizio  the  highest  daily  average  of  prisoners  for  five 
years  had  been  ten,  and  the  lowest  two.  It  is  mainly  a  prison,  or 
hospice,  for  disorderly  prostitutes.  The  inmates  are  in  associa- 
tion, are  permitted  to  talk  freely,  have  no  labor,  and  their  diet  is 
high.  The  regulations  say  that  "  a  separate  sleeping  cell  will  be 
allotted  to  each;"  but  there  are  only  three  rooms  in  all,  with 
some  ten  prisoners  and  more. 

Eleven-twelfths  of  the  prisoners  in  Malta  are  semi-Oriental  ; 
and  the  remaining  twelfth  consists  chiefly  of  English  sailors  and 
soldiers,  committed  on  civil  process. 

The  prison  at  Corradino  is  for  males  sentenced  for  more  than 
three  days.  This  prison  is  built  on  the  radiating  plan,  and  is 
managed  under  a  set  of  rules  which  were  carefully  prepared  in 
1 86 1  in  consultation  with  home  authorities.  These  rules  provide 
for  a  reformatory  system  on  the  progressive  principle,  with  gradu- 
ated severity  in  separation,  labor,  and  diet.  Results  unfor- 
tunately not  stated.  Daily  average  of  inmates  for  five  years 
ranged  from  116  to  156.  Flogging  is  not  in  use  in  the  prisons  of 
Malta. 

ST.  HELENA.  —  There  is  one  prison  here  for  all  classes  of 
offenders.  It  is  in  effect  a  mere  house  of  detention,  sanitarily 
good,  except  as  to  size  of  cells  (171  cubic  feet),  but  insufficient  in 
accommodation.  The  average  number  of  prisoners  for  five  years 
had  ranged  from  ten  to  forty-eight.  Most  of  the  committals  are 
simple  police  cases.  There  can  be  no  separation,  except  of  the 
sexes.  There  would  seem  to  be  no  regular  visitation. 

An  ordinance  had  been  passed  in  1865  to  establish  a  juvenile 
reformatory,  with  a  carefully  considered  scheme  for  encouraging 
good  conduct  by  the  certainty  of  proportionate  abridgment  of 
sentence.  Till  then  juvenile  offenders  had  commonly  been 
birched  instead  of  being  imprisoned.  Whether  the  scheme  has 
been  carried  into  effect  is  unknown  to  the  present  writer. 


PART  IL]  IN  CEYLON.  289 


CHAPTER  XXXV.  —  CEYLON. 

THE  "Blue  Book"  of  1867  concerning  colonial  prisons  declares 
that  "  the  state  of  the  prisons  and  of  prison  discipline  in 
Ceylon  is  very  bad,  and  urgently  requires  reform."  Again: 
"Their  state  is  such  as  would  justify  the  strongest  language  of 
condemnation."  Since  then  immense  progress  has  been  made, 
and  especially  since  the  Prison  Congress  of  London  in  1872. 

A  commission,  appointed  by  the  governor  and  council  of  the 
colony  in  1866,  reported  that  not  a  single  prison  of  the  twenty- 
eight  within  the  jurisdiction  could  be  regarded  as  at  all  secure; 
that,  except  in  one  prison,  there  was  no  labor  that  could  have  the 
least  deterrent  effect ;  that  there  was  no  separation  beyond  that 
of  the  sexes,  of  color,  untried  prisoners,  and  debtors,  and  that 
criminals  of  all  shades  of  guilt  lived  and  slept  in  close  associa- 
tion ;  that  the  diet  was  too  high  ;  that  the  prison  system  was  the 
reverse  of  reformatory  ;  and  that  the  sanitary  condition  of  the 
jails  was  very  bad.  The  same  commission  recommended  :  i.  That 
there  should  be  four  classes  of  prisons,  with  a  sufficiency  of  large 
and  well-ventilated  cells.  2.  That  provision  be  made  for  a  sys- 
tem of  progressive  classification,  to  consist  of  a  preliminary  penal 
stage,  and  a  subsequent  promotion  for  industry  and  good  conduct 
through  stages  or  classes  gradually  diminishing  in  severity,  and 
for  a  system  of  marks  and  of  remission  by  ticket-of-leave.  3.  That 
there  should  be  an  efficient  and  well-paid  inspection  of  prisons. 
4.  That  extended  powers  of  whipping  instead  of  imprisoning 
juvenile  offenders  be  granted  by  the  legislature.  It  is  singular 
that  this  last  recommendation  should  have  been  made  in  the  face 
of  the  following  testimony  by  the  fiscal  of  Jaffna  prison,  one  of 
the  largest  in  the  colony :  "  Sentences  of  flogging  are  pro- 
nounced by  the  courts  for  offences  other  than  those  committed 
in  the  jail.  The  law  does  not  restrict  the  infliction  of  this  pun- 
ishment to  particular  offences.  In  practice  it  is  generally,  in 
this  province,  confined  to  cases  of  cattle-stealing,  thefts,  violent 
assaults,  and  escapes  from  jail.  The  punishment  has  been  very 
greatly  disused  of  late  years,  as  compared  with  former  times.  In 
my  opinion,  the  general  effect  of  it  is  bad,  as  hardening  offenders ; 
and  certainly  no  evil  consequences  can  be  pointed  to  as  the  result 
of,  or  even  as  having  happened  concurrently  with,  the  great 
decrease  in  the  resort  to  it."  The  fiscal  of  Kandy,  another  large 
jail,  testifies  to  the  same  purport :  "  Flogging  seems  to  be  of  no 
effect,  as  those  who  have  been  flogged  are  the  ones  who  generally 
run  into  crime ;  their  back  being  hardened,  they  don't  seem  to 
mind  it."  This,  as  I  conceive,  is  sound  sense,  confirmed  by  stub- 
born facts,  and  that  despite  some  testimonies  in  the  contrary 
direction. 

19 


290  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  in. 

The  governor  and  council  approved  the  conclusions  of  the  com- 
mission in  the  main,  not  wholly,  and  immediately  set  about  the 
reforms  recommended.  As  a  first  step,  they  procured  an  able 
inspector  of  prisons  from  England,  Mr.  H.  J.  Duval.  Early  in 
1867,  under  the  direction  of  this  gentleman,  a  system  of  penal 
discipline  was  introduced  into  Welikada,  the  principal  prison  in 
the  colony.  Separate  confinement,  with  rigorously  penal  labor, 
was  enforced  during  the  whole  term  of  short  sentences  and  the 
first  six  months  of  long  ones.  The  long  terms  were  divided  into 
three  stages,  —  penal,  secondary,  and  upper. 

On  committal,  every  prisoner  is  placed  in  the  penal  stage. 
There  is  no  shortening  of  this  stage,  but  it  may  be  lengthened  by 
misconduct.  Prisoners  are  here  kept  in  separation  night  and 
day,  with  the  exception  of  three  hours,  —  half  in  the  forenoon 
and  half  in  the  afternoon,  —  when  they  are  taken  out  in  gangs  to 
undergo  shot-drill.  When  not  so  engaged,  they  are  employed  in 
their  cells  beating  cocoa-nut  husk  into  fibre,  or  twisting  the  fibre 
into  coir-yarn.  This  stage  is  found  to  exercise  a  beneficial  influ- 
ence on  the  prisoners. 

From  the  penal  they  are  removed  into  the  secondary  or  indus- 
trial hard-labor  stage.  Here  the  penal  labor  ceases,  and  the 
prisoners  are  put  at  any  hard  labor  for  which  their  previous  oc- 
cupation in  life  may  have  fitted  them,  the  object  being  to  make 
their  work  as  productive  as  possible.  With  the  commencement 
of  this  stage  they  are  placed  on  the  mark-books.  Every  prisoner 
is  charged  with  a  number  of  marks  corresponding  to  the  number 
of  days  in  his  sentence,  less  the  first  stage.  By  unexceptional 
diligence  and  behavior  he  may  earn  nine  marks  a  week.  If  he 
earns  this  maximum  continuously,  he  will  win  his  discharge  at 
the  end  of  seven-ninths  of  his  sentence,  the  remaining  two-ninths 
being  remitted.  Any  average  of  marks  less  than  nine  per  week 
will  proportionately  diminish  the  shortening  of  his  term.  The 
general  endeavor  is  to  earn  the  maximum. 

The  upper  stage  is  a  privilege  held  by  the  few.  Prisoners  who 
have  served  at  least  two-thirds  of  their  sentence,  and  who  have 
while  in  the  industrial  stage  distinguished  themselves  as  good  pris- 
oners and  leading  workmen,  are  promoted  to  the  grade  of  prison 
constables,  —  their  duties  being  to  assist  the  under-officers  in 
the  maintenance  of  order  and  discipline.  When  employed  on 
public  works  they  act  as  foremen.  While  holding  this  position, 
they  are  credited  with  one  rupee  per  month,  which  is  paid  to 
them  on  their  liberation. 

Religious  instruction  cannot  be  enforced  in  a  country  settled 
by  many  races,  professing  many  religious  or  superstitious  creeds. 
At  all  the  more  important  prisons  the  ministers  and  native  cate- 
chists  of  various  missionary  bodies  hold  service  on  Sunday  ;  but 
attendance  is  not  compulsory,  it  is  simply  permitted. 


PART  IL]  IN  CEYLON.  29 1 

The  education  of  the  prisoners  is  a  question  almost  as  difficult 
as  that  of  religious  instruction.  Native  schoolmasters,  in  receipt 
of  a  small  stipend,  attend  on  Sunday  afternoon,  and  give  element- 
ary instruction  in  Sinalese  and  Tamil,  but  without  large  results. 
The  prisoners  do  not  like  to  attend  school  on  Sunday,  as  being 
their  day  of  rest,  and  they  prefer  idling  their  time  in  sleep  or  talk. 

The  foregoing  is  the  substance  of  Mr.  Duval's  report  to  the 
London  Congress.  The  system,  as  thus  laid  down,  has  been  in 
the  main  followed  since,  but  with  these  modifications  :  I.  The 
duration  of  the  penal  stage  has  been  reduced  from  six  to  three 
months.  2.  Working  in  the  cells  has  been  discontinued  as  pre- 
judicial to  the  health  of  the  convicts  ;  the  same  class  of  penal 
labor  is  still  exacted,  but  is  done  in  stalls  outside,  so  arranged 
that  no  prisoner  at  work  can  see  or  speak  to  his  neighbor.  At 
night,  all  are  locked  up  in  separate  cells  as  before.  3.  The  diet- 
ary has  been  changed,  with  results  highly  satisfactory  to  health. 
4.  More  attention  is  paid  to  education,  and  two  hours  a  day  of 
schooling  is  given  to  every  man  in  the  penal  stage. 

The  supreme  authority  over  the  whole  prison  system  is  in  the 
colonial  government,  under  which  is  an  inspector-general  of  pris- 
ons. The  inspection  is  held  to  be  thorough-going  and  efficient. 

The  superior  officers  are  appointed  by  the  governor  of  the  col- 
ony. One  superintendent  and  several  trained  jailers  have  been 
obtained  from  England.  The  subordinate  officers  are  procured 
in  the  colony.  Political  influence  has  nothing  to  do  with  these 
appointments,  which  are  made  during  good  behavior.  With  few 
exceptions,  the  officers  are  reported  as  not  efficient  or  reliable  ; 
but  plans  for  their  improvement  are  under  consideration  which, 
however,  do  not  contemplate  the  establishment  of  a  school  for 
their  professional  training. 

Ceylon  is  said  to  be  in  the  happy  position  of  a  country  having 
no  criminal  class,  there  being  practically  (except  a  few  in  the 
large  towns)  no  habitual  criminals.  Punishment,  therefore,  has 
been  directed  to  deterrence  almost  entirely,  as  there  is  neither 
need  nor  room  for  reformation  with  men  who  have  as  a  rule 
borne  good  characters  previous  to  the  commission  of  the  special 
acts  for  which  they  are  undergoing  punishment. 

The  moral  and  religious  agencies  employed  and  the  secular  in- 
struction given  have  been  already  set  forth.  It  remains  only  to 
add,  that  in  the  principal  jails  a  few  instructive  books  are  kept,  to 
which  access  is  allowed  to  the  well-conducted  men  after  the  hours 
of  work  and  on  Sundays. 

The  proportion  of  female  prisoners  to  males  is  about  3.5  per 
cent. 

As  has  already  been  seen,  a  distinction  is  made  between  penal 
and  productive  labor,  the  former  being  restricted  to  the  penal 
stage  of  three  months.  The  management  of  the  labor  is  kept 


292  STATE   OF  PRISONS,   ETC.  [BOOK  in. 

entirely  in   the  hands  of  the  administration.     Its  value  covers 
about  one-third  of  the  annual  cost  of  the  jails. 

The  sanitary  state  of  the  prisons  is  reported  as  in  all  respects 
"  decidedly  good."  The  number  of  deaths  in  1876  was  sixty-two, 
with  daily  average  of  2299,  —  equal  to  2.7  per  cent. 

Prior  to  1872  all  life-convicts  were  transported;  consequently, 
only  twenty-seven  prisoners  are  now  in  confinement,  under  sen- 
tence for  life,  all  of  whom  were  originally  condemned  to  be  exe- 
cuted. 

The  death-penalty  exists  only  in  cases  of  murder. 

Imprisonment  for  debt  may  be  enforced  for  sums  exceeding 
one  hundred  rupees.  Debtors  do  not  receive  the  treatment 
awarded  to  criminals.  Public  opinion  is  divided  on  this  point ; 
by  some  it  is  believed  to  foster  a  system  of  false  credit ;  by  others 
it  is  considered  a  safeguard  against  fraudulent  bankruptcy  and 
concealment  of  property. 

It  is  not  doubted  by  the  authorities  in  charge  that  the  long- 
sentenced  prisoners  are  benefited  by  their  incarceration  owing  to 
the  habit  of  industry  and  order  they  cannot  help  learning  in  the 
jail.  The  proportion  of  recidivists  does  not  exceed  eight  per  cent 
of  the  whole  number  discharged.  Moreover,  there  is  evidently 
a  gradual  and  somewhat  rapid  diminution  at  least  in  the  higher 
grades  of  crime.  The  convictions  before  the  superior  courts  of  the 
colony  were,  for  1875,  IO59  5  f°r  1876,  849,  —  being  a  diminution 
of  one-fifth,  or  twenty  per  cent,  in  a  single  year.  The  average 
prison  population  for  the  former  of  these  years  was  2,606 ;  for  the 
latter,  2,407. 

As  regards  reformatory  institutions  for  the  young,  nothing  has 
been  done  in  that  direction  owing  to  the  small  number  of  juveniles 
sent  to  jail  in  Ceylon. 

Nothing  is  done  with  reference  to  saving  liberated  prisoners 
from  a  return  to  crime,  and,  upon  a  consideration  of  the  whole 
case,  it  is  thought  by  the  authorities  that  there  is  really  no  occa- 
sion in  Ceylon  for  the  use  of  agencies  ordinarily  directed  to  this 
end. 

I  have  already  stated  that  great  progress  has  been  made  in  this 
colony  since  1872,  the  date  of  the  London  Congress.  Let  me 
cite  some  sentences  in  confirmation  from  two  or  three  recent 
official  documents.  Mr.  Saunders,  inspector-general  of  prisons, 
in  his  report  for  1875,  says  :  "  No  one  who  has  seen  our  jails,  and 
who  can  remember  what  they  were,  can  fail  to  be  struck  with  the 
wonderful  change  that  has  taken  place  in  them.  Even  so  late  as 
1872,  many  of  our  jails  were  houses  not  fit  for  human  beings. 
Our  best  jails  were  overcrowded  and  filthy,  —  two,  three,  four, 
and  even  five  prisoners  being  shut  up  in  a  cell  only  fit  for  one. 
In  those  days  jails  were  not  lighted  nor  patrolled.  Clothing  was 
dirty  and  insufficient,  and  no  system  was  observed  in  the  manage- 


PART  n.]  IN  CEYLON.  293 

ment  of  the  prisons  or  prisoners.  But  how  different  is  it  now ! 
And  this  change  has  been  brought  about,  not  merely  by  a  grant 
of  public  money,  but  by  the  unceasing  interest  taken  in  prison 
reform  by  all  those  concerned  in  the  matter." 

Sir  W.  H.  Gregory,  late  governor  of  the  colony,  in  his  valedic- 
tory address  to  the  legislature  remarked  :  "  The  prisons  were  until 
recently  Augaean  stables  of  corruption,  lax  discipline,  and  idle- 
ness. The  prisoners  were  not  turbulent  it  is  true,  but  for  the 
best  of  reason,  —  that  they  had  nothing  except  confinement  and 
light  work  to  disturb  their  serenity.  Now  the  strictest  discipline 
prevails  in  every  prison,  the  structural  conditions  of  which  permit 
it  to  be  carried  out.  We  are  endeavoring  also  not  merely  to 
punish  but  to  improve.  In  the  convict  establishments  we  are 
striving  to  educate  our  long-sentence  prisoners,  and  to  teach 
the  women  various  branches  of  needlework.  We  have  recently 
given  instructions  to  a  select  number  of  well-conducted  long- 
sentence  men  to  be  formed  into  an  artificer  corps,  and  to  be  sent 
to  the  different  prisons  in  which  masonry  work  is  to  be  executed. 
These  men  will  be  allowed  to  earn  some  small  trifle  each  week, 
and  at  the  expiration  of  their  sentence  will  have  sufficient  to 
maintain  them  until  they  can  find  means  of  exercising  the  trade 
they  have  learned  in  prison.  We  are  much  encouraged  in  our 
endeavors  to  reform  our  prisoners  by  habituating  them  to  steady 
work,  and  by  giving  them  the  means  of  employment  when  released, 
by  the  fact  that  there  is  so  small  a  proportion  of  reconvicted 
offenders  among  our  prison  population." 

I  cite  but  one  additional  passage.  It  is  from  the  pen  of  Mr. 
E.  Eliott,  acting  inspector-general  of  prisons,  to  whom  I  am  in- 
debted for  a  manuscript  report  on  the  prisons  of  Ceylon,  under 
date  of  July  19,  1877.  ^n  ^  ne  says:  "It  is  thought  that  Cey- 
lon has  reason  to  be  satisfied  with  the  progress  of  prison  reform 
during  the  past  five  years.  Large  sums  of  money  have  been 
spent  in  building  new  and  improving  old  jails,  and  this  is  still 
going  on.  Our  system  is  ahead  of  India ;  and  His  Grace  the 
Duke  of  Buckingham,  at  present  governor  of  Madras,  when  re- 
cently visiting  the  island  expressed  his  surprise  at  the  complete- 
ness of  the  Welikada  prison,  the  principal  penal  jail  for  the  island. 
The  importance  of  the  cellular  system  is  fully  acknowledged,  and 
it  is  being  rapidly  applied  to  all  jails. 1  It  is  believed  that  the 
system  now  worked  is  good,  and  it  only  remains  to  have  it  prop- 
erly carried  out  at  the  various  subsidiary  jails.  For  this  purpose 
improved  establishments  are  required  and  a  better  class  of  jail 
officers.  How  this  can  be  best  secured  is  now  under  careful  con- 

1  By  the  "  cellular  system,"  as  the  expression  is  used  here,  is  evidently  intended 
cellular  separation  by  night,  as  it  would  be  impossible  to  apply  the  principle  of  com- 
plete separation  in  connection  with  the  public-works  system  of  labor  in  use  in  the 
colony. 


2Q4  STATE   OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BooK  in. 

sideration.  A  defect  which  requires  attention  is  the  want  of  an 
intermediate  or  license  system,  enabling  convicts  under  long 
terms  of  imprisonment  to  earn  by  good  conduct  and  industry  a 
conditional  pardon  or  ticket-of-leave." 


CHAPTER  XXXVI.  —  NEW  ZEALAND. 

IN  giving  an  account  of  the  prison  system  of  New  Zealand  I 
cannot  do  better  than  transcribe,  with  slight  condensation, 
the  lucid  and  interesting  communication  addressed  to  me  by  his 
Excellency,  Mr.  John  Sheehan,  Minister  of  Justice  for  the  colony, 

as  follows :  — 

NEW  ZEALAND,  DEPARTMENT  OF  JUSTICE, 
WELLINGTON,  igth  June,  1878. 

SIR,  —  In  reply  to  your  circular  letter,  requesting  to  be  furnished  with 
certain  information  as  to  the  prison  system  in  force  in  this  colony,  I  have 
the  honor  to  inform  you,  that,  until  lately,  jails  throughout  the  colony 
have  been  built  and  maintained  by  the  several  provincial  authorities,  and 
to  them  have  been  committed  hitherto  the  appointment  and  payment  of 
officers.  The  consequence  is  that  no  general  system  has  yet  been  estab- 
lished, although  the  Government  is  now  endeavoring  to  provide  one.  In 
1875  the  Government  introduced  the  mark-system,  with  very  satisfactory 
results  ;  but,  owing  to  a  want  of  proper  classification,  it  has  been  impossible 
to  carry  out  the  principle  completely.  So  far  as  their  means  have  per- 
mitted, the  Provinces  have  done  their  best  to  provide  proper  jail  accom- 
modation, and  the  local  management  has  been,  on  the  whole,  creditable. 
But  the  want  of  a  central  penal  establishment  for  long-sentence  prisoners, 
the  lack  of  room  for  carrying  out  the  cellular  system,  the  originally  faulty 
construction  of  most  of  the  jails,  and  the  absence  of  an  efficient  general 
inspection  have  led  to  very  unsatisfactory  results.  The  effects  of  imprison- 
ment are  not  reformatory ;  in  some  cases  not  even  deterrent.  I  regret  to 
have  to  say,  that,  on  the  whole,  I  believe  that  prisoners  come  out  of  jail 
worse  than  when  they  enter. 

The  Government  is  keenly  alive  to  the  evils  that  exist,  and  hopes,  with 
the  aid  of  the  legislature,  to  provide  means  for  thorough  classification  and 
inspection. 

The  foregoing  observations  will  explain  the  difficulty  I  have  in  answering 
categorically  the  questions  to  which  you  desire  to  have  answers ;  but  the 
following  replies  may  be  taken  to  represent  the  state  of  the  case  in  most 
parts  of  the  colony  :  — 

The  mixed  system  has  hitherto  prevailed  throughout  the  colony,  though 
in  some  of  the  prisons  prisoners  sentenced  to  penal  servitude  are  kept 
separate  from  those  sentenced  to  hard  labor,  and  some  attempt  is  made  to 
classify  the  female  prisoners. 

The  minister  of  justice  has  the  general  control  of  the  prisons.  Visiting 
justices  are  appointed  to  each  jail  to  inspect,  hear  reports,  requests,  or 


PART  n.]  IN    NEW  ZEALAND.  295 

complaints,  and,  if  necessary,  to  order  punishments.  Beyond  this  there 
is  at  present  no  general  inspection. 

All  prison  officers  are  appointed  by  the  governor  on  the  recommen- 
dation of  the  minister  of  justice,  and  hold  office  during  the  governor's 
pleasure.  The  subordinate  officers  are  generally  chosen  by  the  jailers, 
who  select  men  of  good  character,  strong  robust  appearance,  orderly 
habits,  and  such  as  will  exercise,  self-control  and  firmness,  and  will  not 
be  drawn  under  the  influence  of  the  prisoners.  There  are  no  special 
schools  for  the  training  of  these  officers,  but  such  special  education  is  no 
doubt  desirable. 

The  discipline  is  intended  to  be  deterrent  and  reformatory,  but  hitherto 
it  has  not  been  as  successful  as  is  desired.  Offences  in  jail  are  punished 
by  solitary  confinement  in  a  dark  cell  with  only  bread  and  water,  by  for- 
feiture of  marks,  and  by  short  rations.  Incorrigibles  are  sometimes  sen- 
tenced to  additional  terms  of  imprisonment.  Good  conduct  is  rewarded 
principally  under  the  mark-system,  by  which  prisoners  sentenced  to  periods 
of  over  three  months  can  earn  a  remission  of  nearly  one-fourth  of  their 
sentences.  In  one  jail  the  prisoners  can  earn  "  exertion  money  "  by  the 
performance  of  more  than  the  allotted  task.  In  the  larger  jails  they  are 
taught  trades. 

Religious  services  are  conducted  every  Sunday  in  the  larger  jails  by 
ministers  who  attend  voluntarily. 

The  moral  effect  of  correspondence  with  and  visits  from  family  friends 
is  generally  good,  but -correspondence  with  others  has  frequently  an  injuri- 
ous effect,  as  connection  with  old  associates  in  crime  is  thus  kept  up. 

The  education  of  male  prisoners  does  not  differ  greatly  from  that  of  the 
non-criminal  population.  A  large  proportion  of  crimes,  such  as  forgery, 
presuppose  acquirements  above  the  ordinary  primary  instruction. 

The  female  prisoners  are  mostly  low  prostitutes,  whose  degree  of  educa- 
tion is  greatly  below  that  of  the  male  prisoners. 

There  is  generally  a  night-school  for  the  prisoners,  and  they  have  the 
use  of  libraries  provided  for  them. 

The  proportion  of  the  sexes  is  that  of  about  five  males  to  one  female. 

All  labor  is  industrial,  and  intended  to  produce  value.  The  male  pris- 
oners are  employed  in  quarrying  and  breaking  stone,  in  brick-making, 
boot-making,  making  and  repairing  roads  and  bridges,  printing,  and,  when 
necessary,  in  building  additions  to  the  prisons. 

The  female  prisoners  are  employed  in  washing,  sewing,  and  picking 
oakum. 

The  labor  is  managed  by  the  administration,  and  this  system  is  preferred 
to  that  of  letting  the  labor  to  contractors,  as  it  avoids  bringing  the  convicts 
into  contact  with  free  men. 

The  proceeds  of  the  labor  are  not  reckoned  generally  to  cover  the  cost 
of  the  prisons. 

The  health  of  drunkards  and  vagrants  is  generally  bad ;  that  of  other 
prisoners  good.  The  dietary  scale  is  satisfactory.  The  clothing  varies  in 
different  prisons.  Ventilation,  drainage,  and  cleanliness  are  good.  Heat- 
ing is  not  considered  necessary.  For  lighting  in  some  cases  gas,  and  in 
others  kerosene,  is  used.  Sickness  is  infrequent,  and  deaths  very  rare ; 
say  about  two  per  cent  per  annum. 

Sentences  less  than  life  vary  from  twenty-four  hours  to  twenty  years.     It 


296  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BooK  in. 

is  almost  impossible  to  give  the  average  duration.  Life-sentences  have 
been  given  for  rape,  arson,  and  attempt  to  murder,  but  are  not  frequent. 
The  practice  of  giving  repeated  short  sentences  exists,  and  with  bad  effect. 
One  prisoner  is  reported  to  have  been  sentenced  forty-five  times.  Life- 
sentences  have  hitherto  always  been  terminated  by  executive  clemency. 
There  is  no  fixed  rule,  and  prisoners  have  no  claim  for  remission. 

The  death-penalty  exists  only  for  murder.  Public  opinion  is  believed  to 
be  in  favor  of  it. 

Imprisonment  for  debt  exists  only  to  a  slight  extent,  and  indirectly  as 
punishment  for  wilful  neglect  of  order  of  court.  Debtors  do  not  receive 
the  same  treatment  as  criminal  prisoners. 

Some  prisoners  repent  of  their  crimes  before  they  are  convicted,  and  do 
not  return  after  the  expiration  of  their  sentences ;  but  in  many  cases  it  is 
believed  that  they  leave  worse  than  when  they  entered,  and  after  three  or 
four  convictions  there  is  little  chance  of  their  reformation.  General  inter- 
course between  prisoners,  and  the  want  of  cellular  treatment,  is  the  usual 
cause  of  this. 

Nothing  is  done  for  the  aid  of  liberated  prisoners,  but  they  can  almost 
always  obtain  immediate  employment. 

Witnesses  in  criminal  cases  are  bound  over  in  their  own  recognizances, 
by  the  committing  magistrate,  to  appear  at  the  supreme  court.  Should 
information  be  received  by  the  police  that  they  intend  to  abscond,  they  are 
arrested,  and  in  default  of  sureties  are  committed  to  prison  until  the  case 
shall  have  been  disposed  of.  Such  cases  are  rare. 

The  prevailing  crimes  by  male  prisoners  are  forgery  and  embezzlement, 
and  the  chief  causes  are  believed  to  be  the  drinking  customs  of  society, 
and  in  many  cases  freedom  from  parental  control  on  arrival  in  the  colony. 
A  large  proportion  of  the  criminals  is  supplied  from  England.  The  rising 
generation  of  colonists  are  mostly  sober  and  steady. 

With  females  drunkenness  and  prostitution  are  the  principal  causes  of 
imprisonment,  and  the  same  women  are  convicted  repeatedly. 

There  are  three  Government  schools,  which  are  intended  to  be  both 
preventive  and  reformatory,  and  in  which  the  associated  system  is  applied. 
The  results  have  been,  on  the  whole,  satisfactory. 

Dissatisfaction  is  felt  at  the  want  of  one  uniform  system,  means  of  classi- 
fication, effective  supervision,  and  more  suitable  buildings. 

Criminal  justice  is  administered  according  to  statute  and  common  law. 
I  am,  Sir,  with  much  esteem, 

Your  obedient  servant, 

JOHN  SHEEHAN. 
DR.  E.  C.  WINES, 
Irvington-on-Hudson,  New  York. 

So  far  the  Minister  of  Justice. 

There  is  one  prison  at  least  in  New  Zealand,  perhaps  more, 
which  is  more  than  self-supporting  through  the  labor  of  the  in- 
mates, —  that  of  Dunedin,  Otago,  under  the  governorship  of  my 
friend,  Mr.  James  Caldwell.  This  gentleman  has  achieved  a  work 
unparalleled,  I  think,  in  the  history  of  criminal  treatment,  —  the 
removal,  not  by  "  faith  "  exactly,  but  by  convict  labor,  of  a  solid 


PART  n.J  IN  FIJI  AND  STRAITS  SETTLEMENT.  297 

mountain  "  into  the  midst  of  the  sea."  Less  than  twenty  years 
ago  Bell  Hill,  a  mighty  headland,  a  huge  mass  of  basaltic  rock, 
rose  higher  than  the  steeple  of  St.  Paul's  Cathedral  in  London, 
in  a  part  of  what  is  now  the  great  city  of  Dunedin.  That  proud 
bluff,  —  wild,  rugged,  and  romantic,  —  where  the  waves  of  the 
bay  sang  their  mournful  dirges  as  they  dashed  into  caves  and 
hollows,  and  where  children  climbed  and  romped  among  trees 
and  thickets  and  velvety  lawns,  has  entirely  disappeared,  or  rather 
has  changed  its  locality,  and  is  now  seen  in  the  form  of  solid 
acres,  —  scores  upon  scores  of  them,  —  where  once  the  sea  dis- 
ported itself  ;  those  acres  covered  with  a  net-work  of  'streets  and 
avenues  and  rows  of  warehouses  and  dwellings,  interspersed  with 
magnificent  churches,  halls,  banks,  and  public  edifices  of  all  sorts. 
The  slaves  of  ancient  Egypt  reared  artificial  mountains  in  the 
shape  of  pyramids  and  massive  tombs  ;  Mr.  Caldwell's  prison 
gangs  have  removed  a  mountain  into  the  sea,  and  converted  that 
restless  element  into  broad  fields  of  terra  firma,  to  be  the  site  of 
a  splendid  city.  The  removal  of  this  gigantic  mass  of  rock,  and 
its  conversion  to  purposes  of  trade  and  social  life  form  a  striking 
commentary  on  what  can  be  effected  by  a  judicious  application  of 
prison  labor.  The  sea  reclaimed  is  studded  with  stores  and  com- 
mercial warehouses  ;  the  iron  horse  travels  daily  and  finds  a  cen- 
tral resting-place  where  boats  once  sailed ;  swamps  have  been 
converted  into  gardens  and  ornamented  with  stately  buildings,  — 
all  through  the  skilful  and  effective  use  of  convict  muscle.  The 
work  was  begun  by  the  convicts  in  1863,  and  the  finishing  touch 
was  given  to  it  on  the  24th  November,  1877.  It  was  the  largest 
public  work  ever  undertaken  in  New  Zealand. 


CHAPTER  XXXVII.  —  FIJI.  —  STRAITS  SETTLEMENT. 

FROM  Fiji  I  have  only  the  following  sentence,  in  a  letter  from 
the  colonial  secretary,  Mr.  Alfred  R.  Maudslay :  "  I  regret 
to  inform  you  that  the  temporary  nature  of  our  prison  arrange- 
ments prevents  my  answering  the  questions  propounded  in  your 
circular  letter." 

STRAITS  SETTLEMENT.  —  There  are  here  two  classes  of  prisons, 
criminal  and  civil.  The  criminal  prison  at  Singapore  is  for  con- 
victed prisoners  ;  the  civil  prisons,  —  of  which  there  is  one  at 
Singapore,  one  at  Penang,  and  one  at  Malacca,  —  are  for  persons 
awaiting  trial  and  for  those  sentenced  to  simple  imprisonment. 
Of  the  convicts,  one  hundred  of  the  worst  are  confined  in  cells  ; 


298  STATE   OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BooK  m. 

all  others  are  in  association.  There  are  at  present  in  the  Singa- 
pore criminal  prison  four  hundred  and  twenty-nine  prisoners 
sentenced  to  imprisonment  with  hard  labor  for  more  than  six 
months.  In  the  civil  prisons  there  are  one  hundred  and  thirty- 
two.  The  total  number  of  prisoners  of  all  grades  is  about  seven 
hundred.  Steps  have  been  taken  to  construct  cellular  prisons. 
A  mark-system  is  in  use,  intended  to  promote  industry  and  obe- 
dience through  successive  advances  from  lower  to  higher  grades. 
The  total  population  of  the  colony  is  two  hundred  and  twenty 
thousand. 

The  Government  of  the  colony  is  the  authority  in  control  of 
the  prisons.  They  are  inspected  from  time  to  time  by  visiting 
justices.  There  is  also  a  general  superintendent  who  has  a  cer- 
tain charge  over  all  the  prisons  and  is  responsible  for  their  proper 
management  and  condition. 

The  discipline  is  intended  to  be  deterrent  by  hard  labor  and  a 
rigorous  enforcement  of  the  rules  ;  reformatory,  through  partial 
remission  of  sentence  and  class  advantages  for  good  conduct. 

For  European  prisoners  there  are  both  Anglican  and  Catholic 
services  on  Sunday.  Christian  natives  (volunteers),  who  speak 
Chinese,  Tamil,  and  Malay,  preach  the  gospel  to  such  other  pris- 
oners as  desire  to  hear  it. 

Not  more  than  ten  per  cent  of  the  native  prisoners  can  read 
when  received,  and  that  is  perhaps  equal  to  the  average  of  the 
outside  population.  A  prison  school  has  been  established  for 
European  prisoners,  and  it  is  in  contemplation  to  provide  instruc- 
tion for  all  long-sentence  prisoners,  natives  as  well  as  English. 

There  are  but  three  females  against  an  average  of  six  hundred 
male  prisoners, — one-half  of  one  per  cent.  The  census  shows 
four  men  to  one  woman.  The  absence  of  crime  among  females 
is  ascribed  to  the  fact  that  they  do  not  use  intoxicating  liquor. 

As  regards  prison  labor,  in  the  first  stage  (six  months)  the 
prisoners  break  stone,  with  shot-drill  for  two  hours  a  day.  The 
several  kinds  of  productive  labor,  besides  stone-breaking,  are 
beating  cocoanut  husks,  rope-spinning,  mat-making,  chair-making, 
wool-picking,  spinning,  weaving  blankets,  blacksmithing,  carpentry, 
cooperage,  and  tailoring.  All  the  labor  is  managed  by  the  admin- 
istration. This  is  considered  most  advantageous  for  the  proper 
training  of  the  prisoners,  because  it  excludes  outside  influence. 
At  present  the  proceeds  fall  far  below  the  expenditure  ;  but  a 
strong  hope  is  felt,  that,  on  the  arrangement  of  a  better  labor 
system,  the  income  will  more  nearly  meet  the  cost. 

The  sanitary  state  is  reported  good  as  regards  dietary,  cloth- 
ing, ventilation,  drainage,  and  cleanliness.  The  rule  is  that  pris- 
oners bathe  daily  ;  the  wards  are  well  lighted  with  gas.  Still,  the 
average  number  of  sick  is  seven  per  cent,  and  the  death-rate  in 
1876  was  eight  per  cent. 


PART  11.]  IN  L  ABU  AN.  299 

Sentences  less  than  life  range  from  one  day  to  twenty-one 
years.  "  The  average  of  long  sentences  may  be  stated  at  ten  years. 
Life-sentences  are  rarely  passed.  Life-prisoners  are  chiefly  men 
in  whose  case  a  sentence  of  capital  punishment  has  been  com- 
muted. The  practice  of  giving  repeated  short  sentences  exists  ; 
the  effect  is  to  increase  rather  than  diminish  crime.  It  is  hoped 
that  a  period  will  soon  be  fixed  for  life-prisoners  to  be  brought 
forward  individually  for  special  consideration.  Fifteen  years  is 
suggested  as  the  minimum  time. 

The  death-penalty  still  exists,  but  capital  sentences  can  be  given 
only  in  cases  of  murder.  So  does  imprisonment  for  debt ;  but 
debtors  are,  as  far  as  possible,  kept v  apart  from  other  prisoners. 

The  reformation  of  the  criminal  is  made  a  primary  object  of 
the  prison  treatment.  Prisoners  who  have  undergone  long  sen- 
tences appear  to  be  better  men,  more  industrious,  when  they 
leave  the  prison  than  when  they  entered  ;  and  they  rarely  return 
to  it.  The  proportion  of  recidivists  is  about  twenty-three  per 
cent ;  but  they  are  almost  exclusively  confined  to  the  short-sen- 
tence prisoners. 

No  prisoners'  aid  societies  are  found  in  the  Straits  Settle- 
ment. 

Witnesses  are  occasionally  detained  in  prison  to  secure  their 
testimony. 

Theft  from  the  person  and  from  houses  is  the  prevailing  crime. 
Life  is  frequently  taken  in  fights  between  Chinese  belonging  to 
societies  which  are  opposed  to  each  other. 

There  are  no  juvenile  reformatories  in  the  colony. 


CHAPTER  XXXVIII.  —  LABUAN. 

THERE  is  but  one  prison  in  this  colony.  In  1876  the  daily 
average  of  prisoners  was  ninety-seven,  including  debtors. 
Rather  more  than  half  the  prisoners  are  Malays,  and  the  rest 
Chinese.  Occasionally  there  is  received  a  native  of  India,  very 
rarely  indeed  a  European,  and  still  more  rarely  a  female.  The 
Singapore  convicts  in  1876  numbered  forty-two;  and  the  greater 
part  of  the  crimes  for  which  they  were  committed  were  murder, 
robbery  with  violence,  piracy,  and  coining.  The  Labuan  con- 
victs are  chiefly  sentenced  for  murder,  burglary,  and  larceny; 
and  the  local  prisoners  for  petty  thefts  and  assaults. 

The  convicts  are  divided,  according  to  conduct  and  capacity, 
into  first,  second,  and  third  classes.  From  the  first  class  are  se- 
lected the  mandores,  or  overseers,  who  are  placed  in  charge  of 
the  working  gangs. 


30O  STATE   OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BooK  in. 

All  prisoners  who  are  capable  of  it  work  outside  the  jail-walls, 
—  nearly  all  the  work  of  the  colonial  public-works  department 
being  performed  by  them.  They  make  and  repair  roads,  build- 
ings, and  drains  ;  clear  and  keep  down  jungles  ;  construct  and 
keep  in  order  public  buildings ;  load  coal ;  and  do  carpenter's  and 
blacksmith's  work.  All  the  working  gangs  are  in  charge  of  con- 
vict mandores,  except  one  supposed  to  include  the  more  desperate 
characters  ;  in  this  the  mandores  are  supplemented  by  a  free  na- 
tive overseer,  or  duffedar. 

The  prisoners  earn  nothing  for  themselves  by  their  labor,  and 
on  leaving  receive  only  a  suit  of  clothes.  As  might  be  supposed 
from  the  nature  of  the  supervision,  the  work  of  the  convicts  is 
done  in  a  leisurely  manner,  and  is  by  no  means  excessively  hard. 
No  penal  labor  by  treadmill,  crank,  or  shot-drill  is  in  force. 

The  paid  officers  of  the  prison  are  one  European  jailer  and  two 
native  turnkeys,  —  the  guard  inside  and  outside  being  furnished 
by  the  armed  police.  These  officers  are  subject  to  the  orders  of 
the  superintendent  of  prisons. 

The  ticket-of-leave  system  (conditional  pardon)  is  in  force  in 
the  case  of  convicts  undergoing  sentences  of  ten  years  and 
upwards.  A  convict  sentenced  for  ten  years  may  be  released  at 
the  end  of  five  years  by  earning  4,068  good  marks  ;  one  sentenced 
for  fifteen  years  may  be  released  at  the  end  of  seven  and  a  half 
years  by  earning  5,085  ;  one  sentenced  for  twenty  years  may 
be  released  at  the  end  of  ten  years  by  earning  6,780 ;  one 
sentenced  for  life  may  be  released  at  the  end  of  twelve  years 
by  earning  8,136. 

Good  conduct  entitles  a  man  to  two  marks  per  day,  and  a 
month's  uninterrupted  good  conduct  gains  for  him  an  additional 
twelve  marks  at  the  end  of  the  month. 

In  1876  the  prisoners  on  ticket-of-leave  numbered  thirty-two. 
They  obtain  employment  at  the  coal  mines,  the  sago  works,  and 
as  coolies  ;  some  have  set  up  small  shops.  They  are  obliged  to 
report  themselves  once  a  month  at  the  police  station  of  their 
district,  or  at  the  jail.  Attempts  at  escape  from  the  island  are 
punished  by  forfeiture  of  the  ticket,  but  the  necessity  for  this 
rarely  occurs. 

Petty  offences  against  prison  discipline  are  punished  by  for- 
feiture of  good-conduct  marks,  confinement  in  a  solitary  cell  on 
half  diet,  imposition  of  irons,  and  in  the  case  of  first  and  second 
class  convicts,  by  degradation  to  a  lower  class  in  addition. 

With  the  exception  of  offenders  under  sentences  of  three 
months'  imprisonment  and  less,  all  prisoners  on  first  entering 
the  jails  are  put  into  irons,  —  local  prisoners  into  light  and  con- 
victs into  heavy  irons,  the  former  consisting  of  two  rings  round 
the  ankles  connected  by  a  long-link  chain  which  is  fastened  up 
by  the  centre  to  the  waist,  and  weighing  with  the  ankle-rings 


PART  ri.  ]  IN  NEW  SOUTH  WALES.  301 

about  four  and  one  half  pounds  ;  while  in  the  latter  the  chain  is 
replaced  by  two  iron  bars  which  reach  up  to  the  fork,  where  they 
are  connected  by  a  ring,  and  are  fastened  up  to  the  waist.  These 
weigh  with  the  ring  four  and  one-half  pounds. 

Convicts  in  the  second  and  first  classes  are  not  required  to 
wear  chains  ;  in  other  cases  also  the  superintendent  is  at  liberty 
to  use  his  discretion  in  removing  or  keeping  them  on. 


CHAPTER  XXXIX.  — NEW  SOUTH  WALES. 

THE  prison  system  practised  in  this  colony  is  that  known 
under  the  several  designations  of  the  Crofton,  or  Macono- 
chie-Crofton,  or  more  commonly  perhaps  the  Irish,  system.  The 
total  number  of  prisons  is  thirty-seven  ;  the  daily  average  of 
prisoners,  fourteen  hundred  and  fifty-three ;  and  the  number  of 
classes  four,  numbered  first,  second,  third,  and  fourth. 

The  administration  of  the  system  is  centralized  in  the  hands  of 
a  comptroller-general  of  prisons,  who  exercises  his  functions  sub- 
ject to  the  authority  of  the  colonial  secretary,  who  is  generally 
the  prime-minister  of  the  colony. 

The  superior  officers  are  nominated  by  the  colonial  secretary 
and  appointed  by  the  governor  and  executive  council,  but  in  prac- 
tice they  are  raised  to  their  positions  by  promotion  on  the  recom- 
mendation of  the  comptroller-general,  who  appoints  the  general 
body.  It  cannot  be  said  that  political  influence  has  much  to  do 
with  the  appointments.  The  qualifications  are  education,  intelli- 
gence, steadiness,  and  good  temper.  In  the  main  body  former 
service,  as  of  soldiers  or  policemen,  is  in  some  degree  preferred. 
Special  schools  for  training  do  not  exist ;  there  can  be  no  doubt 
that  such  schools  would  largely  promote  efficiency  in  the  service. 

The  discipline  is  both  deterrent  and  reformatory,  —  the  first  by 
strict  conditions,  especially  in  the  earlier  periods  of  the  sentence  ; 
the  second  by  religious  and  other  ministrations,  libraries,  encour- 
agement, and  recognition  of  efforts  for  self-government.  Hope  is 
planted  and  kept  in  active  force  by  the  expectation  through  his 
own  conduct  and  industry  of  earning  present  small  advantage, 
and  future  diminution  of  sentence,  and  by  becoming  through 
habit  and  learning  in  some  handicraft  capable  of  earning  an  hon- 
est livelihood  on  discharge.  Punishment  and  reward,  fear  and 
hope,  are  all  relied  upon ;  as  the  present  system  of  discipline  has 
advanced,  reward  and  hope  have  been  thought  the  more  effica- 
cious. The  punishments  consist  of  those  most  ordinarily  in  use, 
—  solitary  cell,  dark  cell,  in  extreme  cases  flogging,  loss  of  re- 


3O2  STATE   OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  in. 

mission,  and  other  disabilities ;  they  have  not  of  late  years  been 
frequently  or  largely  needed,  and  have  generally  fulfilled  their 
objects.  The  rewards  are  promotion  from  class  to  class,  with 
extra  allowances  and  small  considerations,  and  remission  on  an 
established  scale.  They  have  been  found  to  be  good  in  their 
effects,  encouraging  reformation  and  softening  the  criminal 
character. 

Chaplains  are  appointed  for  religious  and  moral  instruction. 
Volunteer  visitors,  as  assisting  the  chaplains  and  with  their  con- 
currence, are  permitted,  but  Sunday-schools  have  not  been  sought 
to  be  established.  Correspondence  with  and  visits  of  relatives  and 
friends  are  allowed  under  certain  restrictions.  The  moral  effect 
is  good,  in  respect  of  the  better  classes  of  prisoners  especially, 
and  they  have  the  balance  of  good  even  in  the  other  classes. 

The  education  of  the  prisoners  on  committal  is  much  the  same 
as  that  of  the  classes  of  society  from  which  they  come.  In  prison 
they  have  regular  school  instruction  and  the  use  of  libraries. 

The  sexes  are  divided  in  the  proportion  of  one  woman  to  ten 
men. 

All  labor  is  industrial,  that  principle  being  preferred  ;  but  much 
of  it  is  hard,  as  stone-cutting  and  the  like,  to  which  at  certain 
periods  of  the  sentences,  when  available,  prisoners  are  restricted. 
Apart  from  the  harder  labor  of  stone-cutting  and  breaking,  the 
prisoners  are  employed  as  blacksmiths,  carpenters,  tailors,  shoe- 
makers, mat-makers,  painters,  tinsmiths,  brush-makers,  book- 
binders, etc.  The  labor  is  managed  by  the  administration.  This 
is  preferred  to  the  contract  system,  because  the  opinion  of  the 
authorities,  supported  by  information  where  the  latter  has  been 
tried,  leads  to  the  conclusion  that  any  pecuniary  advantage  in  its 
operation  is  more  than  counterbalanced  by  injury  to  discipline 
and  the  primary  objects  of  imprisonment.  The  value  of  labor  ex- 
clusive of  that  for  prison  services  is  but  little  over  one-fourth  of 
the  cost  of  the  establishment ;  but  the  country  is  young,  of  im- 
mense extent,  and  there  are  widely  situated  small  prisons,  neces- 
sarily costly,  and  in  which  it  is  impossible  to  make  labor  in  any 
way  remunerative. 

The  sanitary  state  of  the  prisons  is  in  the  main  good.  The 
drainage  is  sufficient  where  no  special  difficulties  exist.  No  heat- 
ing is  required  in  this  climate ;  lighting  is  by  gas  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  the  larger  towns,  by  kerosene  elsewhere.  The  dietary  is 
regulated  by  the  length  of  sentence.  Cleanliness  is  enforced  by 
frequent  ablutions  and  change  of  clothing  of  prisoners,  and  scour- 
ing and  whitewashing  the  prisons.  Sickness  varies  considerably 
according  to  different  seasons  and  localities,  the  death-rate  aver- 
aging slightly  under  three  per  cent. 

Excepting  for  petty  offences,  sentences  are  from  six  months  to 
thirty  years.  The  actual  imprisonment  is  from  five-sixths  to 


PART  n.]  IN  NEW  SOUTH  WALES.  303 

three-fourths  of  the  term  of  sentence.  Existing  laws  necessitate 
the  practice  of  giving  repeated  short  sentences  for  minor  offences. 
It  does  not  effectively  tend  to  the  diminution  of  crime.  Life- 
sentences  are  usually  terminated  by  executive  intervention.  In 
such  cases  the  Government  is  not  guided  by  any  fixed  rule.  Sel- 
dom less  than  twelve  years  is  served  of  such  sentences. 

The  death-penalty  exists,  and  is  still  applied  for  murder,  wound- 
ing with  intent  to  murder,  rape,  sodomy,  and  some  other  crimes, 
but  is  not  frequently  carried  into  effect,  excepting  for  murder. 
The  state  of  public  opinion  is  against  its  abolition. 

Imprisonment  for  debt  only  exists  until  the  provisions  of  the 
insolvency  laws  can  be  resorted  to,  or  in  cases  of  contempt  of  an 
order  of  court.  The  prevailing  opinion  tends  to  abating  even  this 
extent  of  imprisonment,  but  has  yet  no  practical  force. 

The  reformation  of  criminals  is  an  object  which  goes  hand  in 
hand  with  deterrence,  and  is  in  some  degree  more  relied  on. 
Many  prisoners  leave  the  prisons  either  reformed  or  so  averse  to 
encountering  again  the  deterrent  treatment  that  they  pursue 
honest  callings  ;  but  this  is  far  from  being  the  case  with  all. 

Liberated  prisoners  receive  from  the  depaitment  assistance  in 
clothing,  money,  and  transit  to  search  for  employment  An  aid 
society  has  recently  been  formed,  but  has  not  had  time  to  make 
much  progress.  The  society  is  supported  by  the  public,  but  has 
the  co-operation  of  the  department. 

Witnesses  in  criminal  cases  are  not  detained  in  prison,  but 
bound  over  in  their  own  recognizance  to  appear  at  the  trial. 

The  prevailing  character  of  crime,  as  distinguished  from  the 
ordinary  crimes  of  civilized  communities,  is  that  of  the  stealing 
of  horses  and  horned  cattle,  — to  which  temptation  and  facilities 
contribute  by  reason  of  the  wide  extent  of  the  pastoral  territory. 

Industrial  schools  for  boys  and  girls  have  been  established,  and 
a  reformatory  school  for  girls,  while  one  for  boys  is  about  to  be 
formed.  A  marked  distinction  is  kept  between  the  two  kinds  of 
school. 

The  colony  is  progressing  towards  a  more  satisfactory  state  of 
things.  It  has  been  kept  back  by  insufficiency  of  building  accom- 
modation, insufficient  development  of  reformatory  schools,  and 
the  want  of  a  public-works  prison  for  longer-sentenced  prisoners 
on  the  English  model,  the  building  of  which  has  now  been  com- 
menced. 

What  chiefly  differentiates  South  Australia  from  other  British 
communities  as  respects  crime  is  its  great  extent  of  territory  and 
the  consequent  facilities  for  the  special  crimes  of  horse  and  cattle 
stealing,  attended  by  a  greater  strain  and  cost  upon  both  the 
police  and  prison  services.  The  police,  a  highly  efficient  though 
comparatively  small  force  in  view  of  the  immense  space  it  covers, 
is  quite  abreast  of  crime.  The  population,  —  numbering  by  com- 


304  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  in. 

putation  in  1875  six  hundred  and  twenty-nine  thousand,  seven 
hundred  and  seventy-six,  —  is  as  a  whole  prosperous,  orderly,  and 
industrious.  The  native-born  are  exceptionally  free  from  the  vice 
of  drinking,  which  is  not  more  pronounced  in  this  colony  than  in 
an  average  Anglo-Saxon  community. 


CHAPTER  XL.  —  SOUTH  AUSTRALIA. 

THE  only  prison  in  this  colony  for  the  reception  of  male  con- 
victs under  sentence  for  more  than  six  months  is  at  Yatala, 
eight  miles  from  Adelaide,  the  capital,  on  a  high  rocky  situation 
near  the  sea,  in  a  reserve  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  acres.  The 
system  is  that  of  associated  work  by  day  and  separation  at  night. 
This  prison  is  called  the  "  Dry-Creek  Labor  Prison,"  and  some- 
times the  "  Stockade."  Besides  Yatala  prison  there  are  seven 
others,  —  a  general  prison  at  Adelaide,  and  six  local  jails.  These 
last  are  mostly  used  as  places  of  detention  for  prisoners  awaiting 
trial  and  for  others  convicted  of  trivial  offences  ;  while  in  the 
Adelaide  jails  are  confined  females,  offenders  against  police  and 
municipal  laws,  sailors,  etc. 

The  authority  in  direct  charge  of  the  jails  is  the  comptroller- 
general  of  prisons ;  but  this  officer  is  responsible  to  the  head  of 
the  Government  in  all  matters  pertaining  to  them. 

The  officers  are  appointed  by  the  governor  and  executive  coun- 
cil; they  hold  their  post  during  good  behavior  ;  political  influence 
has  nothing  to  do  with  their  appointment.  The  minor  officers 
are  appointed  by  the  comptroller,  under  the  sanction  of  the  chief 
secretary,  and  hold  office  during  pleasure.  The  qualifications  re- 
quired for  subordinate  officers  are  general  good  character,  sobriety, 
and  a  moderate  elementary  education.  There  are  no  schools  for 
the  training  of  prison  officials. 

The  discipline  adopted  in  South  Australia  is  mainly  intended 
to  be  deterrent,  but  reformatory  also  so  far  as  the  special  circum- 
stances of  each  case  may  render  it  possible.  The  agencies  em- 
ployed are  the  disciplinary  penalties  and  the  exhortations  of  the 
religious  instructors.  Hope  is  planted  in  the  minds  of  the  pris- 
oners by  the  terms  of  the  law,  which  provides  that  by  systematic 
industry  and  good  conduct  they  may  shorten  their  sentences  to 
the  extent  of  one-third.  It  is  maintained  in  active  force  by  the 
knowledge  that  misconduct,  besides  being  visited  with  a  special 
penalty,  may  entail  the  loss  of  all  the  credit-time  earned  by  previ- 
ous good  behavior  and  industry. 

The  moral  and  religious  agencies  employed  are  to  be  found  in 


PART  ii.]  IN  SOUTH  AUSTRALIA.  305 

the  services  of  recognized  ministers  of  religion  of  different  de- 
nominations, who  are  paid  for  their  services.  No  volunteer  visitors 
of  this  class  are  permitted  to  attend  the  prison.  The  knowledge 
that  misconduct  will  deprive  the  prisoner  of  his  privilege  of  seeing 
and  writing  to  his  friends  has  a  considerable  effect  in  promoting 
good  conduct. 

In  the  year  1875  there  were  sixty-six  criminals  convicted,  out 
of  whom  fifty-one  could  read  and  write,  six  could  read  only,  and 
nine  could  neither  read  nor  write.  This  is  a  fair  average  propor- 
tion. There  is  a  school  in  the  prison,  held  in  the  evening  from 
six  to  eight  P.M.,  in  which  instruction  is  given  to  those  who 
require  it  by  a  paid  teacher  unconnected  with  the  establishment. 
There  is  a  library  of  useful  moral  and  religious  works,  which  are 
issued  as  required  to  the  good-conduct  men.  The  prisoners  are 
not  permitted  to  see  newspapers. 

The  proportion  of  female  prisoners  is  about  one  in  four  to  that 
of  males. 

There  is  no  technical  "  penal "  labor  ;  it  is  all  industrial,  so 
that  every  prisoner  who  works  contributes  something  to  his  own 
support.  The  kinds  of  labor  enforced  are  quarrying  and  breaking 
stone  for  road  and  building  purposes,  the  manufacture  of  boots, 
tarpaulins,  and  bags,  picking  oakum,  carpentering,  smith's  work, 
painting,  the  manufacture  of  olive  oil,  and  all  necessary  employ- 
ment about  the  jails,  such  as  cooking,  washing,  etc.  The  whole 
of  the  labor  is  managed  by  the  administration,  and  its  value  as 
received  is  paid  into  the  general  revenue.  The  prisoners  are  not 
allowed  to  be  connected  with  or  have  access  to  any  one  beyond 
the  precincts  of  the  prison.  The  proceeds  of  prison  labor  in 
South  Australia  amount  to  more  than  one-half  the  cost  of  the 
prisons.  The  railways  and  other  branches  of  the  government 
service  gain  considerably  in  an  indirect  way  from  the  labor  of  the 
prisoners,  but  thkt  gain  is  not  taken  into  account  in  estimating 
the  actual  value  returned  to  the  revenue. 

The  sanitary  state  of  the  prisons  appears  to  be  good ;  the 
death-rate  is  less  than  two  per  cent. 

Sentences  for  grave  offences  range  from  nine  months  to  life. 
By  good  conduct  and  industry  a  prisoner  may  shorten  his  sen- 
tence one-third.  Life-sentences  are  generally  commuted  after 
a  term  of  years  varying  from  ten  to  twenty,  according  to  the 
circumstances  of  each  particular  case. 

The  death-penalty  is  not  inflicted  in  this  colony  except  for  wil- 
ful murder.  In  ten  years  there  have  been  five  executions,  —  the 
subject  of  one  being  an  aboriginal  native.  The  punishment  of 
death  has  no  apparent  effect  on  the  amount  of  crime,  as  it  has 
seldom  been  traceable  to  the  class  of  habitual  criminals.  Public 
feeling  is  divided  upon  the  subject  of  the  infliction  of  this  penalty. 

Imprisonment  for  debt  exists  to  a  very  limited  extent.     A  per- 


20 


306  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  in. 

son  being  arrested  for  debt,  or  committed  from  an  inferior  court 
for  non-payment  of  a  debt  when  ordered  by  that  court,  becomes 
insolvent  if  he  remains  in  prison  for  ten  days,  when  he  can  pro- 
cure his  discharge  in  forma  pauperis  by  means  of  the  court  of 
insolvency.  Imprisoned  debtors  are  simply  detained,  and  are  not 
subject  to  prison  discipline.  The  law  has  been  brought  to  its 
present  state  in  deference  to  the  public  feeling  expressed  on 
the  subject  a  few  years  ago.  The  judge  of  the  insolvency  court 
has  the  power  of  committing  an  insolvent  debtor  to  prison  for 
two  years,  for  fraud  upon  his  creditors  and  other  misdemeanors 
recited  in  the  insolvent  Act.  While  under  such  a  sentence  the 
prisoner  is  not  subject  to  penal  discipline. 

Nothing  is  done  to  save  liberated  prisoners  from  a  return  to 
crime.  So  long  as  they  remain  in  the  province  they  are  nomi- 
nally kept  in  view  by  the  police.  On  being  released,  the  prisoners 
receive  sums  of  money  to  the  extent  of  £2,  with  a  suit  of  clothes, 
if  required  ;  and  in  some  cases  a  passage  to  their  homes,  if  they 
are  at  a  considerable  distance  from  Adelaide.  There  is  a  sort  of 
prisoners'  aid  society  in  existence,  but  its  organization  and  pro- 
ceedings are  quite  private.  There  is  no  means  of  knowing  how 
the  liberated  prisoners  work,  or  with  what  results,  unless  they 
should  happen  to  be  reconvicted,  when  their  intermediate  history 
is  tolerably  well  traced  out.  Societies  for  the  relief  of  discharged 
convicts  are  scarcely  felt  to  be  necessary,  as  no  difficulty  need  be 
experienced  in  finding  work. 

Witnesses  are  required  to  enter  into  bonds  to  appear  and  give 
evidence  at  the  time  of  trial.  In  the  event  of  their  non-appear- 
ance, their  bonds  are  forfeited.  The  courts  have  power  to  commit 
witnesses  to  prison  pending  the  trial,  should  there  be  reasonable 
ground  for  believing  that  they  will  cause  the  ends  of  justice  to  be 
defeated  by  absconding.  No  instance  is  remembered  in  which 
that  power  has  been  exercised  in  this  colony. 

Offences  against  property  are  most  prevalent.  They  are  very 
frequently  attributable  to  speculations  entered  into  by  persons  in 
positions  of  trust,  who  have  insufficient  or  no  means  of  their  own. 
Drunkenness  also  is  a  fertile  cause  of  crime,  although  it  is  impos- 
sible to  fix  a  ratio  of  cases  which  are  directly  attributable  to  it. 
A  large  portion  of  the  offences  against  the  person  are  due  to  this 
vice. 

In  concluding  his  communication,  Mr.  Hinde,  deputy-comptrol- 
ler of  labor  prisons,  remarks  :  — 

"  The  criminal  question  has  not  yet  assumed  a  sufficient  magnitude,  nor 
have  the  results  of  the  existing  system  of  discipline  been  so  disappointing, 
as  to  require  any  serious  reconsideration  at  present.  The  general  pros- 
perity of  the  country,  and  the  advantages  in  social  position  and  means 
which  are  accessible  to  the  honest  and  industrious,  seem  to  provide  a  very 


PART  11.]  IN  VICTORIA.  307 

effectual  safeguard  against  any  rapid  or  alarming  increase  in  crime.  Al- 
though the  discipline  adopted  in  the  Yatala  labor  prison  is  strict  and  exact, 
it  is  neither  cruel,  oppressive,  nor  unjust,  yet  it  has  in  itself  a  reputation 
which  acts  strongly  as  a  deterrent.  The  discipline  in  force  there  is  not 
different  from  that  enforced  in  the  Adelaide  jail,  in  the  cases  of  prisoners 
specially  ordered  to  be  incarcerated  there.  There  does  exist,  however, 
wholesome  horror  of  the  '  Stockade '  in  the  public  mind,  which  certainly 
has  a  beneficial  effect  in  restraining  crime.  The  female  prisoners  are 
specially  detained  in  the  Adelaide  jail ;  and  although  the  labor  they  are 
required  to  perform  necessarily  differs  from  that  exacted  from  the  males, 
the  principle  of  action  is  the  same,  as  both  establishments  are  under  one 
head.  Women,  of  course,  are  not  subject  to  corporal  punishment." 


CHAPTER  XLI.  —  VICTORIA. 

AN  excellent  prison  system  is  in  force  in  this  colony,  —  the 
Maconochie-Crofton,  or  so-called  Irish,  system  having 
apparently  been  introduced  there  in  its  entirety.  The  whole 
number  of  prisons  in  the  colony  is  thirty-one,  —  one  convict 
prison,  ten  borough  and  county  jails,  and  twenty  police  jails  or 
lock-ups.  The  convict  penal  establishment  is  at  Pentridge, 
six  miles  from  the  capital  city,  Melbourne.  It  is  for  males  only, 
the  women  sentenced  to  penal  servitude  being  confined  in  the 
Melbourne  borough  jail.  The  first  portion  of  the  sentence  is 
spent  in  entire  isolation,  as  at  Mountjoy,  Dublin.  In  the  subse- 
quent stages  separation  is  kept  up  at  night,  but  the  labor  is  done 
in  association.  There  are  six  hundred  and  nine  cells,  all  lighted 
by  gas,  and  all  comfortably,  though  of  course  not  luxuriously, 
furnished.  They  are  of  two  sizes,  —  the  one  class  for  occupancy 
night  and  day,  the  other  for  night  occupancy  only.  In  both  cases 
they  are  sufficiently  capacious. 

The  higher  officers  are  appointed  by  the  governor  in  council, 
on  the  recommendation  of  the  inspector-general.  ^  Their  tenure 
of  office  is  during  good  behavior ;  and  on  their  retirement  from 
active  service  they  receive  a  yearly  pension. 

Inspection  by  the  inspector-general  and  the  visiting  justices  is 
frequent  and  efficient. 

The  prisoners  are  stimulated  to  industry  and  good  conduct  by 
remission  of  a  part  of  their  sentence,  and  by  money  gratuities 
during  the  latter  portion  of  their  terms.  There  are  six  classes  : 
first,  separate  confinement  ;  second,  third,  fourth  (associated  la- 
bor, but  separation  at  night),  fifth,  and  sixth  —  forming  an  inter- 
mediate stage  —  labor  on  public  works,  where  they  get  a  ration 
of  tobacco,  tea,  and  sugar,  together  with  an  increase  of  personal 


308  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BooK  in. 

liberty.  Prisoners  in  the  fourth,  fifth,  and  sixth  classes  for  every 
nine  marks  earned  daily  receive  severally  gratuities  of  a  penny, 
twopence,  and  fourpence  ;  such  allowances  accumulating,  and 
being  paid  to  the  prisoner  on  discharge.  The  intermediate  stage, 
embracing  the  fifth  and  sixth  classes,  is  passed  in  a  different  es- 
tablishment at  Williamstown,  four  miles  from  Melbourne.  After 
a  careful  examination  of  the  system  of  prison  discipline  as  car- 
ried into  effect  at  Pentridge  and  Williamstown  in  1873,  Miss 
Florence  Davenport  Hill,  daughter  of  the  late  distinguished 
Matthew  Davenport  Hill,  says  of  it:  "The  system  appeared  to 
me,  both  in  theory  and  practice,  worthy  of  comparison  even  with 
that  established  by  Sir  Walter  Crofton,  as  I  saw  it  in  operation 
in  Ireland  in  1857."  She  adds,  —  which  is  but  a  fitting  compli- 
ment to  the  able  inspector-general  of  penal  establishments  for  the 
colony  of  Victoria,  —  "  Its  introduction  and  successful  application 
are,  I  believe,  largely  due  to  the  enlightened  zeal  of  Mr.  Duncan." 
Nor  must  the  meed  of  praise  in  this  connection  be  withheld  from 
Mr.  David  Blair  of  Melbourne,  —  whom,  as  well  as  Mr.  Duncan, 
I  have  the  honor  to  count  among  the  number  of  my  personal 
friends,  —  who  took  an  active,  honorable,  and  efficient  part  in  the 
initiative  of  this  great  and  successful  enterprise. 

The  punishments  are  solitary  confinement  and  extension  of  the 
term  of  servitude.  Corporal  punishment  is  never  used.  The 
prisoners  do  not  wear  a  parti-colored  dress.  It  is  believed 
there  —  and  rightly,  as  I  think  —  that  such  dress  only  degrades  a 
prisoner. 

There  are  four  chaplains  at  Pentridge,  —  Church  of  England, 
Wesleyan,  Presbyterian,  and  Catholic.  Each  holds  one  service 
every  Sunday  for  the  prisoners  of  his  faith.  The  chaplains  per- 
form pastoral  duties  during  the  week  by  visiting  the  prisoners 
personally  in  the  cells  and  in  hospital.  There  are  no  volunteer 
visitors. 

About  ten  per  cent  of  the  prisoners  are  found  to  be  illiterate 
on  entrance.  There  is  a  prison  school,  which  the  convicts  attend 
one  hour  daily.  Here  they  are  taught  reading,  writing,  and 
arithmetic ;  and  facilities  are  also  afforded  for  the  study  of  geog- 
raphy, grammar,  and  elementary  mathematics.  Fair  progress 
is  made.  Each  prison,  except  the  lock-ups,  has  a  good  library. 
They  have  about  an  hour  and  a  half  daily,  besides  Saturday  after- 
noons and  Sundays,  for  reading. 

The  sanitary  condition  of  the  prison  is  reported  as  satisfactory; 
but  the  death-rate  appears  too  high,  —  about  five  per  cent. 

There  is  no  strictly  "penal"  labor  ;  all  is  productive.  The  con- 
tract system  is  not  in  use ;  it  is  not  approved :  the  administration 
directs  the  labor.  The  trades  are  those  of  shoemakers,  tailors, 
carpenters,  blacksmiths,  tinsmiths,  masons,  weavers,  mat-makers, 
bookbinders,  moulders,  painters,  plumbers,  basket-makers,  tanners, 


PART  n.]  IN  VICTORIA.  309 

curriers,  and  bakers.  Other  labor  is  quarrying,  gardening,  cab- 
bage-tree hat-making,  stone-breaking,  cocoa-husk  beating,  etc. 
A  few  are  occasionally  employed  outside  the  walls  in  carting  brick, 
loam,  and  sand  ;  in  repairing  roads  and  paths  ;  and  in  gathering 
willows,  which  grow  in  a  field  belonging  to  the  prison. 

Miss  Hill  states  that  in  1872  the  cash  earnings  of  the  prison- 
ers at  Pentridge  amounted  to  .£6,644,  while  the  total  value  of 
their  labor  (most  of  it  performed  on  government  works)  was 
estimated  at  £19,212,  —  the  average  number  of  prisoners  being 
704,  which  would  make  the  value  of  the  labor  of  each  prisoner  a 
little  over  twenty-seven  pounds  per  annum.  The  total  cost  for 
the  year  was  £30,179;  so  that  the  labor  of  the  convicts  met, 
within  a  small  fraction,  two  thirds  of  the  cost,  including  current 
expenditures,  salaries  of  officers,  and  interest  on  the  property  of 
the  establishment.  Of  course  it  must  have  more  than  met  the 
first  of  these  items. 

Miss  Hill  found  the  bearing  of  the  officers  towards  the  prison- 
ers kindly,  while  the  manner  of  the  prisoners  towards  the  officers 
was  thoroughly  respectful,  but  without  servility.  They  worked 
with  a  will,  and  their  aspect  generally  was  favorable. 

The  hospital  wards  Miss  Hill  found  clean,  airy,  and  cheerful. 
Connected  with  them  is  a  large  verandah  for  the  use  of  the  pa- 
tients, commanding  a  fine  view.  Absence  from  work  entails  loss 
of  labor-marks,  though  not  necessarily  those  for  good  conduct. 
The  consequence  is  that  there  is  very  little  malingering. 

The  under-officers  have  a  pleasant  sitting-room,  in  which 
stands  a  beautiful  piece  of  sculpture,  the  work  of  an  ex-prisoner. 
There  is  a  good  library  for  their  special  use. 

There  are,  as  before  stated,  ten  borough  and  county  jails  in 
charge  of  the  penal  department  of  the  colony,  and  some  twenty 
smaller  jails  in  charge  of  the  police.  Prisoners  sentenced  to 
an  imprisonment  of  a  few  days  only  are  kept  in  the  police  jails, 
while  long-sentence  prisoners,  as  a  rule,  are  not  detained  in  the 
borough  and  county  jails,  but  are  sent  to  the  convict  establish- 
ment at  Pentridge.  The  aggregate  accommodation  in  the  bor- 
ough, county,  and  police  jails  is  for  1,425  prisoners. 

Excluding  the  police  prisons,  and  referring  only  to  the  other 
two  classes  mentioned  in  the  last  sentence,  nearly  one  half  the 
prisoners  sentenced  to  them  are  for  terms  less  than  a  month  ; 
about  one  third  are  sentenced  for  periods  less  than  six  months ; 
the  small  remainder,  for  six  months  and  over. 

In  some  only  of  these  prisons  there  is  complete  separation 
by  night ;  in  none,  by  day.  The  prisoners  work  in  association. 
There  is  no  "  penal "  labor  in  the  technical  sense.  The  average 
annual  net  earnings  per  capita  of  the  prisoners,  exclusive  of  any 
portion  allowed  to  the  prisoner  himself,  is  about  eighteen  pounds. 
The  chief  kinds  of  work  are  stone-breaking  and  road-making. 


3IO  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  in. 

The  high  average  of  earnings  is  due  to  there  being  public  works 
in  the  vicinity  of  the  jails,  on  which  the  prisoners  are  employed. 

The  prevailing  diseases  in  these  prisons  are  those  resulting 
from  previous  intemperate  habits.  The  average  death-rate  for 
the  last  five  years  has  been  two  and  three-quarters  per  cent ;  con- 
siderably less,  therefore,  than  in  the  convict  prison. 

The  inspection  by  visiting  justices  and  the  inspector-general 
is  constant  and  thorough. 

To  go  back  now  to  the  convict  establishment,  the  number  of 
life-sentenced  prisoners  is  about  four  per  cent  of  the  whole  prison 
population,  —  some  twenty-five  to  thirty,  therefore,  in  all.  In  the 
case  of  such,  a  novel  and  considerate  arrangement  —  one  that 
deserves  to  be  applauded,  in  my  opinion  —  has  been  made.  The 
period  to  be  served  is  assimilated  to  the  value  of  the  prisoner's 
life  at  the  time  of  conviction,  as  ascertained  by  life-insurance  ta- 
bles ;  with  the  still  further  limitation  to  his  advantage,  that,  no 
matter  how  long,  according  to  the  tables,  a  prisoner's  term  might 
have  to  run,  he  may  be  released  after  serving  twenty  years  with 
good  conduct.  Moreover,  the  mark-system  is  applied  to  the 
terms  thus  ascertained,  opening  the  road  to  a  further  material 
reduction,  —  which  supplies  another  stimulus,  and  a  very  strong 
one,  to  industry,  obedience,  and  general  good  conduct.  This 
regulation  has  had  a  tranquillizing  as  well  as  stimulating  effect 
on  the  minds  of  the  class  of  prisoners  affected  by  it. 

The  death-penalty  still  exists.  It  is  inflicted  not  only  in  cases 
of  wilful  murder,  but  also  for  attempts  to  kill ;  for  arson  endan- 
gering life  ;  for  wrecking  a  ship  with  danger  to  life  ;  for  rape  or 
other  sexual  offences  with  violence ;  and  for  robbery  or  burglary, 
accompanied  by  wounding. 

Imprisonment  for  debt  does  not  exist  in  the  colony. 

Reformation  is  aimed  at  in  the  treatment  of  prisoners,  and  it 
is  believed  that  many  of  those  subjected  to  the  operation  of  the 
penal  system  are  improved  thereby.  A  discharged  prisoner's 
aid  society  was  established  in  1873,  supported  in  part  by  the 
State,  but  chiefly  by  private  benevolence.  Public  sentiment 
strongly  favors  such  efforts.  As  evidence  of  the  benefit  derived 
from  penal  treatment,  supplemented  by  the  action  of  the  aid 
society,  the  number  of  prisoners  during  the  last  five  years,  par- 
ticularly those  committed  for  serious  offences,  has  sensibly  dimin- 
ished, notwithstanding  the  population  of  the  colony  has  within 
the  same  period  considerably  increased. 

Witnesses  in  criminal  cases  are  not  required  to  find  bail  for 
their  appearance  at  the  trial,  but  are  simply  called  upon  to  enter 
into  their  recognizances  to  that  effect.  Should  they  refuse  to  do 
so,  —  and  of  such  refusal  it  is  safe  to  presume  there  is  not  an  in- 
stance on  record,  —  they  may  be  committed  to  jail. 

There  are  three  reformatories  in  Victoria.     Two  of  them  are 


PART  ii.]  IN  QUEENSLAND.  31! 

wholly  supported  by  the  State,  and  one  partly  by  public  funds 
and  partly  by  private  contributions.  As  far  as  practicable  the 
parents  of  the  inmates  are  made  to  pay,  but  only  eleven  shillings 
per  annum  is  received  from  this  source.  The  ordinary  kinds  of 
work  in  the  reformatories  are,  for  boys,  tailoring,  shoe-making, 
carpentering,  sail-making,  and  learning  practical  seamanship ;  for 
girls,  general  housework  and  needle-work. 

The  children  who  have  been  discharged  as  reformed,  when 
placed  with  employers,  are  considered  still  under  the  care  of  the 
institution ;  so  that  they  can  be  returned  to  it,  if  not  doing  well. 
When  discharged  to  parents,  they  are  no  longer  subject  to  the 
institution,  but  have  passed  wholly  beyond  its  control. 

Children  are  admissible  over  eight  and  under  fifteen. 

Prizes  are  given  for  school-work,  and  early  discharge  to  service 
is  granted  for  good  conduct.  Boys  with  good-conduct  badges 
are  selected  as  captains  of  messes,  monitors,  etc.  The  effect  of 
such  possible  promotion  is  good.  The  punishments  are  extra 
drill,  diminished  food,  and  bodily  inflictions,  not  exceeding  twelve 
stripes.  The  conduct  of  the  children  while  in  the  institution  is 
recorded,  and  afterwards,  so  long  as  they  can  be  traced. 

About  thirty-three  per  cent  of  the  inmates  are  orphans. 


CHAPTER  XLII.  —  QUEENSLAND.  —  TASMANIA.  —  WESTERN 
AUSTRALIA.  —  HONG  KoNG.1 

/QUEENSLAND  has  a  central  prison  at  Brisbane,  the  capi- 
Vc^.  tal ;  district  prisons  at  Rockhampton  and  Toowcoomba  ; 
a  convict  hulk  at  Moreton  Bay ;  and  thirty-four  lock-ups,  one  of 
which  is  twelve  hundred  miles  from  the  capital ! 

The  colonial  secretary  is  responsible  for  the  proper  manage- 
ment of  the  prisons.  Subject  to  his  supervision,  the  control  is 
with  the  sheriffs. 

The  prison  at  Brisbane  is  good  and  sufficient,  the  district  pri- 
sons too  small.  At  Brisbane  there  is  complete  separation  at 
night,  but  the  labor  is  performed  in  association.  In  the  district 
prisons  no  separation  is  possible.  There  is  a  prison  school  at 
Brisbane,  but  none  in  the  other  prisons.  Everywhere  the  die- 
taries are  reported  as  too  high,  the  hours  for  sleep  too  many,  the 
hours  for  labor  too  few,  and  nowhere  is  there  any  system  of  gra- 
dations or  remissions. 

1  For  what  I  am  able  to  say  of  these  colonies  I  am  indebted  to  the  Parliamentary 
Blue  Book  "  Digest  of  Information*  respecting  Prisons  in  the  Colonies,"  as  no  reports 
were  furnished  by  these  colonies  in  reply  to  the  circular  letter  addressed  to  them. 


312  STATE   OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BooK  in. 

The  prison  at  Rockhampton  is  defective  in  many  respects ;  a 
new  and  better  one  is  promised. 

Sentences  of  flogging  for  offences  committed  outside  the  prison 
are  legal,  but  are  never  given. 

TASMANIA.  —  Penal  and  penitentiary  matters  in  this  colony 
appear  to  have  been  in  a  bad  way  at  the  date  of  the  "  Digest." 
There  is  a  convict  establishment  at  Port  Arthur,  a  house  of  cor- 
rection and  detention  prison  for  males,  and  a  house  of  correction 
for  females  at  Hobart  Town  ;  also  a  house  of  correction  and  deten- 
tion prison  for  females,  and  a  house  of  correction  for  males  at 
Launceston.  Extremely  diminutive  cells  and  too  few  of  them, 
structure  and  arrangements  "  very  bad,"  no  separation,  no  school- 
ing, no  system  of  marks  or  gratuities,  dietary  too  high,  "  each  resi- 
dent officer  allowed  a  prisoner  fora  servant,"  no  periodical  reports 
made  to  the  governor,  enormous  proportion  of  recidivists  (90  in 
the  100  being  reconvictions  in  one  prison,  and  only  two  in  an- 
other not  on  reconviction  for  three  prior  offences),  very  inefficient 
inspection,  defective  drainage,  bad  ventilation,  great  overcrowd- 
ing, profits  of  labor  steadily  and  rapidly  falling,  etc.,  —  these  are 
points  in  the  picture  as  drawn  by  the  "  Blue  Book."  It  is  hardly 
necessary  to  go  into  particulars.  Miss  Rosamond  Hill  reports 
the  two  prisons  visited  by  her  at  Hobart  Town  as  scrupulously 
clean.  Despite  these  grave  defects,  one  advanced  principle  of 
prison  discipline  finds  place  in  the  penal  administration  of  this 
colony.  There  is  a  scale  of  abridgments  of  sentence  for  industry 
with  good  conduct. 

WESTERN  AUSTRALIA. — Criminal  justice  seems  to  be  ad- 
ministered in  this  colony  in  a  vigorous  though  rather  rude  and 
primitive  way.  Flogging  may  be  inflicted  on  white  persons  for 
offences  committed  outside  the  prisons,  and  two  instances  are  re- 
ported in  which  a  hundred  lashes  have  been  given  for  assault  and 
robbery.  With  regard  to  aborigines,  two  justices  (one  of  them 
being  a  guardian  or  sub-guardian  of  natives),  or  the  resident  mag- 
istrate, may  try  natives  summarily,  and  give  two  dozen  lashes 
either  with  or  instead  of  imprisonment  for  six  months  for  any  mis- 
demeanor or  felony,  except  for  either  of  the  four  following  grave 
crimes  :  murder,  dangerously  wounding  with  intent  to  kill,  arson 
causing  peril  to  human  life,  and  rape.  The  flogging  must  be 
in  the  presence  of  one  of  the  convicting  justices,  or  of  a  guardian 
or  sub-guardian. 

Under  this  system  but  few  prisons  seem  to  be  needed  ;  and  in 
point  of  fact  there  are  but  two  besides  some  dozen  lock-ups,  — 
a  convict  establishment  at  Freemantle,  and  one  local  prison 
and  house  of  detention  at  Perth.  This  last  is  used  only  for 
women,  for  untried  prisoners,  and  for  criminals  condemned  to 


PART  n.]  IN  HONG  KONG.  313 

death  and  awaiting  execution.  Of  it  the  "Digest  of  Information" 
says :  "  No  bath  or  lavatory.  Cells  too  small.  No  separation 
except  of  the  sexes.  No  periodical  reports  are  furnished  to  the 
governor."  Of  the  convict  prison  at  Freemantle  the  information 
given  is,  "  Cells  too  small,  especially  the  solitary  cells.  The 
death-rate  was  very  high  in  1864,  fourfold  that  of  previous  years, 
and  no  explanation  is  given.  The  number  of  warders  is  insuffi- 
cient." 

HONG  KONG.  —  In  this  colony  there  is  a  general  prison  at  Vic- 
toria, a  convict  hulk  at  Stonecutters'  Island,  a  juvenile  reforma- 
tory, and  a  lock-up.  These  prisons  in  a  manner  serve  for  the  whole 
coast  of  China,  owing  to  the  inability  or  unwillingness  of  the  Chi- 
nese Government  to  control  its  own  subjects  or  repress  crimes 
of  violence,  such  as  piracy,  within  its  proper  jurisdiction. 

The  Victoria  prison  is  used  for  all  classes  of  criminals,  and 
serves  at  the  same  time  as  a  temporary  refuge  for  destitute  per- 
sons waiting  to  be  passed  on  to  other  colonies.  It  is  a  large 
prison  with  a  daily  average  of  four  hundred  to  five  hundred  in- 
mates. The  sanitary  arrangements  are  reported  as  good,  except 
that  the  cells  are  somewhat  too  small,  and  are  insufficient  in 
number.  European  prisoners  are  separated  at  night,  but  Asiatics 
sleep  in  associated  wards,  only  they  are  separated  into  groups  ac- 
cording to  their  nationalities.  There  is  no  technically  "  penal " 
labor,  and  no  schooling.  Reformation  is  not  attempted  except 
through  a  limited  system  of  remissions  and  rewards,  concerning 
which  no  particulars  are  given. 

The  convict  hulk  is  a  miserable  makeshift,  to  be  further  used 
only  pending  the  completion  of  a  new  prison.  It  has  on  an  aver- 
age some  two  hundred  and  fifty  prisoners.  It  is  for  criminals 
sentenced  to  more  than  two  years'  penal  servitude.  In  the  wards 
on  the  main  and  lower  decks  the  beds  touch,  and  cubic  space  per 
capita  appears  to  be  less  than  seventy  feet.  The  mortality  on 
the  average  number  of  inmates,  in  1863,  exceeded  fifteen  per  cent. 
But  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  this  inhumanity  has  long  since  come  to 
an  end  in  consequence  of  the  completion  and  occupancy  of  the 
new  prison. 

No  information  whatever  is  given  respecting  the  juvenile  refor- 
matory. 


314  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  ill. 


PART    THIRD. 

EAST    INDIAN     EMPIRE. 

CHAPTER  XLIII.  —  GROWTH  OF  THE  PRISON  SYSTEM  IN  INDIA. — 
LORD  MACAULAY'S  COMMITTEE  OF  INQUIRY  IN  1836. 

THE  British  East  Indian  Empire  consists  of  three  presidencies 
and  several  provinces,  and  is  of  vast  territorial  extent,  with 
a  population  of  nearly  two  hundred  millions. 

The  prison  system  of  India,  like  British  rule  itself  in  that 
country,  has  grown  up  by  degrees,  until,  as  the  empire  was  con- 
solidated and  order  introduced  into  all  departments  of  the  Gov- 
ernment, the  treatment  of  criminals  took  its  place  among  the 
recognized  branches  of  the  judicial  administration.  It  was  not, 
however,  till  1836  that  public  attention  was  strongly  drawn  to 
the  question  by  the  late  Lord  Macaulay,  then  law  member  of  the 
supreme  council  of  India.  The  murder  of  the  governor  of  the 
most  important  prison  in  India  was  the  immediate  moving  cause 
of  the  broad  and  exhaustive  inquiry  which  was  at  once  set  on 
foot.  The  evidence  then  collected  showed  that  prison  discipline 
had  at  that  time  only  reached  the  stage  of  development  in  which 
considerable  attention  is  given  to  the  physical  condition  of  the 
inmates  of  prisons,  —  cleanliness,  health,  food,  clothing,  labor, 
etc.,  —  but  not  much  to  moral  relations  and  agencies. 

Enough  was  elicited  by  that  inquiry  to  prove  the  necessity  of 
a  thorough  reform  of  the  penitentiary  administration.  The  chief 
improvements  suggested  by  Lord  Macaulay's  committee  were 
the  abolition  of  out-door  labor,  the  general  introduction  of  in- 
door work,  the  inauguration  of  the  separate  system,  the  better 
classification  of  convicts,  the  careful  separation  of  untried  prison- 
ers, the  institution  of  central  or  convict  prisons  ;  and  the  regulation 
of  the  prison  system  generally  by  the  employment  of  inspectors  of 
prisons  whose  whole  time  should  be  devoted  to  the  work. 

Of  these  recommendations  the  last  was  the  only  one  carried 
into  full  effect.  An  inspector  was  first  appointed  in  the  Agra  di- 
vision of  the  Bengal  presidency.  This  gentleman,  —  a  member  of 
the  civil  service,  earnestly  devoted  to  the  work,  desirous  of  dis- 
charging his  duty  efficiently,  and  possessed  of  exceptional  capac- 
ity for  the  task  intrusted  to  him,  —  effected  considerable  reforms, 
but  lamented,  at  the  close  of  his  career,  the  little  he  was  able  to 


PART  in.]  IN  INDIA.  3  !  5 

do,  in  consequence  of  the  half-hearted  support  he  had  received 
from  the  Government. 

The  first  prison-inspector  in  Lower  Bengal  was  appointed  in 
1853.  He  also  was  a  member  of  the  civil  service,  who  handed 
over  the  department  to  Dr.  Mouat  in  1855,  with  a  note  to  the 
effect  that  it  was  a  mass  of  disorder,  irregularity,  want  of  system, 
and  abuse,  —  the  greater  part  of  which  he  had  not  attempted  to 
correct,  as  he  considered  any  real  reform  to  be  impracticable  with 
the  existing  construction  of  the  prisons  and  the  agency  employed 
in  their  management. 


CHAPTER  XLIV.  —  A  SECOND  COMMISSION  IN  1864,  AND  A 
THIRD  IN  1877. 

IN  1864  a  second  commission  was  appointed  to  reconsider  the 
whole  question,  on  the  ground  that  the  full  measure  of  im- 
provement contemplated,  and  to  which  the  Government  was 
pledged,  had  never  been  carried  out.  The  recommendations  of 
this  commission  referred  to  juvenile  delinquents  and  reforma- 
tories ;  female  prisoners  and  their  treatment  ;  the  non-deterrent 
nature  of  the  existing  system,  as  indicated  by  the  large  number 
of  reconvictions  ;  the  shortness  of  sentences,  as  tending  to  nul- 
lify their  effects  ;  the  want  of  settled  principles  of  jail  manage- 
ment ;  the  necessity  of  a  graduated  system  of  labor,  punishment, 
and  reward ;  the  massing  together  of  criminals  in  central  pris- 
ons ;  the  applicability  of  the  ticket-of-leave  system  to  India ;  the 
removal  of  the  causes  of  the  great  sickness  and  mortality ;  the 
education  of  prisoners  ;  prison  statistics. 

The  recommendations  of  this  commission  are  supposed  to  be 
the  basis  of  the  existing  prison  system  of  India ;  but  as  they 
are  all  largely  dependent  on  financial  considerations,  few  of  them 
have  been  carried  into  full  effect,  the  financial  question  being 
the  crux  terribilis  of  East-Indian  prison  reform. 

The  latest  general  committee,  or  "  conference "  as  it  was 
called,  on  prisons  and  convict  treatment  in  India,  was  sum- 
moned by  the  imperial  government  for  1877.  It  was  composed 
of  representatives,  all  of  whom  were  experts,  from  all  the  presi- 
dencies and  provinces  of  the  empire.  The  conference  opened 
its  sessions  on  the  tenth  day  of  January,  1877,  and  concluded  its 
labors  on  the  seventh  day  of  March  ensuing.  Its  studies  and 
conclusions  extended  over  the  whole  field  of  prison  discipline  and 
administration.  Its  proceedings  have  been  printed  in  a  folio 
volume  of  moderate  thickness,  which  now  lies  before  me.  Its 
various  recommendations  are  doubtless  still  under  consideration  by 


316  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BooK  in. 

the  Government.  So  far  as  they  may  receive  the  approval  of  the 
Government,  they  will  in  all  probability  be  embodied  in  a  new 
prison  Act,  applicable  to  the  whole  of  India  ;  and  the  existing 
jail  manuals  will  be  recast  on  one  common  model. 

There  is  urgent  need  of  such  an  Act,  for  very  little  special  leg- 
islation has  been  devoted  to  prisons  or  prison  systems  in  India. 
Rules  to  regulate  prisons  were  from  time  to  time  made  by  the 
supreme  council  and  the  highest  courts  of  judicature,  usually 
without  any  direct  sanction  of  law.  The  various  prison  Acts 
which  have  been  passed  are  incomplete  and  imperfect,  and  no- 
where lay  down  great  leading  principles  of  prison  discipline. 
One  of  these  Acts,  however,  which  was  passed  in  1834,  contained 
an  important  provision  abolishing  corporal  punishment,  substi- 
tuting fine  in  certain  cases  for  labor  (a  mischievous  measure 
now  repealed),  and  arming  the  Government  with  authority  to 
introduce  gradually  a  better  system  of  prison  discipline,  "  calcu- 
lated both  to  reform  the  convict,  and,  as  an  example  to  others,  to 
deter  from  crime."  This  Act  was  in  force  when  the  prison  in- 
quiry of  1836  took  place  ;  but,  except  in  its  worst  feature,  it  was 
a  dead  letter. 


CHAPTER  XLV.  —  JAIL  CODE  OF  BENGAL. 

NEARLY  every  presidency  and  province  of  India  now  has  its 
jail  code  drawn  up  under  the  sanction  of  the  prison  Acts. 
That  of  Bengal  was  compiled  by  Dr.  Mouat,  in  1 863-64,  and,  after 
being  subjected  to  the  scrutiny  of  two  special  committees  and  the 
Government,  was  introduced  in  the  latter  year.  It  borrowed  freely 
from  all  the  existing  European  and  Indian  rules,  and  was  advis- 
edly framed  considerably  in  advance  of  the  then  existing  means 
of  giving  complete  effect  to  its  provisions,  in  the  hope  and  belief 
that  the  Government  would  gradually  afford  the  agency  and  ap- 
pliances necessary  for  its  ultimate  full  introduction. 

It  defined  in  considerable  detail  the  duties,  responsibilities, 
and  powers  of  all  classes  of  prison  officers  ;  contained  provisions 
for  the  classification  and  punishment  of  all  classes  of  offenders, 
their  management  in  sickness  and  in  health,  their  food,  clothing, 
work,  instruction,  —  in  fact,  every  detail  of  discipline  during 
their  residence  in  jail,  their  transfer  from  one  prison  to  another, 
their  discharge,  and  the  execution  of  capital  sentences. 

It  contains  sections  specially  devoted  to  rewards  for  well-con- 
ducted prisoners,  and  rules  for  the  introduction  of  a  system  of 
intermediate  imprisonment  in  Lower  Bengal.  The  former  con- 
tinue in  force;  the  latter  have  been  repealed  for  reasons  un- 


PART  m.]  IN  INDIA. 

known  to  Dr.  Mouat.  Considering  the  insufficient  machinery 
allowed,  they  worked  fairly  well  during  his  incumbency. 

The  questions  of  intermediate  imprisonment  and  ticket-of-leave 
were  considered  by  the  Calcutta  prison  conference  of  1877. 
They  elicited  not  only  large  debate,  but  considerable  diversity  of 
views  ;  but,  in  the  end,  the  majority  declared  against  both  meas- 
ures on  five  several  grounds,  a  recital  of  which  would  fill  more 
space  than  can  well  be  afforded  for  the  purpose. 

Since  these  rules  were  framed,  the  Government  of  India  has 
introduced  a  system  of  remission  of  sentence  as  the  reward  of 
good  conduct  in  jail.  Sufficient  time  has  not  yet  elapsed  to  show 
their  working.  They  were  introduced  by  the  late  Lord  Mayo, 
and  were  based  chiefly  on  his  knowledge  and  experience  of  what 
is  known  as  the  Irish  system. 


CHAPTER  XLVI.  —  POLICE.  — CRIMINAL  COURTS.  —  REPORTS.  — 
PRISON  POPULATION.  —  BUILDINGS. —  ADMINISTRATION.  —  EM- 
PLOYES. —  COST.  —  DEFECTIVE  ORGANIZATION. 

BRITISH  INDIA  is  well  supplied  with  police  agencies  to  de- 
tect crime  and  to  bring  criminals  to  the  bar  of  justice,  and 
with  judicial  courts  of  all  grades  and  kinds  up  to  high  courts  of 
justice  and  appeal  for  the  trial  and  sentencing  of  offenders.  All 
these  courts  and  police  agencies  submit  annual  reports  of  their 
proceedings  to  the  authority  to  which  each  is  immediately 
subordinate.  An  abstract  of  these  is  recorded  in  the  statement 
submitted  to  the  home  government  from  all  the  presidencies  and 
provinces  of  India ;  and  by  the  secretary  of  state  for  India  these 
reports  are  again  condensed  and  presented  annually  to  the  British 
parliament  in  the  form  of  a  statement  of  the  moral  and  material 
progress  during  the  year.  It  is  to  be  regretted  that  this  impor- 
tant State  paper  is  not  intrusted  to  more  skilled  hands,  or  drawn 
up  with  the  care  and  precision  necessary  in  the  only  public  state- 
ment regarding  the  Indian  Empire  which  is  popularly  known  in 
England. 

In  the  chapter  devoted  to  justice  and  police  in  the  last  pub- 
lished report,  that  of  1876-77,  this  vast  subject  is  discussed  in  a 
few  pages,  from  which  it  is  impossible  to  glean  a  connected  or 
intelligible  view  of  the  question. 

We  have  waded  in  vain  through  the  latest  special  administra- 
tive reports  of  prisons,  some  of  them  drawn  up  with  considerable 
ability,  to  ascertain  the  exact  number  of  prisons  and  prisoners  in 


318  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  in. 

the  Indian  Empire,  the  special  peculiarities  of  each,  and  the  na- 
ture of  the  discipline  which  now  prevails. 

There  is  probably  a  daily  average  of  between  sixty  thousand 
and  seventy  thousand  prisoners  in  the  Indian  jails,  exclusive  of 
some  eight  thousand  in  the  great  convict  settlement  of  Port  Blair 
in  the  Andaman  Islands. 

For  the  accommodation  of  these  prisoners  there  appear  to  be 
some  two  hundred  and  thirty  jails,  and  an  indefinite  but  much 
larger  number  of  lock-ups  for  prisoners  under  one  month  of  sen- 
tence, at  small  out-stations.  These  numbers  are  however  but 
approximate,  as  the  exact  figures  are  not  procurable  in  the  pub- 
lished records. 

Of  the  above  prisons  two  are  entirely  cellular,  —  one  at  Hay- 
arabagh  in  Bengal,  the  other  at  Ootacamund  in  the  Madras 
presidency.  Both  are  for  Europeans  under -sentences  of  penal 
servitude.  The  remainder  are  built  on  every  conceivable  plan, 
some  partially  radiating,  a  few  of  brick  masonry,  and  not  a  few 
miserable  mud  structures,  affording  little  security  and  no  means 
of  classifying  or  employing  prisoners  properly  ;  'hence,  fetters 
and  other  means  of  procuring  artificial  security  are  too  much  em- 
ployed, in  contravention  of  the  laws  on  the  subject. 

Miss  Carpenter  speaks  in  strong  terms  of  the  unsuitableness 
of  nearly  all  prison  structures  in  India  for  the  purposes  of  prison 
discipline.  Rarely,  if  ever,  is  any  jail  building  to  be  seen  where 
those  great  principles  of  convict  treatment  now  generally  accepted 
as  vital  to  the  well-being  of  society  can  be  carried  into  effect. 

All  the  prisons  provide  for  the  separation  by  day  and  by  night  of 
male  and  female  prisoners,  as  also  for  a  certain  rough  classification 
according  to  the  term  of  imprisonment  or  the  sentence.  Nearly 
all  labor  is  in  association,  except  for  disciplinary  punishment  in 
cells,  the  cases  of  which  are  not,  however,  very  numerous  in  pro- 
portion to  the  prison  population. 

In  some  parts  of  India  the  prisons  are  in  the  executive  charge 
of  medical,  in  others  of  judicial,  officers.  The  central  prisons  have 
each  a  special  superintendent,  usually  a  medical  officer.  These 
are  about  twenty  in  number,  and  are  intended  for  prisoners  sen- 
tenced to  rigorous  imprisonment  for  a  year  and  upward. 

There  are  but  few  prisons  exclusively  appropriated  to  the  custo- 
dy of  female  prisoners.  The  chief  of  them  is  in  the  neighborhood 
of  Alipore,  near  Calcutta,  for  the  detention  and  punishment  of  life- 
prisoners,  or  of  females  sentenced  for  very  long  periods.  Many  of 
these  are  now  sent  to  the  Andaman  Islands  to  intermarry  with 
male  convicts  of  the  same  classes,  and  to  form  the  nucleus  of  a 
future  free  population. 

Female  warders  are  now  employed  in  some  of  the  prisons,  and 
women  are  as  much  trained  to  industrial  occupations  as  men. 
Their  lot  as  a  rule  is  far  more  sad,  for  the  serious  crimes  com- 


PART  in.]  IN  INDIA. 

mitted  by  many  of  them,  particularly  that  of  murder,  are,  or  used 
to  be,  committed  when  they  were  as  a  rule  too  young  to  be  fully 
aware  of  the  enormity  of  the  act,  —  usually  perpetrated  under  the 
influence  of  others. 

Miss  Carpenter,  in  a  letter  of  "  suggestions  "  to  the  Viceroy  of 
India,  notices  that  in  all  the  jails  she  visited,  except  in  Calcutta, 
the  females  occupied  a  portion  of  the  ordinary  jails  for  men,  and 
were  under  the  care  of  male  warders.  Their  work,  she  says,  was 
not  of  a  nature  to  improve  them  ;  no  instruction  was  given  them, 
and  no  lady  visitors  ever  went  near  them. 

With  the  exception  of  the  medical  subordinates,  who  are  a  spe- 
cial class,  the  ministerial  agents  of  Indian  prisons  are  picked  up 
wherever  they  can  be  found,  have  no  special  training,  and  are 
usually  corrupt  and  underpaid.  No  proper  attempt  is  made  to 
remedy  these  evils.  The  best  and  most  efficient,  with  occasional 
exceptions,  are  discharged  or  pensioned  European  soldiers  of  good 
character.  Among  educated  natives  admirable  men  are,  however, 
sometimes  found. 

The  cost  of  prisoners  in  India  is  low,  compared  with  that  of 
maintaining  them  in  Great  Britain.  All  being  under  the  control 
of  the  State,  however,  and  the  revenues  of  India  falling  short  of 
her  expenditure,  economy  in  prisons  is  carried  to  a  pitch  detri- 
mental to  efficiency ;  hence,  a  thorough  system  of  prison  disci- 
pline is  for  the  most  part  impracticable  on  financial  grounds. 
There  is  no  sound  reason  for  this,  for  if  the  prisons  were  made 
self-supporting,  as  it  is  said  they  might  easily  be  by  a  properly 
regulated  plan  of  remunerative  industry,  not  only  would  they  en- 
tail no  cost  upon  the  State,  but  they  could  earn  the  means  of  ren- 
dering every  prison  perfectly  secure  ;  and  by  thus  increasing  the 
severity  of  incarcerations  render  imprisonment  greatly  more  de- 
terrent than  it  is  at  present,  enable  the  courts  to  diminish  the  du- 
ration of  sentences,  and  thus  secure  economy  in  a  direction  in 
which  it  could  not  prove  detrimental. 

This  has  repeatedly  been  urged  upon  the  Government  by  some 
of  the  most  experienced  and  efficient  prison  officers  in  India,  but 
in  vain,  as  their  published  reports  show.  The  officers  administer- 
ing the  various  local  governments  are  armed  practically  with  un- 
controlled powers  of  changing  the  details  of  prison  management 
in  their  several  provinces ;  and  as  these  officers  are  changed  every 
five  years,  and  there  is  no  enlightened  public  opinion  in  India  to 
correct  and  check  them,  empirical  views  of  prison  discipline  are 
too  often  indulged  in. 

In  most  Indian  jails,  prisoners  awaiting  trial,  civil  debtors, 
revenue  defaulters,  and  criminal  prisoners  are  in  separate  com- 
partments. There  is  also  special  accommodation  for  the  sick  and 
for  women,  and,  in  a  few  prisons,  for  children. 

All  classes  of  prisoners  waiting  trial  are  associated  together,  — 


32O  STATE   OF  PRISONS,   ETC.  [BOOK  ill. 

a  proceeding  which  was  strongly  condemned  by  Lord  Macaulay's 
committee  in  1836,  on  grounds  of  humanity  and  general  policy, 
which  are  as  valid  now  as  they  were  then. 

No  efficient  general  measures  of  prison  reform  will  be  possible 
until  all  the  prisons  are  rendered  secure  by  proper  construction. 


CHAPTER  XLVII.  —  PRISON  STATISTICS.  —  PRISON  LABOR. 

PRISON  statistics  are  collected  with  considerable  care  and 
on  a  uniform  basis,  and  if  proper  abstracts  of  them  were 
made  in  the  "Indian  Administrative  Reports,"  a  large  amount  of 
light  would  be  thrown  upon  the  state  of  civilization  of  every  part 
of  the  Eastern  Empire  of  Great  Britain.  It  would  be  vain  to  at- 
tempt to  abstract  them  for  so  condensed  a  view  of  the  prison  sys- 
tem of  India  as  this  sketch  must  of  necessity  present.  The  heads 
of  information  which  are  imperative  are  judicial,  financial,  and 
vital ;  and  although  the  information  contained  in  them  falls  far 
short  of  what  the  international  prison  congress  consider  to  be 
requisite,  they  are  an  excellent  and  creditable  commencement  of 
a  system  which  will  admit  of  easy  extension  when  the  rulers  of 
India  awake  to  the  real  value  of  such  information  for  legislative 
purposes.  Many  of  the  prison  officers  of  India  are  fully  alive  to 
this,  as  their  published  reports  show. 

The  census  returns  of  India,  taken  since  the  meeting  of  the 
Prison  Congress  of  1872  in  London,  have  now  given  a  secure 
basis  for  estimating  the  extent  of  crime  in  the  country,  and  the 
efficacy  of  the  means  of  repression  adopted ;  hence  the  Indian 
returns  of  the  future  will  be  of  great  interest  in  these  important 
particulars. 

The  question  of  the  employment  of  prisoners  has  been  much 
and  constantly  discussed  and  considered  in  India.  Prior  to  1838 
the  chief  occupation  of  criminals  was  extra-mural,  either  in  mak- 
ing imperial  roads,  or  in  station  improvements.  In  the  former 
they  were  employed  in  considerable  numbers,  were  encamped  or 
hutted,  and  were  in  charge  of  engineer  officers  ;  in  the  latter 
they  were  under  the  immediate  charge  of  the  district  magistrates. 
During  the  inquiries  which  were  ordered  by  the  Government  of 
India,  it  was  elicited  that  this  mode  of  employing  prisoners  was 
extremely  unhealthy ;  that  it  was  liable  to  great  abuse,  and  was  in 
fact  much  abused  ;  that  it  was  characterized  by  an  entire  absence 
of  penal  discipline ;  and  that,  while  it  was  of  questionable  advan- 
tage to  the  State,  it  was  abundantly  detrimental  to  the  criminals. 

The  intra-mural  employment  of  prisoners  was  chiefly  in  occu- 


PART  in.]  IN  INDIA.  321 

pations  required  for  the  prison,  and  so  much  under  the  control  of 
prison  subordinates  as  to  be  generally  abused, — the  rich,  and  those 
of  high  caste,  purchasing  or  obtaining  immunity ;  the  poor,  low 
caste,  and  friendless,  being  subject  to  tyranny  and  oppression. 
To  remedy  this  the  prison-discipline  committee  of  1838  recom- 
mended the  cessation  of  out-door  work,  and  the  general  introduc- 
tion of  in-door  labor,  in  dull,  wearisome,  monotonous  tasks,  —  the 
evident  intention  of  which  was  to  inflict  as  much  personal  pain  as 
could  be  safely  inflicted  without  injury  to  health.  Tread-wheels 
and  cranks  were  accordingly  introduced  tentatively  in  Calcutta 
and  at  Deegah,  but  they  failed,  and  were  speedily  abandoned. 

At  that  time  the  doctrine  of  making  prisons  a  terror  to  evil 
doers  by  measures  of  coercion  and  severity  was  in  full  force ;  the 
higher  aim  of  reformation  was  neither  entertained  nor  practised. 

In  1843  tne  introduction  of  remunerative  industry  was  enjoined 
by  the  Government  of  India,  then  administered  by  the  late  Earl 
of  Ellenborough.  The  labor  was  to  be  regulated  by  task-work, 
each  task  being  at  least  equal  in  amount  to  that  performed  by  a 
fairly-skilled  artisan  of  the  same  class.  It  was  to  be  sufficiently 
severe  to  keep  the  prisoners  actively  employed  during  the  day, 
with  the  intervals  necessary  for  food  and  rest.  It  was  not  to  be 
repugnant  to  the  castes  and  religious  customs  of  the  prisoners. 

Rules  were  subsequently  framed,  and  are  now  in  force,  to  clas- 
sify the  labor,  to  apportion  it  as  much  as  possible  to  the  sentence 
and  crime  of  the  prisoner,  and  to  make  it  an  instrument  of  refor- 
mation. This  latter  is  accomplished  by  teaching  each  prisoner 
some  form  of  handicraft  that  will  enable  him  to  earn  an  honest 
livelihood  on  release,  and,  by  inculcating  habits  of  industry,  to 
counteract  the  idleness  which  is  the  proximate  cause  of  much  of 
the  vice  that  leads  to  crime. 

Remunerative  prison-industry  as  an  instrument  of  reformation 
is  the  basis  of  the  system  of  prison  labor  now  in  force  through- 
out India.  It  is  not  carried  out  with  the  precision  and  perfection 
of  which  it  is  susceptible,  from  the  absence  of  properly  con- 
structed prisons,  from  the  miserable  economy  which  has  reduced 
the  establishments  of  jails  throughout  India  to  a  pitch  bordering 
on  positive  inefficiency,  from  the  large  number  of  short  sentences 
awarded  by  the  criminal  courts,  in  which  it  is  impossible  to  teach 
any  trade  or  handicraft,  and  from  a  majority  of  the  prisoners 
throughout  India  belonging  to  the  agricultural  classes,  who  nei- 
ther can  nor  will  follow  any  other  pursuit  on  release. 

As  the  whole  of  the  prisons  in  India  are  under  State  control, 
most  of  these  defects  could  be  readily  remedied. 

In  so  extended  and  poor  a  country  as  India  financial  consider- 
ations are  undoubtedly  of  primary  importance,  and  cannot  be 
rightly  or  safely  disregarded  in  dealing  with  such  questions. 

But  it  can  be  shown,  and  has  been  proved  in  practice,  that  by 

21 


322  STATE   OF  PRISONS,   ETC.  [BooK  ill. 

a  wise  regulation  of  prison  labor  all  the  ends  intended  by  the 
addition  of  this  condition  to  criminal  sentences  can  be  fully  ac- 
complished, and  the  prisons  be  made  at  the  same  time  entirely 
self-supporting.  One  presidency  in  India,  that  of  Bengal,  for 
several  years  repaid  about  forty  per  cent  of  the  whole  cost  of 
its  prisons,  and  some  jails  in  the  same  presidency  have  been  en- 
tirely self-supporting. 

The  chief  objections  to  remunerative  prison-labor  are,  that  it 
does  not  provide  the  hard  work  intended  by  the  criminal  law,  that 
it  enters  into  injurious  competition  with  free  labor  of  the  same 
kind,  and  that  it  makes  the  prison  a  stepping-stone  to  fortune, 
and  thus  places  the  prisoner  in  a  better  position  than  the  honest 
laborer  of  the  same  class. 

The  obvious  answers  to  these  objections  are,  that  the  severity 
of  labor  consists  rather  in  its  continuance  and  the  constant  care 
and  attention  exacted  by  all  forms  of  work,  in  which  more  or  less 
of  skill  is  required,  than  in  the  mere  exercise  of  unreasoning 
muscular  force.  The  limits  of  the  latter  are  soon  reached,  and 
demand  prolonged  intervals  of  rest,  which  are  injurious  to  disci- 
pline. They  excite  feelings  of  anger  and  resentment,  destructive 
of  the  moral  sentiments  which  are  the  sole  agents  of  reformation. 
They  are  in  reality  torture  in  disguise,  and  not  warranted  either 
by  the  Christianity  which  the  British  people  profess  or  the  civili- 
zation to  which  they  lay  claim. 

That  remunerative  prison-industry  enters  into  competition  with 
free  labor  is  undoubted,  —  not  largely,  but  to  a  limited  extent,  — 
and  it  has  a  perfect  right  to  do  so.  The  interests  of  the  com- 
munity at  large  are  superior  to  those  of  sections  or  individual 
members  of  that  community.  Prisons  must  be  maintained  at 
the  public  cost,  which  falls  upon  the  honest  and  well-conducted 
members  of  society  ;  and  if  the  prisoners  can  be  made  to  dimin- 
ish the  burden  by  the  exercise  of  compulsory  industry,  it  is  not 
only  a  most  legitimate  retribution  to  exact,  but  the  State  is  bound 
to  resort  to  it  as  a  measure  of  general  policy.  To  teach  the  pris- 
oner a  handicraft,  and  thus  enable  him  to  gain  an  honest  live- 
lihood on  release,  will  merely  restore  him  to  the  place  that  he 
would  have  occupied  had  he  not  taken  to  evil  courses.  It  creates 
nothing  new.  It  adds  to  the  stock  of  public  virtue,  and  dimin- 
ishes to  a  like  extent  that  of  corroding  vice.  For  that  reason,  if 
there  were  none  others  founded  on  more  general  economic  con- 
siderations, the  use  of  remunerative  prison-industry  as  an  impor- 
tant, nay,  an  essential,  measure  of  reformation  is  not  only  jus- 
tified but  enjoined. 

That  a'  jail  can  in  any  well-regulated  system  of  prison  disci- 
pline ever  become  a  productive  school  of  industry  in  which  a 
poor  and  honest  laborer  should  desire  to  graduate  can  only  re- 
sult from  grave  mismanagement.  The  necessary  and  accessory 


PART  in.]  IN  INDIA.  333 

inconveniences  of  imprisonment ;  namely,  the  entire  loss  for  the 
time  of  personal  liberty,  the  consequences  immediately  resulting 
from  this  loss,  disruption  of  family  and  social  ties,  destruction  of 
business,  a  compulsory  state  of  existence  in  all  matters,  the  ne- 
cessity of  conforming  to  strict  regulations  which  are  and  must 
from  their  nature  be  distasteful,  a  compulsory  dietary,  uncomfort- 
able means  of  repose,  total  exclusion  of  society,  and  enforced  la- 
bor in  uncongenial  pursuits,  —  these  are  all  immediate,  tangible, 
well-understood  evils.  That  there  is  a  desire  to  encounter  them 
with  the  remote  prospect  of  learning  a  trade  or  handicraft  in  any 
section  of  the  honest  community  at  home  or  abroad  is  certainly 
not  true.  The  remark  of  Count  Sollohub,  of  Russia,  is  perfectly 
just,  "There  are  no  amateur  candidates  for  prison." 

Within  the  last  ten  years  the  out-door  employment  of  convicts 
has  been  revived  in  India,  and  large  gangs  of  them  are  now  en- 
gaged on  canal  works.  If  the  intention  of  convict-labor  were 
to  furnish  hard  work  and  to  recoup  the  cost  of  maintenance,  and 
if  the  essential  conditions  of  prison  discipline  are  to  be  entirely 
ignored,  this  system  is  sound  and  logical ;  but  if  the  labor  is  to  be 
a  means  to  an  end,  —  namely,  the  reformation  of  an  offender  by  the 
inculcation  of  habits  of  order  and  industry,  and  by  the  possession 
of  the  skill  and  knowledge  necessary  to  earn  an  honest  livelihood 
on  release,  —  then  the  system  is  unsound  and  retrograde. 


CHAPTER  XLVIII.  —  DIETARIES.  —  DISCIPLINE.  —  SCHOOLS. 

THE  dietaries  for  prisoners  in  India  vary  somewhat  in  detail 
in  every  province  and  presidency.  They  are  as  a  rule 
based  upon  the  food  in  use  among  the  lowest  classes  of  the  dif- 
ferent people,  and  are  so  regulated  as  to  maintain  health  and 
strength  without  the  introduction  of  a  single  article  that  is  con- 
sidered to  be  a  luxury.  Prisoners  are  weighed  on  admission  and 
on  discharge,  and  provision  is  made  in  the  jail  rules  of  some  parts 
of  India  to  weigh  them  whenever  there  is  reason  to  believe  that 
the  dietary  is  from  any  cause  productive  of  disease,  —  a  loss  of 
weight  being  a  rough  test  of  deficient  quantity  or  improper  qual- 
ity of  food.  In  such  circumstances  the  surgeon  of  the  prison 
has  power  to  change  the  dietary  in  any  way  that  may  be  needed 
for  the  health  and  strength  of  the  prisoners,  —  a  special  report 
of  every  instance  in  which  this  is  done  being  made  to  the  head 
of  the  prison  department,  to  insure  that  such  power  is  not 
abused. 

Tobacco,  opium,  and  all  narcotics  and  stimulants  to  which  na- 


324  STATE   OF  PRISONS,   ETC.  [BooK  ill. 

tives  of  India  have  been  accustomed  from  the  earliest  age  are 
strictly  prohibited  in  Indian  prisons.  That  the  sudden  with- 
drawal of  any  accustomed  luxury  may  not  be  attended  with  in- 
jury to  health,  all  prisoners  who  have  indulged  to  excess  in  such 
luxuries  or  vices  are  placed  under  observation ;  and  the  medical 
officer  of  the  prison  has  full  power  either  to  continue  the  indul- 
gence in  gradually  diminishing  quantities,  or  to  subject  the  suf- 
ferers to  such  dietetic  and  other  treatment  as  he  may  consider 
to  be  necessary  to  enable  them  to  bear  the  entire  privation  with 
impunity. 

There  is  no  restriction  in  hospital  dietaries  as  to  all  reasonable 
changes  in  quantities  or  qualities  of  food  that  medical  officers 
consider  necessary  for  the  cure  of  disease  and  of  restoration 
to  health  and  strength. 

The  subject  of  prison  dietaries  in  India  has  frequently  been 
investigated  with  great  care,  in  consequence  of  their  important 
relations  to  health.  The  practical  rule  of  guidance  has  been  to 
give  all  that  is  really  required  for  health  and  strength  ;  and  this 
end  being  kept  steadily  in  view,  to  withhold  every  thing  that 
would  place  the  prisoner  in  a  better  position  than  the  poor  and 
honest  in  his  own  walk  in  life. 

The  punishments  for  breaches  of  discipline  are  fetters,  separ- 
ate confinement,  penal  labor,  a  penal  dietary,  and  flogging. 

In  some  parts  of  the  country,  from  the  extreme  insecurity  of 
the  prisons,  all  heinous  offenders  and  some  persons  awaiting 
trial  are  ironed  to  prevent  escape,  —  a  harsh  proceeding  caused 
by  the  absence  of  properly-constructed  prisons..  This  proceed- 
ing has  been  legalized,  —  a  reproach  to  the  legislation  of  the  coun- 
try. When  the  prisons  are  tolerably  secure,  fetters  are  employed 
only  in  disciplinary  punishments. 

Separate  confinement  is  resorted  to  where  the  means  for  it 
exist ;  but  the  provision  of  cells  is  so  inadequate  even  for  this 
purpose  that  recourse  is  had  to  flogging  to  an  extent  that  is  most 
lamentable. 

In  the  matter  of  rewards,  Colonel  Hutchinson,  in  a  paper 
communicated  to  the  author,  states  that  the  jail  codes  prescribe 
three  classes  of  labor,  —  hard,  medium,  and  light ;  the  transfer 
from  one  to  another  being  an  indulgence  to  be  earned,  not  a 
right  to  be  claimed.  The  object  of  such  advance  is  eligibility 
to  employment  as  work-overseers,  convict  warders,  convict 
guards  ;  the  grant  of  intermediate  imprisonment  whereby,  under 
certain  conditions,  he  may  sleep  outside  the  jail  ;  remission  of  a 
part  of  the  sentence  in  exchange  of  marks  given  for  industry ; 
and  small  gratuities  in  money.  These  are  not  uniform  through- 
out all  India,  but  vary  more  or  less  in  the  several  presidencies  and 
provinces. 

About  ninety-three  per  cent  of  the  prisoners  in  Indian  jails  are 


PART  in.]  IN  INDIA.  325 

wholly  illiterate,  five  per  cent  can  read  and  write,  and  two  per 
cent  are  fairly  educated  for  their  position  in  life.  Lord  Macau- 
lay's  committee  in  1836,  on  grounds  of  general  policy,  opposed 
the  introduction  of  education  in  the  prisons,  even  to  the  extent 
of  reading,  writing,  and  ciphering.  The  committee  of  1864  took 
a  different  view,  and  their  recommendations  provided  for  primary 
instruction  in  the  twofold  aspect  of  punishment  and  reward,  — 
punishment  to  the  sullen,  the  stupid,  and  the  idle ;  reward  to  the 
quick  and  the  intelligent,  to  whom  it  would  serve  as  a  mitigation 
of  the  tedium  of  confinement.  Dr.  Mouat  observes  that  the  in- 
struction given  in  the  prisons,  limited  as  it  is,  has  been  found  an 
important  aid  to  discipline.  The  conference  of  1877  recommend 
that  the  following  three  classes  be  compelled  to  attend  school : 
(i)  Prisoners  under  sixteen  with  sentence  over  one  month;  (2) 
Prisoners  between  sixteen  and  twenty-four  with  sentence  of  one 
year  and  over ;  (3)  Prisoners  between  twenty-four  and  thirty-five 
with  sentences  of  two  years  and  more.  They  further  recommend 
that  prisoners  of  any  age  or  sentence  who  enter  prison  with  a 
partial  education  may  attend  school  in  the  discretion  of  the  su- 
perintendent. Also  that  further  liberty  of  attendance  may  be 
granted  as  a  privilege,  if  the  superintendent  deem  it  expedient ; 
that  juveniles  should  receive  four  hours  of  schooling  daily;  that 
large  use  be  made  of  the  better-instructed  prisoners  as  convict- 
teachers,  and  that  to  this  end  normal  schools  be  established  to 
qualify  them  for  this  service. 


CHAPTER  XLIX  .  —  PRISONERS  AS  WARDERS.  —  INTERMEDIATE 
IMPRISONMENT  AND  AGRICULTURAL  COLONIES.  —  RECONVIC- 
TIONS.  —  PRISON  HORTICULTURE.  —  MORTALITY. 

IN  some  parts  of  India  convicts  have  been  employed  as  prison 
warders  to  aid  in  the  maintenance  of  discipline,  to  prevent 
escape,  and  to  act  as  superintendents  of  labor.  If  carefully  se- 
lected after  a  sufficient  period  of  probation,  attested  either  by  the 
mark-system  (which  is  in  use  in  India)  or  by  the  entire  absence 
of  the  names  of  the  prisoners  from  the  punishment-register,  for  a 
period  proportioned  to  the  length  of  their  sentences,  they  gener- 
ally turned  out  well.  It  prepares  prisoners  gradually  for  restora- 
tion to  liberty  by  teaching  them  self-respect,  and  by  inculcating 
the  value  of  continuous  good  conduct  in  circumstances  of  re- 
straint and  difficulty. 

A  plan  of  intermediate  imprisonment,  differing  in  some  particu- 
lars from  that  of  Sir  Walter  Crofton,  was  also  introduced  in  Ben- 


326  STATE   OF  PRISONS,   ETC.  [BooK  m. 

gal  some  years  since  by  Dr.  Mouat,  and  worked  well  so  long  as  the 
jails  of  that  province  were  under  his  charge.  Agricultural  penal 
colonies  were  also  advocated  by  the  same  officer ;  but  the  sugges- 
tion was  not  adopted,  because  their  uses  and  advantages  were  not 
fully  understood  by  the  rulers  of  the  most  important  province  of 
British  India. 

Careful  endeavors  are  made  in  India  to  procure  trustworthy 
returns  of  reconvictions  and  relapses  into  crime ;  but  from  the 
vast  extent  of  the  territory,  the  numberless  means  of  evasion, 
the  difficulty  of  identification,  and  the  untrustworthy  character  of 
the  native  police  agency  through  which  such  inquiries  must  be 
conducted,  the  result  does  not  as  yet  appear  to  be  very  satisfactory 
or  trustworthy. 

To  very  many  prisons  in  India  gardens  are  attached,  partly  to 
supply  the  prisoners  with  the  fresh  and  varied  vegetable  food  nec- 
essary for  the  healthy  maintenance  of  so  vegetarian  a  race  as 
most  of  the  inhabitants  of  India  are,  and  in  part  to  counteract 
the  scorbutic  tendency  of  the  sedentary  labor  in  workshops  and 
cells,  which  is  the  cause  of  so  large  and  destructive  an  amount  of 
sickness  in  those  prisons.  Natives  of  India  seldom  take  physical 
exercise  voluntarily  for  purposes  of  health  ;  and  to  compel  them 
to  take  it  in  some  useful  form  is  found  to  be  most  advantageous 
in  every  way,  disciplinary  as  well  as  economic. 

Sickness  and  death  play  so  exceptionally  important  a  part  in 
the  Indian  prisons  as  to  need  exceptional  care  in  the  adoption 
of  hygienic  measures.  Among  the  wild  tribes  and  those  accus- 
tomed to  an  open-air  life  imprisonment  in  any  form  is  particularly 
destructive.  The  mortality  of  Indian  prisons  has  at  times  been 
frightful,  and  in  some  presidencies  and  provinces  the  death-rate  is 
still  so  far  in  excess  of  that  of  the  outside  population  of  the  same 
classes  as  to  demand  such  relaxations  of  discipline  as  may  be 
necessary  to  preserve  life ;  hence  the  question  of  prison  manage- 
ment in  the  Indian  Empire  is  complicated  with  conditions  un- 
known in  more  temperate  climates.  It  is  in  no  circumstances 
justifiable  to  convert  a  sentence  for  a  short  period  into  a  sentence 
of  death,  either  by  the  absence  of  a  proper  construction  of  pris- 
ons, or  by  the  selection  of  unhealthy  sites,  or  by  overcrowding,  or 
by  any  preventable  causes.  The  responsibility  for  all  such  states 
rests  exclusively  with  the  ruling  authorities  ;  and  they  have  been 
so  often  and  so  fearlessly  brought  to  notice  by  the  inspectors  of 
prisons  in  India,  that  their  continuance  is  a  standing  reproach  to 
those  who  alone  possess  the  power  to  remove  them. 


PART  in.]  IN  INDIA.  327 


CHAPTER    L.  —  CONVICT    SETTLEMENT   ON   THE   ANDAMAN. 

ISLANDS. 

THE  convict  settlement  of  Port  Blair  and  the  Andaman 
Islands  is  the  great  penal  colony  of  India,  to  which  all 
convicts  sentenced  for  life  or  for  long  terms  are  transported.  It 
contains  some  eight  thousand  convicts,  of  whom  about  one  thou- 
sand are  females.  It  is  governed  by  rules  of  its  own,  is  under  the 
immediate  orders  of  the  Government  of  India,  and  is  rapidly  re- 
claiming and  settling  the  important  group  of  Islands  in  which 
it  is  placed.  Well-conducted  convicts,  after  fixed  periods  of 
probation,  are  granted  tickets-of-leave,  have  lands  assigned  to 
them,  are  permitted  to  marry,  and  are  gradually  becoming  an 
important  and  industrious  community. 

The  aborigines  of  the  islands,  who  are  dwarf  negritoes,  are 
also  becoming  amenable  to  the  influences  of  the  superior  civiliza- 
tion which  is  now  brought  in  contact  with  them,  and  are  ceasing 
to  be  so  relentlessly  hostile  to  all  strangers  as  they  were  when 
the  chief  convict  settlement  was  selected  by  Dr.  Mouat  in  1857 
for  the  reception  of  the  mutineers  of  the  great  Sepoy  revolt  of 
that  year.  These  islands  have  obtained  a  sad  celebrity  from  the 
murder  of  the  Earl  of  Mayo,  when  Viceroy  of  India,  by  a  Ma- 
hometan fanatic. 


CHAPTER  LI.  —  AID  TO   DISCHARGED   PRISONERS.  —  REFORMA- 
TORIES. —  CONCLUSION. 

NO  aid  societies  exist  in  India,  but  help  is  given  occasionally 
to  deserving  prisoners  on  their  discharge  by  philanthropic 
individuals. 

Within  the  last  few  years  a  movement  to  establish  juvenile  re- 
formatories has  been  made  ;  but  their  formation  is  too  recent  to 
admit  of  any  judgment  being  formed  as  to  their  results.  No 
doubt  these  will  be  good,  as  everywhere  else. 

From  the  foregoing  brief  sketch  it  will  be  perceived  that  the 
prisons  of  India  are  all  under  State  control ;  that  they  are  gov- 
erned by  special  regulation  having  the  force  of  law,  are  subjected 
to  regular  inspection,  and  are  in  the  immediate  executive  charge 
of  different  classes  of  officers  in  different  parts  of  the  country. 
The  construction  of  these  prisons  oscillates  between  secure  cellu- 
lar jails  and  mud  huts,  —  the  majority  being  insecure,  unhealthy, 
and  undeserving  the  name  of  prisons.  From  these  defects,  from 


328  STATE   OF  PRISONS,   ETC.  [BOOK  III. 

the  different  character  of  the  prisoners  of  different  parts  of  In- 
dia, from  the  necessity  of  attending  to  caste  considerations,  from 
the  unreliability  of  the  subordinate  agency  available,  and  from  the 
general  want  of  knowledge  of  the  true  principles  of  prison  man- 
agement on  the  part  of  the  ruling  authorities,  a  sound,  continu- 
ous, and  judicious  system  of  prison  discipline  cannot  be  said  to 
exist  in  any  part  of  this  extended  empire. 

The  labor  of  the  prisoners  is  in  a  great  measure  intra-mural 
and  in  remunerative  industries  ;  but  departures  from  it  are  per- 
mitted and  even  enjoined  in  the  execution  of  great  public  works. 
The  whole  question,  however,  is  too  much  subordinated  to  finan- 
cial considerations  to  have  a  fair  chance  of  success.  The  great 
extent  of  the  country  and  the  difficulty  of  regulating  income  and 
expenditure  have  deprived  the  prisons  of  India  of  the  share  of 
the  public  revenues  which  ought  to  be  assigned  to  them  as  a 
measure  of  policy,  of  humanity,  and  of  real  economy. 

The  prison  is  the  key-stone  of  the  judicial  arch,  the  imperfect 
construction  of  which  renders  nugatory  a  considerable  proportion 
of  the  very  great  expenditure  incurred  in  the  police  and  judicial 
agency  engaged  in  the  pursuit  and  detection  of  crime  and  the 
trial  and  conviction  of  offenders. 


Boofc  Jfaurtfj, 

CONTINENTAL  EUROPE. 


PART    FIRST. 

FRANCE. 

CHAPTER  I.  —  PRISON  ADMINISTRATION. 

THE  penitentiary  administration  of  France  is  a  good  deal 
divided  up  among  the  different  ministries  and  departments 
of  Government.  There  are  :  i.  The  prisons  under  the  ministry 
of  the  Interior.  2.  The  military  prisons  under  the  ministry  of 
War.  3.  The  naval  prisons  and  penal  colonies  under  the  minis- 
try of  the  Marine.  4.  The  prisons  of  Paris  under  the  prefecture 
of  the  city.  5.  The  transfer  of  prisoners  waiting  trial  under 
the  ministry  of  justice. 


CHAPTER  II.  —  EXPLANATION  OF  CERTAIN  TERMS. 

PRELIMINARILY,  it  will  be  necessary  to  explain  three 
French  terms,  constantly  occurring  in  the  penitentiary  no- 
menclature of  France,  to  which  there  are  no  words,  or  things, 
exactly  answering  in  English  or  American  criminal  procedure. 
These  words  are  inculpfc,  pre'venus,  and  accuses.  Their  equiva- 
lents in  English  all  designate  persons  suspected  of,  or  charged 
with,  some  offence  ;  but  the  exact  distinction  it  is  difficult  to 
grasp  for  the  reason  above  stated,  and  especially  because  there 
are  no  single  English  words  that  furnish  the  equivalents  ;  hence 
the  necessity  for  explanation.  The  inculph,  then,  are  persons 
who,  having  been  arrested  either  on  a  warrant  or  in  the  act  of 
committing  an  offence  (flagrante  delicto),  are  conveyed,  prior  to 
a  hearing,  to  some  prison  for  safe-keeping,  until  their  examination 
takes  place.  The  prdvenus  and  the  accuses  are  both  inciilpts  who 


330  STATE   OF  PRISONS,   ETC.  [BooK  IV. 

have  had  their  first  hearing,  and  have  been  ordered  by  the  com- 
mitting magistrate  (juge  d 'instruction}  to  be  held  for  trial.  But 
there  is  a  difference  between  them.  The  prevenus  are  prisoners 
held  for  trial  on  a  charge  of  misdemeanor  (delif)  ;  the  accuses  are 
prisoners  held  for  trial  on  a  charge  of  felony  (crime}.  The  two 
classes  are  taken  before  different  courts  for  trial,  —  the  prevemis 
before  the  tribunal  of  correctional  justice,  where  the  trial  is  by 
the  judges  alone;  the  accuses  before  the  court  of  assizes,  where 
they  are  tried  by  a  jury.  In  further  descriptions  and  statements 
it  will  be  necessary  to  use  the  French  terms  themselves,  because 
there  are  no  single  English  words  that  correspond  thereto. 


CHAPTER  III.  —  CLASSIFICATION  OF  PRISONS. 

penitentiary  service  of  France,  so  far  as  it  falls  within 
J-      the  jurisdiction  of  the  ministry  of  the  interior,  comprises, 
in  France  and  Algiers,  — 

1.  Houses  of  arrest,  which  are  appropriated  to  the  inculpe's  and 
prevenus ;  to  prisoners  sentenced  to  the  central  prisons,  while 
awaiting  their  transfer ;  to  children  detained  by  way  of  paternal 
correction  ;  and  to  prisoners  en  route. 

2.  Houses  of  justice,  designed  for  the  accus/s,  and  for  prison- 
ers condemned  by  the  court  of  assizes,  while  waiting  transfer  to 
their  legal  destination. 

3.  Depots  of  prisoners  sentenced  to  hard  labor  (travatix  forces) 
are  for  men,  sentenced  as  above,  taken  out  of  the  houses  of  jus- 
tice as  soon  as  the  decree  of  punishment  has  become  definitive, 
and  who  await  their  embarkation  for  New  Caledonia  or  Guiana. 

4.  Departmental  houses  of  correction,  set  apart  to  police  pris- 
oners ;  to  adults  sentenced  to  correctional  imprisonment  for  a 
year  or  less ;  to  criminals  sentenced  for  a  year  and  a  day  in  such 
departmental  prisons  as  are  devoted  to  the  system  of  individual 
separation  ;   to  prisoners  sentenced  correctionally  for  a  longer 
term  than  a  year,  who  are  detained  in  cellular  separation  on  their 
own  request ;  and,  finally,  to  minors  sentenced  to  a  maximum  of 
six  months'  imprisonment. 

5.  Central  houses  of  correction  (central  prisons),  for  persons 
of  both  sexes  over  sixteen  years  of  age,  and  sentenced  to  an 
imprisonment  exceeding  a  year  and  a  day. 

6.  Maisons  de  force  (literally  force  houses),  for  prisoners  of 
both  sexes  sentenced  to  reclusion,  and  women  sentenced  to  hard 
labor  (travaux  forces). 

7.  Detention  houses,  for  persons  sentenced  to  the  penalty  of 
detention,  whatever  that  may  mean. 


PART    i.]  IN  FRANCE.  331 

8.  Establishments  of  correctional  education,  for  minors  of  both 
sexes  tried  for  crimes  or  misdemeanors,  committed  before  the  age 
of  sixteen  years,  and  acquitted  as  having  acted  without  knowl- 
edge, but  remitted  to  the  guardianship  of  the  administration ;  or 
for  persons  condemned,  as  having  acted  with  knowledge,  to  more 
than  six  months'  imprisonment.    These  establishments  are  divided 
into,  — 

a.  Penitentiary  colonies  for  boys  placed  under  administrative 
guardianship,  or  sentenced  for  periods  ranging  from  six  months 
to  two  years. 

b.  Correctional  colonies  for  boys  sentenced  for  more  than  two 
years,  or  removed  from  the  penitentiary  colonies  as  a  disciplinary 
measure. 

c.  Penitentiary  colonies  for  girls  of  all  categories. 

The  penitentiary  colonies  and  houses  are  establishments  that 
may  be  either  public  or  private ;  the  correctional  colonies  can 
only  be  public  establishments. 

Reform  schools,  of  recent  creation,  are  for  boys  of  less  than 
twelve  years,  whose  education  is  confided  to  Sisters  of  Charity. 

9.  Chambers  and  dep6ts  of  safe-keeping,  which  are  intended  to 
furnish  lodging,  at  halting-places,  to  prisoners  en  route,  in  locali- 
ties where  there  exists  no  house  of  arrest. 


CHAPTER  IV.  —  TRANSFER  OF  PRISONERS. 

THE  transfer  of  adult  convicts  of  both  sexes  and  of  young 
prisoners  of  the  male  sex,  of  mendicants  going  to  the 
depots  of  mendicity,  etc.,  is  effected  almost  exclusively,  in  France, 
by  means  of  cellular  cars  belonging  to  the  State,  under  the  escort 
of  agents  of  the  administration.  For  persons  not  transferred  in 
this  manner  are  employed,  according  to  circumstances,  special  com- 
partments of  the  cars  of  railway  companies,  and  special  carriages 
or  steamboats.  They  are  then  conducted  by  the  mounted  police, 
In  Algiers  prisoners  are  always  transferred  under  an  escort  of 
the  gens  d'arme,  whether  in  packet-boats  engaged  in  the  coast- 
ing-service, or  in  cellular  cars  furnished  by  the  railway  com- 
panies, or  in  special  carriages,  or,  in  short,  on  foot.  Both  in 
France  and  in  Algiers  young  female  prisoners,  transported  in 
public  conveyances,  are  accompanied  by  persons  of  their  own 
sex. 


332  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  iv. 


CHAPTER  V.  —  LAW  OF  1875. 

A  LAW,  dated  June  5,  1875,  ordained  the  individual  separa- 
tion, day  and  night,  of  all  prisoners  awaiting  examination 
or  trial,  and  of  persons  sentenced  to  an  imprisonment  of  a  year 
and  a  day,  or  less.  Persons  sentenced  correctionally  to  a  term 
exceeding  a  year  and  a  day  may,  at  their  own  request,  be  sub- 
jected to  the  same  regime.  In  such  case  they  are  detained  in 
the  departmental  houses  of  correction. 

Up  to  the  present  time  it  has  been  possible  to  adapt  but  a 
small  number  of  these  prisons  to  the  application  of  the  cellular 
regime.  In  all  the  others  imprisonment  on  the  associated  plan 
is  still  practised. 


CHAPTER  VI.  —  HYGIENE. 

THE  use  of  tobacco,  wine,  and  other  alcoholic  drinks  is  for- 
bidden to  convicts  and  juvenile  prisoners.  Great  impor- 
tance is  attached  to  the  hygiene  of  the  French  prisons.  Sanitary 
precautions  seem  never  to  be  neglected.  The  hygienic  system 
of  the  central  prisons,  especially,  is  organized  in  a  manner  the 
most  complete  and  effective.  The  average  number  of  prisoners 
in  the  hospitals  was,  in  1868,  four  per  cent  of  the  prison  popu- 
lation in  the  case  of  men,  and  five  per  cent  in  that  of  women. 
The  average  death-rate  the  same  year  was,  of  men,  3.65  per 
cent ;  of  women,  3.80. 


CHAPTER  VII.  —  CLASSIFICATION  OF  SENTENCES. 

OENTENCES  in  France  are  of  three  kinds  ;  namely,  to  im- 
O  prisonment,  reclusion,  and  hard  labor.  Those  sentenced  to 
hard  labor,  if  men,  used  to  be  sent  to  the  galleys ;  but  these  no 
longer  exist,  and  they  are  now  punished  by  transportation  to  the 
penal  colonies.  A  sentence  to  hard  labor  is  afflictive  and  infa- 
mous, and  involves  civil  degradation  and  civil  death.  Simple 
imprisonment  is  a  correctional  punishment,  and  may  be  from 
six  days  to  five  years.  The  sentence  is  served  in  a  departmental 
prison,  if  its  duration  falls  within  a  year ;  if  it  exceeds  that,  in  a 
central  prison.  Reclusion,  like  hard  labor,  is  afflictive  and  infa- 


PART  i.]  IN  FRANCE.  333 

mous.  The  sentence  to  it  may  be  from  five  to  ten  years,  and  is 
always  served  in  a  central  prison.  The  tendency  of  public  opin- 
ion in  Europe,  and  I  think  in  France  as  well,  is  towards  the  abo- 
lition of  these  distinctions,  and  the  assimilation  of  all  sentences, 
except  as  to  duration  and  certain  accessory  consequences  involved 
after  liberation. 


CHAPTER  VIII.  —  CLASSIFICATION  OF  PRISONERS. 

THE  classification  of  prisoners  in  France  has  not  heretofore 
been  largely  practised,  and  it  does  not  appear  to  have  led  to 
any  very  solid  results.  But  an  interesting  experiment  was  inau- 
gurated in  this  direction  a  few  years  ago.  What  were  called  "pre- 
servation "  or  "  amendment "  wards  were  established  in  a  number 
of  the  central  prisons.  This  experiment  promises  the  best  results. 
The  prisoners  placed  in  these  wards  have  shown  themselves  sen- 
sible to  the  distinction  of  which  they  have  been  made  the  object, 
and  have  exerted  themselves  to  deserve  it  by  their  good  conduct. 
The  cases  are  rare  in  which  it  has  been  found  necessary  to  put 
them  back  into  the  common  wards. 


CHAPTER  IX.  —  EARNINGS.  —  PECULIUM.  —  LABOR. 

LABOR  is  obligatory  on  persons  sentenced  to  imprisonment, 
to  reclusion,  and  to  hard  labor  ;  it  is  optional  with  those 
awaiting  trial  and  those  sentenced  to  detention.  Young  prisoners 
receive  a  professional  education,  —  in  other  words,  learn  trades. 
Prisoners  receive  of  the  proceeds  of  their  labor  in  the  following 
proportions  :  Those  awaiting  trial  (prevenus  and  accuses),  seven 
tenths  ;  those  sentenced  to  imprisonment,  five  tenths ;  to  deten- 
tion, five  tenths  ;  to  reclusion,  four  tenths  ;  to  hard  labor,  three 
tenths.  One  tenth  is  subtracted  for  every  previous  condemnation ; 
but  the  part  going  to  the  prisoner,  his  peculium,  can  in  no  case  be 
less  than  one  tenth.  Augmentations  are  accorded  under  the 
title  of  recompense,  diminutions  are  imposed  by  way  of  discipline. 
The  peculium  is  divided  into  two  equal  parts  :  one  part  may  be 
used  by  the  prisoner  during  his  detention  in  the  purchase  of  sup- 
plementary food  and  clothing  within  limits  fixed  by  the  rules,  in  aid- 
ing his  family,  etc. ;  the  other  is  held  in  reserve  for  the  time  of  his 
liberation.  Juvenile  prisoners  have  no  claim  to  &  peculium ;  but 


334  STATE   OF  PRISONS,   ETC.  [BooK  iv. 

pecuniary  rewards  are  distributed  to  them  for  good  conduct,  prog- 
ress at  school,  and  application  to  labor. 

Two  modes  of  managing  the  prison  labor  are  in  use,  —  one  by 
the  administration,  the  other  by  a  contract  system.  Under  the 
former,  the  State  provides  directly  for  all  the  services,  treats  with 
manufacturers  for  the  use  of  the  different  kinds  of  labor  executed 
by  the  prisoners,  and  realizes  all  the  profits  arising  from  it. 
Under  the  latter,  some  individual  or  firm  is  charged  as  contractor 
with  the  economic  services  of  the  industrial  labor,  in  consideration 
of  the  payment  by  the  Government  of  a  daily  sum,  and  the  conces- 
sion of  the  portion  of  the  earnings  belonging  to  the  treasury,  with 
sundry  accessory  advantages  to  the  contractor  in  addition. 


CHAPTER  X.  —  PERSONNEL.  —  OTHER   FUNCTIONARIES. 

THE  administration  of  each  central  prison  is  confided  to  a 
director,  assisted  by  one  or  two  inspectors,  an  accounting 
clerk,  with  several  assistant  clerks  charged  with  keeping  the 
registers  and  the  money  accounts,  and  a  staff  of  keepers  serving 
as  the  police  force  of  the  prison.  It  is  the  same  with  the  agri- 
cultural penitentiaries,  the  houses  of  detention,  the  depots  of 
convicts  condemned  to  transportation,  and  the  public  colonies  of 
young  prisoners. 

The  departmental  houses  of  arrest,  of  justice,  and  of  correction, 
as  well  as  the  chambers  and  depots  of  safe-keeping,  are  grouped 
into  penitentiary  circumscriptions  composed  of  one  or  several 
departments,  each  of  which  is  administered  by  a  director,  whose 
duty  it  is  to  make  two  visits  a  year,  and  having  under  his  orders 
in  the  more  important  establishments  an  inspector,  an  accounting 
clerk  with  his  assistants,  and  the  necessary  subordinate  officials. 
The  functions  of  the  director  of  circumscription  are  in  certain 
cases  performed  by  the  directors  of  the  central  prisons. 

This  organization  does  not  exist  for  the  prisons  of  the  Seine ; 
a  part  of  the  duties  of  the  directors  of  circumscription  is  there 
devolved  upon  a  functionary  who  is  placed  under  the  immediate 
authority  of  the  prefect  of  police,  and  who  bears  the  title  of  comp- 
troller. Each  of  these  prisons  has,  besides,  a  director  with  one  or 
more  clerks. 

The  supervising  staff,  in  each  of  the  above  establishments  for 
male  prisoners,  comprises  a  head-keeper,  one  or  more  first  keepers 
if  need  be,  and  ordinary  keepers,  some  of  whom  act  as  clerks.  The 
female  prisoners  are  under  the  care  of  persons  of  their  own  sex, 
religious  or  lay.  A  special  ward  has  been  organized  at  the  cen- 


PART  I.]  IN  FRANCE.  335 

tral  prison  of  Doulleus  to  receive  Protestant  female  prisoners, 
who  are  confided  to  the  care  of  deaconesses  of  that  church. 

There  are  found  in  all  prisons  one  or  more  chaplains  of  the  dif- 
ferent religions  recognized  by  the  State,  one  or  more  medical 
officers,  and  an  apothecary  in  the  more  important  ones.  Teachers 
are  attached  to  the  central  prisons,  to  the  agricultural  peniten- 
tiaries, to  the  houses  of  detention,  to  the  public  colonies  for 
juvenile  prisoners,  and  to  the  departmental  prisons  in  which 
sentences  are  served  of  more  than  three  months'  duration.  Ar- 
chitects, in  the  employ  of  the  penitentiary  administration,  are 
charged  with  the  labors  proper  to  their  profession  for  establish- 
ments in  which  the  expenses  relating  to  the  buildings  appertain 
to  the  State. 

Prisoners  en  route  are  guarded  in  the  depots  for  safe-keeping 
by  special  agents,  and  in  secure  chambers  attached  to  the  bar- 
racks of  the  gendarmes  by  the  military  of  that  arm  of  the  service. 

All  the  functionaries,  employes,  and  agents  are  named  by  the 
minister,  except  the  ordinary  keepers ;  the  physicians  and  chap- 
lains of  the  departmental  prisons  whose  appointment  belongs  to 
the  prefects,  and  the  staffs  of  the  private  establishments  of  juve- 
nile prisoners  who  are  appointed  by  the  founders  or  directors  of 
those  establishments  accepted  by  the  administration. 

The  various  penitentiary  services  in  each  department  are  sub- 
ject to  the  authority  of  the  prefect. 

Inspectors-general  attached  to  the  ministry  of  the  interior  visit 
periodically  the  penitentiary  establishments,  and  may  on  occasion 
be  sent  there  on  some  special  mission.  They  are  charged  with 
the  constant  study  of  all  phases  of  the  penitentiary  question. 

Commissions  of  supervision  exist  for  the  houses  of  arrest,  of 
justice,  and  of  correction,  as  well  as  for  the  establishments  of  cor- 
rectional education  for  young  offenders. 

A  superior  council  of  prisons  has  been  instituted  in  connection 
with  the  ministry  of  the  interior. 


CHAPTER  XI.  —  SPECIAL  PROVISION  FOR  INSANE  CRIMINALS. 

A  SPECIAL  department  of  the  central  prison  of  Gaillon,  in- 
stituted in  1876,  receives  convicts  of  the  male  sex  suffer- 
ing from  mental  alienation,  or  from  frequent  attacks  of  epilepsy. 
The  medical  service  and  the  general  treatment  in  this  establish- 
ment are  organized  in  the  same  manner  as  in  the  ordinary  insane 
asylums. 


336  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  iv. 


CHAPTER  XII.  —  REWARDS  AND  PUNISHMENTS. 

THE  system  of  reward  by  participation  of  earnings  has  been 
already  explained.  Other  rewards  held  out  as  incentives  to 
good  conduct  are  employment  as  foremen  in  workshops,  monitors 
in  the  school,  overseers  of  dormitories,  hospital  attendants,  store- 
keepers, clerks,  copyists,  etc. ;  also  a  place  on  the  roll  of  honor. 
The  disciplinary  punishments  used  are  confinement  in  a  cell,  the 
hall  of  discipline,  loss  of  earnings,  reduction  of  rations,  privation 
of  correspondence  and  visits,  loss  of  posts  of  honor,  removal  from 
the  roll  of  honor,  and  the  like.  All  bodily  inflictions  are  ex- 
pressly prohibited.  The  director,  assisted  by  his  superior  officers, 
holds  daily  a  tribunal  of  disciplinary  justice  (called  "  pretorium  "), 
in  which  every  offence  against  the  discipline  reported  for  the  pre- 
ceding day  is  fully  heard,  fairly  considered,  and  justly  dealt  by, 
whether  by  acquittal  or  punishment. 


CHAPTER  XIII. —  RELIGIOUS  AND  MORAL  AGENCIES. 

IT  has  been  stated  that  chaplains  of  all  religions  are  provided 
for  the  prisons,  so  that  none  are  without  the  instructions  and 
consolations  of  religion  by  ministers  of  their  own  faith.  Besides 
holding  stated  public  services,  the  chaplains  do  pastoral  work,  — 
visiting  the  prisoners  in  the  hospitals,  in  the  cells,  and  in  their 
places  of  punishment.  They  are  always  among  the  assessors  at 
the  daily  courts  in  the  pretorium  mentioned  above.  They  are 
called  on  for  advice  on  propositions  for  the  exercise  of  executive 
clemency.  Volunteer  visitors  are  not  admitted ;  but  there  are 
commissions  of  supervision,  composed  of  citizens  held  in  the  high- 
est esteem,  whose  mission  is  to  watch  over  the  entire  manage- 
ment, and  particularly  over  all  that  relates  to  the  reformation  of 
the  prisoners.  But  there  is  a  tendency  in  human  nature,  even  at 
its  best,  to  laxness,  and  it  is  to  be  feared  that  these  commissions 
are  not  always  up  to  the  mark.  Sunday-schools  under  that  name 
do  not  exist  in  the  French  prisons,  yet  the  directors  of  a  number 
of  them  have  organized  an  hour  of  school  on  Sunday  morning, 
and  the  administration  has  generalized  this  innovation.  Corre- 
spondence can  only  be  carried  on  with,  and  visits  received  from, 
family  friends,  which  must  in  general  be  regarded  as  a  wise 
restriction.  The  moral  effect  of  each  is  found  to  be  rather  good 
than  bad. 


PART  i.]  IN   FRANCE.  337 


CHAPTER  XIV. — ILLITERACY.  —  SCHOOLS.  —  LIBRARIES. 

THE  average  of  adult  prisoners  unable  to  read  on  their  com- 
mittal is  fifty-six  per  cent;  of  juveniles,  eighty-one.  The 
organization  of  primary  instruction  in  the  prisons  dates  back  to 
1819.  Since  then  schools  have  been  established  in  all  the  im- 
portant prisons.  Almost  the  entire  prison  population  are  required 
to  attend  school,  only  old  men  and  invalids  being  excepted.  The 
instruction  given  comprises  reading,  writing,  arithmetic  (written 
and  mental),  weights  and  measures,  linear-drawing,  and  general 
notions  of  the  geography  and  history  of  France.  The  admin- 
istration has  not  been  altogether  satisfied  with  the  results  ;  but 
many  who  entered  wholly  illiterate  leave  with  a  fair  degree  of 
elementary  instruction.  The  prison  libraries  include  religious 
works  suited  to  the  needs  of  Protestant  as  well  as  Catholic 
prisoners  ;  also  books  of  history,  biography,  travels,  literature, 
science,  etc.  Prisoners  who  have  mastered  the  art  are  fond  of 
reading,  and  those  who  have  not  like  to  have  books  read  to  them. 
It  exerts  a  marked  and  happy  influence  upon  them.  Properly 
directed,  it  effects  a  salutary  revolution  in  the  character;  and 
prisoners  who  form  a  taste  for  good  books  are  generally  well- 
behaved. 


CHAPTER   XV.  —  ALL  LABOR  INDUSTRIAL.  —  RECIDIVISTS. 

THE  penal  system  of  France  is  no  longer  founded,  as  former- 
ly, on  suffering  and  terror,  and  hence  there  is  no  strictly 
"penal"  labor.  What  is  desired  now  is  to  punish  the  criminal; "' 
what  is  sought  as  the  end  of  that  punishment  is  his  reformation : 
therefore  all  the  labor  is  industrial,  —  obligatory  on  the  sentenced, 
permitted  in  the  case  of  the  accused.  In  the  central  prisons 
labor  is  thoroughly  organized.  Large  workshops  in  these  estab- 
lishments present  a  scene  of  busy  toil.  Some  fifty  to  sixty 
industries  have  been  introduced  into  them.  There  are  four 
establishments  in  which  the  prisoners  are  engaged  in  agricultural 
labors.  A  few  of  the  central  prisons  are  self-supporting,  notably 
the  female  prison  at  Claremont  ;  others  approach  more  or  less 
nearly  that  point.  The  majority  probably  do  not  more  than  half 
pay  their  way. 

Despite  what  is  said  in  the  last  paragraph,  deterrence  by  intimi- 
dation is  the  great  aim.  Moral  regeneration  is  an  end,  but  not 
the  chief  end.  The  proportion  of  recidivists  in  the  central  pris- 

22 


338  STATE   OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  IV. 

ons  is  from  forty  to  fifty  per  cent.  Repeated  short  sentences  are 
not  found  to  give  favorable  results ;  they  rather  increase  than 
lessen  crime. 

Imprisonment  for  debt  no  longer  exists  in  commercial  and  civil 
matters ;  it  came  to  an  end  by  statute  in  1867. 


CHAPTER  XVI.  —  PATRONAGE  OF  LIBERATED  PRISONERS. 

THE  work  of  patronage  (aid  to  liberated  prisoners)  has 
made  immense  progress  in  France  within  the  last  six  or 
eight  years.  When  the  International  Prison  Congress  met  in 
London  in  1872,  this  work  scarcely  had  an  existence  in  that 
country.  Two  small  Protestant  societies,  still  in  their  infancy, 
had  been  formed,  and  half  a  dozen  organizations  founded  by 
Sisters  of  Charity  to  aid  discharged  female  prisoners  were  in 
existence,  and  were  doing 'a  modest  but  useful  work.  That  was 
all,  so  far  as  adult  prisoners  were  concerned.  A  patronage  society 
for  liberated  juveniles  of  the  Seine  had  existed  for  half  a  century 
or  more,  than  which  no  better  planned,  more  active,  or  more  use- 
ful organization  of  the  sort  is  to  be  found  in  any  part  of  the 
world.  M.  Demetz,  founder  and  director  of  Mettray,  had  made 
the  whole  o£  France  a  vast  patronage  association  for  his  colonie 
agricole ptnitentiaire.  But  what  do  we  see  to-day?  Owing  largely 
to  the  zeal  and  tireless  energy  of  the  late  M.  Jules  de  Lamarque, 
a  great  national  patronage  society,  full  of  life  and  activity,  has 
been  formed,  with  its  seat  at  Paris,  and  with  branch  organizations 
in  almost  if  not  quite  all  the  departments.  France  forms  at  this 
moment  a  vast  network  of  these  agencies,  which  are  destined  in 
the  near  future  to  make  a  profound  impression  on  crime,  and  to 
bring  down  the  percentage  of  recidivists  not  only  far  below  what 
it  is  at  present,  but  probably  below  what  the  most  sanguine  now 
believe  to  be  possible. 


CHAPTER  XVII.  —  EARLY  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHILD-SAVING 

WORK. 

FRANCE  was  among  the  earliest  countries  to  perceive  and 
act  upon  the  idea  of  the  importance  of  child-saving  in  the 
effort  to  diminish  crime.    There,  too,  as  elsewhere,  private  charity, 
individual  beneficence,  preceded  action  by  the  State.     It  was  in  a 


PART  i.]  IN  FRANCE.  339 

valley  of  the  Vosges  Mountains,  in  Alsace-Lorraine,  that  the  cele- 
brated Protestant  pastor  Oberlin,  near  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  entered  upon  his  great  work  of  improving  and  elevating 
the  poor,  —  a  work  which  has  resounded  through  the  civilized 
world,  and  which  has  had  such  large  and  wide-spread  results. 
Touched  with  the  forlorn  condition  of  the  children  of  his  parish, 
too  young  to  attend  school,  —  whose  parents,  unable  to  utilize 
their  services,  allowed  them  to  run  at  will,  —  Oberlin  conceived 
the  idea,  in  1 767,  of  gathering  them  under  his  own  paternal  watch 
and  care.  Then  and  there  was  established  for  the  children  of  a 
rural  population  the  first  infant  school  ever  known,  —  the  germ, 
no  doubt,  of  the  kindergarten  schools,  so  popular  and  so  useful  in 
our  day. 

This  idea  bore  no  fruit  at  the  time  in  the  country  of  its  origin. 
But  it  reappeared  in  England  half  a  century  later  under  the 
influence  of  Miss  Edgeworth,  who  had  given  an  account  of  it  in 
one  of  her  romances.  The  impression  made  by  her  description 
led  to  the  establishment  of  the  first  infant  school  in  that  Country 
in  1819.  The  idea  was,  in  1825,  carried  back  to  France,  where  it 
had  its  rise,  and  whence  it  had  migrated  to  English  soil ;  and 
to-day  not  only  Paris  but  France  is,  if  not  fully,  yet  fairly,  sup- 
plied with  this  class  of  institutions.  Great  importance  is  attached 
in  France  to  these  schools  for  children  of  the  age  of  two  to  six 
years.  Experience  has  shown,  agreeably  to  the  teaching  of  Solo- 
mon, that  the  best  means  of  improving  the  world  is  the  right 
training  of  children  ;  and  such  training  cannot  begin  too  soon. 
An  old  French  house-servant  and  his  wife  so  well  understood  the 
utility  of  this  institution  for  rural  populations,  and  so  warmly 
sympathized  with  the  object,  that  they  devoted  their  little  fortune 
of  ten  thousand  francs  to  the  establishment  of  an  infant  school  in 
a  small  commune  in  the  interior  of  France. 

The  infant  nursery,  another  admirable  device  for  saving  chil- 
dren and  lessening  crime,  is  indigenous  in  France.  A  French 
manufacturer,  compelled  to  renew  his  stock  of  tools,  determined 
also  to  transform  his  workmen.  In  the  pursuit  of  this  idea,  he 
first  established  an  adult  class,  then  a  school  for  children,  after- 
wards an  infant  class,  and  finally  a  nursery  for  the  infant  children 
destined  to  enter  his  workshops.  Business  tact  thus  led  him  to 
recognize  the  practical  utility  of  the  infant  nursery  instituted  by 
religion. 

Imaginatively  but  touchingly  the  origin  of  this  institution  is 
thus  described  by  a  French  poet:  "Among  the  seraphim  who 
for  ever  hymn  the  glory  of  God  there  was  one  who  sometimes 
stood  aloof  from  the  rest  lost  in  thought.  His  forehead  inclined 
to  the  earth ;  he  became  more  and  more  pensive.  At  length, 
kneeling  before  the  Eternal,  he  said :  '  When  thy  son  Jesus  wept 
and  was  cold  in  the  stable  of  Bethlehem  my  smile  consoled  him, 


34O  STATE   OF  PRISONS,   ETC.  [BOOK  iv. 

my  wing  sheltered  him,  my  breath  warmed  him.  Since  then, 
whenever  an  infant  cries  its  voice  touches  my  heart,  and  for  this 
reason  I  am  in  continual  sorrow.  Suffer  me  to  descend  to  earth  ; 
there  are'so  many  little  ones  who,  shivering  with  cold,  mourn  far 
away  from  the  breath  and  the  kisses  of  their  mother.  I  long  to 
shelter  them  in  warm  chambers  ;  I  long  to  lay  them  in  cradles, 
and  cover  them  well ;  I  long  to  be  their  nurse ;  I  wish  that  they  all 
may  have  twenty  mothers,  who  will  rock  them  to  sleep,  after  hav- 
ing well  suckled  them.'  The  angels  applauded  him.  Spreading 
his  wings  he  descended  rapid  as  the  lightning,  and  infant  nurseries 
were  opened  wherever  the  angel  of  the  little  children  passed." 

It  was  in  France,  at  Paris,  that  the  first  infant  nursery  was 
founded  by  Catholics  in  1844.  The  institution,  adopted  by  Prot- 
estants, spread  rapidly  in  the  different  quarters  of  Paris,  in  the 
provinces,  and  in  foreign  countries.  It  receives  only  the  children 
of  mothers  who  work  during  the  day  away  from  their  own  home. 
On  their  arrival  at  the  nursery  these  children  are  disrobed, 
washed,  and  dressed  in  clean  clothes  furnished  by  the  establish- 
ment. Their  own  clothing  is  laid  aside  to  be  replaced  at  night, 
when  the  mothers  come  to  take  them  home.  Children  are  re- 
ceived into  the  nurseries  a  few  days  after  birth  and  cared  for  till 
the  latest  period  of  weaning,  —  that  is,  the  age  of  two  and  a  half 
years,  or  thereabout,  the  age  at  which  they  are  admissible  into 
the  infant  school. 

Infant  nurseries  are  to-day  greatly  multiplied  in  all  parts  of 
France.  One  of  the  most  illustrious  of  modern  statesmen,  M. 
Thiers,  thus  expresses  his  opinion  of  them  :  "  In  these  latter 
years,  an  invention  at  once  ingenious  and  touching,  under  the 
title  of  infant  nursery  and  infant  school,  has  instituted  places  for 
the  reception  of  children  from  the  tenderest  age  to  that  of  atten- 
dance upon  the  primary  school,  and  to  supplement  in  this  manner 
the  care  of  the  mother,  compelled  to  labor  at  a  distance  from  the 
child  for  the  procurement  of  her  own  and  its  livelihood.  This 
is  perhaps  the  only  institution  which  charity  had  not  already  de- 
vised. Prior  to  its  creation,  the  child,  living  in  the  streets  of  the 
village  or  the  city,  sometimes  suspended  in  his  swaddling  clothes 
in  the  midst  of  the  farm,  temporarily  deserted,  was  exposed  to 
corruption,  to  vagrancy,  often  to  noxious  animals.  Infant  nur- 
series and  infant  schools  have  been  multiplied  throughout  the 
whole  of  France,  with  a  promptitude  and  celerity  which  prove 
that  it  is  enough  that  a  benefit  be  certain  and  practicable  to  in- 
duce the  people  to  give  themselves  to  its  pursuit  with  alacrity 
and  ardor." 

As  a  first  step  in  the  education  of  the  poor,  and  as  a  preven- 
tive of  crime,  the  infant  nursery  holds  a  most  important  place. 
If  it  has  not  everywhere  received  the  same  development  as  the 
school,  it  is  because  it  has  not  been  appreciated  at  its  true  value. 


PART  i.J  IN  FRANCE.  34 1 

^  Apprenticeship,  the  employment  of  children  in  manufactories, 
night-schools,  the  adoption  and  education  of  destitute,  orphan, 
and  deserted  children,  are  so  extensively  organized  and  so  admi- 
rably managed  in  France,  partly  by  the  action  of  Government 
but  more  largely  by  that  of  individuals,  as  powerfully  as  well  as 
favorably  to  affect  the  question  of  criminality  in  that  country. 
They  are  all  agencies  which  act  directly  and  effectively  as  pre- 
ventives of  crime.  But  a  full  development  and  portraiture  of 
these  agencies  and  their  action  would  swell  this  work  beyond  all 
reasonable  bounds.  It  is  necessary,  therefore,  to  withdraw  the 
hand  on  this  point  and  proceed  to  other  agencies,  which  are  ex- 
pressly intended  to  limit  and  lessen  juvenile  delinquency. 


CHAPTER  XVIII.  —  DEMETZ  AND  HIS  WORK  AT  METTRAY. 

HALF  a  century  ago  the  late  illustrious  Demetz,  founder  and 
for  nearly  forty  years  director  of  the  agricultural  peniten- 
tiary colony  of  Mettray,  was  a  young  and  rising  judge  in  one  of 
the  courts  of  Paris.  High-born,  talented,  cultured,  graced  with 
every  accomplishment  suited  to  his  social  and  official  position,  a 
brilliant  career  was  opened  to  his  ambition,  to  which  no  advance 
would  have  been  impossible  and  no  honor  denied.  But  he  had  a 
heart  as  well  as  a  head,  and  his  moral  nature  was  as  high-strung 
as  his  intellectual.  Mere  children  were  often  brought  before  him 
for  trial,  and,  after  conviction,  for  judgment.  In  such  case  he 
was  obliged  to  sentence  them  to  the  central  prisons,  from  which, 
as  the  statistics  showed,  from  seventy  to  eighty  per  cent  emerged 
to  pursue  a  career  of  professional  crime.  This  was  too  much  for 
the  sympathetic  heart  of  the  young  judge.  He  resigned  his 
judicial  position  to  found  an  institution  for  the  reformation  and 
salvation  of  these  young  criminals.  He  traversed  Europe  to  dis- 
cover a  model,  which  he  found  only  in  the  Rauhe  Haus  at  Horn, 
near  Hamburg,  then  recently  established  and  under  the  care  of 
Mr.  (afterwards  Dr.)  John  Henry  Wichern.  This  was  upon  the 
family  plan,  which  M.  Demetz  at  once  adopted  in  principle  as 
that  on  which  he  would  organize  his  new  establishment.  Mettray 
was  opened  in  1839,  an^  thousands  of  young  criminals  have  been 
graduated  from  it  during  the  forty  years  of  its  existence  ;  and  the 
proportion  of  relapses  in  all  that  time  has  been  less  than  five  per 
cent  on  the  aggregate,  instead  of  seventy-five  as  before. 

There  were  four  leading  ideas  on  which  M.  Demetz  founded  his 
reformatory  at  Mettray. 


342  STATE   OF  PRISONS,   ETC.  [BooK  IV. 

I.  The  grouping  of  the  young  criminals  into  families.  He 
chose  this  principle  on  a  two-fold  ground,  —  one  having  reference 
to  the  officers,  the  other  to  the  children.  Division  into  families, 
he  thought,  would  make  supervision  more  easy,  direct,  and 
kindly  ;  more  easy,  because  it  would  extend  only  to  a  small 
number;  more  direct,  because  it  would  bring  responsibility  home 
to  one  person ;  more  kindly,  because  it  would  awaken  in  that 
person  and  his  aids  the  sentiment  of  sympathy  and  affection.  On 
the  children  he  thought  its  influence  no  less  beneficial.  The  au- 
thority exercised  over  them  would  be,  in  an  important  sense,  pater- 
nal ;  they  would  become  attached  to  their  care-takers,  and  these  in 
turn  to  them  ;  and  this  mutual  affection  would  be  a  moral  force, 
equally  strong  and  healthy.  The  family  is  the  supreme  of  moral 
forces,  and,  as  a  rule,  every  man  is  a  reflection  of  the  influences 
in  the  midst  of  which  he  passes  his  earliest  years.  The  power  of 
example  upon  the  young  is  well-nigh  omnipotent  Hence  the 
family  either  kills  virtue  or  breathes  into  it  the  breath  of  life. 
The  task  which  the  founder  of  Mettray  proposed  to  himself  was 
to  substitute  for  the  family  which  ruined  a  family  which  would 
save  those  who  became  his  wards. 

2.  Agriculture  as  the  chief  industry.     The  device  adopted  for 
the  colony  is,  "  To  improve  the  earth  by  man,  and  man  by  the 
earth."      To  defend  the  soil  and  to  enrich  it,  is  the  mission  to 
which  the  colons  of  Mettray  called. 

3.  Well-qualified  agents   as   helpers.      To  this   end  a  special 
training-school  (/cole  preparatoire)  has  existed  in  connection  with 
Mettray  from  the  start,  to  which  M.  Demetz  always  attached  the 
highest  possible  importance. 

4.  A  sufficient  number  of  agents  to  do  the  work  thoroughly  and 
well.     M.  Demetz  insisted  strongly  upon  the  point  that  too  many 
children  must  not  be  confided  to  the  same  person.    The  agents,  he 
said,  must  be  multiplied,  under  penalty  of  simply  rearing  instead 
of  educating.     It  is  in  single  combat  that  we  must  wrestle  with 
these  young  souls,  if  we  would  conquer  their  evil  inclinations,  and 
kindle  in  them  the  sentiments  of  honor  and  virtue.     M,  Demetz 
said  that  some  charged  Mettray  with  being  too  dear.     To  this  he 
was  wont  to  reply,  first,  that  Mettray  did  a  great  deal  of  good  ; 
and,  second,  in  the  matter  of  economy  in  Charity  there  were  cheap 
purchases  which  ruined,  and  costly  ones  which  enriched.     It  is 
the  unusually  large  proportion  of  agents  which  made  the  cost  at 
Mettray  so  high  ;  but  it  is  to  that  also  that  the  large  percentage 
of  reformations  is  chiefly  due.     The  motto  of  M.  Demetz  on  this 
subject  was  :  "  Reform  as  cheaply  as  you  can,  but —  REFORM." 

When  Mettray  had  been  in  operation  ten  years,  public  opinion 
in  France  had  become  enlightened  and  strengthened  to  such  a 
degree  as  to  demand  the  creation  of  a  system  of  institutions  sub- 
stantially of  the  same  character,  or  at  least  having  the  same  end 


FART  i.]  IN  FRANCE.  343 

in  view.  Hence  in  1850  a  comprehensive  law  was  enacted  which 
called  into  existence  that  great  system  and  series  of  reformatory 
establishments,  to  the  number  of  fifty  odd,  which  has  been  re- 
ferred to  and  partially  described  in  a  former  part  of  this  chapter. 
These  institutions  are  designed  for  the  treatment  of  that  class  of 
children,  —  perhaps  the  most  wretched  of  all,  —  who,  orphaned, 
deserted,  or  wholly  neglected  by  their  parents,  are  arrested  in  the 
streets  or  on  the  public  highway  in  a  state  of  vagrancy,  mendicity, 
or  even  on  accusation  of  graver  offences.  They  form  a  class  of 
delinquents  in  whom  society  has  a  far-reaching  interest.  What 
is  wanted  for  these  young  transgressors  —  often  more  unfortunate 
than  blameworthy,  more  sinned  against  than  sinning  —  is  not  a 
prison,  but  a  house  of  education  ;  and  that  is  precisely  what  these 
establishments  are  designed  to  be,  and  what  in  point  of  fact  they 
are.  It  is  an  opinion  held  by  all  good  men  in  France,  —  and  the 
enlightened  public  opinion  of  other  countries  is  therein  in  full 
accord,  —  that  the  reformation  of  juvenile  delinquents  is  a  prob- 
lem which  in  the  work  of  prison  reform  ought  to  occupy  a  distinct 
as  well  as  a  prominent  place,  and  that  for  them  there  are  required 
special  establishments  and  a  special  system  of  treatment.  With- 
out being  able  at  the  moment  to  give  the  exact  statistics  on  this 
point  for  France,  my  impression  is  that,  taking  the  whole  number 
of  correctional  establishments  of  this  sort,  the  proportion  of  in- 
mates saved  to  honest  industry  is  from  seventy-five  to  eighty  per 
cent ;  while  a  portion  of  them  are  nearly  equal  to  Mettray  in  this 
respect,  —  such  as  the  Protestant  reformatory  at  St.  Foy,  a  similar 
establishment  for  boys  at  Citeaux,  under  the  Brothers  of  St.  Jo- 
seph, one  for  girls  at  Rouen,  directed  by  the  Sisters  of  the  Sacred 
Heart,  and  perhaps  some  others. 


CHAPTER  XIX.  —  MOVEMENT  TOWARDS  INDUSTRIAL 
SCHOOLS. 

A  VIGOROUS  movement  is  at  this  moment  in  progress  in 
France,  looking  to  the  inauguration  of  a  comprehensive 
system  of  institutions  in  the  nature  of  industrial  schools  for  the 
rescue  and  salvation  of  children  of  a  younger  and  less  criminal 
class  than  those  sent  by  the  courts  to  the  establishments  of  cor- 
rectional education.  This  movement  is  as  earnest  as  it  is  gen- 
eral, and  promises  the  best  results. 


344  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  iv. 


CHAPTER  XX.  —  NAVAL  AND  MILITARY  PRISONS. 

THE  prisons  devoted  to  prisoners  under  the  care  of  the  army 
and  navy  are:  I.  Houses  of  arrest,  and  prisons  of  ports  and 
arsenals.  2.  Military  prisons.  The  first  receive  (i)  sailors,  sol- 
diers, and  laborers  of  the  navy  ;  (2)  persons  arrested  for  crimes 
or  misdemeanors  within  the  jurisdiction  of  the  several  tribunals 
of  the  navy ;  and  (3)  persons  sentenced  by  these  tribunals  to  cor- 
rectional imprisonment  for  one  year  and  less. 

Every  military  prison  situated  in  a  place  which  is  the  seat  of  a 
council  of  war  is  divided  into  three  sections:  (i)  A  military 
house  of  arrest,  receiving  soldiers  of  every  grade  sentenced  to 
disciplinary  punishment ;  (2)  A  house  of  justice,  receiving  sol- 
diers who  are  being  conveyed  before  a  council  of  war  and  convicts 
awaiting  either  the  execution  of  their  sentence  or  a  commutation 
of  punishment ;  (3)  A  house  of  correction,  receiving  officers  sen- 
tenced to  the  punishment  of  imprisonment  and  soldiers  sentenced 
to  less  than  a  year  of  imprisonment.  There  are,  besides,  military 
penitentiaries  containing  persons  sentenced  to  an  imprisonment 
of  at  least  one  year.  These  are  persons  undergoing  a  punish- 
ment of  a  correctional  nature,  —  the  only  punishment  that  does 
not  exclude  from  the  ranks  of  the  army.  Painful  and  afflicting 
punishments,  —  such  as  irons,  hard  labor,  reclusion,  —  involve 
military  degradation  and  the  remission  of  the  convict  to  the  civil 
authority  for  the  execution  of  those  punishments. 


CHAPTER  XXI.  —  PENAL  COLONIES. 

THE  galleys  have  been  abolished,  and  in  their  place  are  the 
penal  colonies,  which  constitute  a  service  attached  to  the 
ministry  of  marine.  For  what  follows  in  regard  to  these  estab- 
lishments I  am  indebted  to  M.  Mic.haux,  sub-director  of  the  said 
colonies  in  that  ministry,  whose  speech  on  the  subject,  in  the 
Congress  of  Stockholm,  I  translate  and  condense. 

French  transportation  divides  itself  into  two  periods,  —  that 
of  Guiana  and  that  of  New  Caledonia.  The  first  proved  an  utter 
failure,  owing  to  the  unwholesomeness  of  the  climate.  The  results 
obtained  at  New  Caledonia  may  be  thus  summarized  from  M. 
Michaux :  The  labor  of  the  convicts  on  their  liberation  is  eagerly 
sought  by  the  population  of  the  colony,  and  indeed  is  often  en- 
gaged in  advance.  The  reason  for  this  is  the  rapid  development 


PART  I.]  IN  FRANCE.  345 

of  industry  in  the  colony,  and  the  consequent  increasing  want  of 
more  arms.  At  the  close  of  1875  there  were  ten  hundred  and 
sixty-three  discharged  convicts,  of  whom  only  two  hundred  and 
fifty-nine  were  not  occupied  at  the  de*p6t  of  the  Isle  of  Non.  Of 
this  number  seven  hundred  and  eighty-four  supported  themselves 
wholly  by  their  own  labor.  The  colony  has  just  passed  through 
a  fearful  crisis.  All  the  workshops  were  closed,  and  labor  was  at 
a  stand-still  almost  everywhere.  Only  three  hundred  discharged 
convicts  became  a  charge  to  the  administration,  and  not  an  im- 
proper act  was  committed  during  the  whole  of  that  period.  Thus 
by  the  penitentiary  action  the  normal  life  of  the  released  prisoner 
has  been  assured,  and  at  the  same  time  relapses  brought  down 
almost  to  zero.  Of  seven  thousand  transported  convicts  only 
three  per  cent  were  recommitted,  and  more  than  half  of  the  new 
offences  were  attempts  to  escape. 

These  results  are  attributed  to  the  constant  and  kindly  super- 
vision kept  up  over  the  liberated  prisoner,  not  to  harass  but  to 
help  him,  while  at  the  same  time  the  real  responsibility  of  his 
life  is  remitted  to  him.  The  essence  of  a  reformatory  prison  dis- 
cipline lies  just  here  ;  such  supervision  is  its  touchstone  par 
excellence.  Every  penitentiary  system  is  to  be  suspected  which 
takes  no  account  and  gives  none  of  its  liberated  prisoners. 

It  does  not  comport  with  the  plan  of  the  present  work  —  which 
is  historical  and  descriptive  rather  than  philosophical  and  argu- 
mentative—  to  enter  into  lengthened  discussions  on  disputed 
points.  I  will  therefore  content  myself  with  this  single  observa- 
tion, that  the  public  opinion  as  well  as  the  public  practice  of  the 
world  runs  strongly  in  the  opposite  direction. 


CHAPTER  XXII.  —  PRISONS  IN  PARIS. 

THE  administration  of  the  prisons  of  Paris  is  in  the  jurisdic- 
tion of  the  Prefecture  of  Police.  They  are  as  follows  :  — 
I.  The  grand  ctipdt.  —  This  is  a  prison  for  persons  who  have  not 
yet  had  their  first  hearing  (inculpts).  It  can  accommodate  twelve 
hundred  to  fifteen  hundred  prisoners,  but  two  thousand  are  some- 
times crowded  into  it.  The  legal  limit  of  detention  here  is  twenty- 
four  hours  ;  the  actual,  at  times,  a  week  and  even  more.  The 
male  and  female  prisoners  are  completely  separated,  and  the  latter 
are  altogether  under  the  care  of  women.  There  are  some  fifty 
cells  for  the  better  class  of  men-prisoners,  but  the  mass  —  and 
a  seething  mass  it  is  of  corrupt  and  corrupting  humanity  —  are 
thrown  pell-mell  together.  It  seems  a  vast  cosmopolitan  exchange, 


346  STATE   OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  iv. 

where  the  worst  villains  from  all  quarters  meet  to  consult,  to  plot, 
and  to  mature  new  crimes.  A  hundred  desperadoes  may  there 
be  seen  in  a  single  apartment,  —  the  scum  of  all  crafts,  the  shame 
and  terror  of  the  metropolis.  The  flow  inward  and  outward  is 
without  interruption.  The  coming  and  the.  going  never  cease. 
The  young  thieves  learn  from  the  old.  They  are  taught  the 
good  strokes.  They  learn  the  whole  theory  of  crime,  from  the 
picking  of  a  pocket  to  the  breaking  into  a  house.  They  are  told 
where  to  find  the  safest  receivers  and  the  worst  haunts.  And 
thus  the  army  of  crime  is  recruited  more  steadily  and  more 
surely  than  were  the  legions  of  Napoleon  by  the  most  relentless 
conscriptions.  Paris  could  better  afford  millions  to  construct 
cellular  prisons  than  to  keep  up  this  huge  training-school  of  vice 
and  crime.  It  would  be  cheaper  in  the  long  run. 

2.  Mazas.  —  This  is  appropriated  to  the  prfoenus,  —  prisoners 
awaiting  trial  before  the  tribunal  of  correctional  justice.     It  is  a 
strictly  cellular  prison,  and  may  be  said  to  be  the  gift  of  Pennsyl- 
vania to  France.     It  is  the  chief  fruit,  at  least  the  most  tangible, 
of  the  visit  of  MM.  de  Beaumont  and  de  Tocqueville  to  America. 
The  number  of  cells  is  twelve  hundred,  and  the  average  popu- 
lation eleven  hundred.     The  moment  one  is  fairly  within,  the 
arrangement  of  the  whole  structure  is  apparent.     The  cellular 
system  yields  up  its  secret  on  the  instant.     A  glance  tells  the 
whole  story.     There  are  six  vast  galleries,  forty  feet  high,  twelve 
wide,  and  two  hundred  and  fifty  long.     A  staff  of  officers  here 
accomplish,  day  and  night,  a  wearisome  service,  for  it  is  unceas- 
ing.    The  overseer  passes  and  repasses  incessantly  from  end  to 
end  of  the  gallery  entrusted  to  his  custody.     He  looks  through 
the  little  hole  in  the  door  of  the  cells,  fitly  named  judas ;  he 
stops  if  he  hears  any  unwonted  sound  ;  he  sees  every  thing  with- 
out being  seen  ;  he  glides  rather  than  walks,  so  quiet  and  noise- 
less is  every  movement.     He  seems  a  part  of  the  prison  itself. 
He  is  silent,  like  it ;  he  never  smiles  ;  and  if  he  speaks,  it  is  ever 
in  a  low  tone.    By  living  constantly  in  the  midst  of  prisoners, 
he  comes  to  look  upon  them  as  he  would  on  other  people ;  he 
feels  neither  horror  nor  pity.     He  is  polite  and  even  gentle  to- 
wards them ;  partly  perhaps  from  indifference,  but  also  because 
he  is  advised  to  such  a  conduct  by  his  chief.     But  he  is  no  less 
prudent  than  polite ;  and  in  retiring  from  a  cell  he  always  goes 
backward.    Mazas  is  well  guarded.    The  gratings  are  solid  ;  every 
door  and  gate  is  kept  firmly  locked.     The  walls,  of  which  as  in 
all  French  prisons   there  are  two,  with  a  wide  space  between 
them,  are  thick  and  high.    The  element  of  power  is  ever  in  view. 
In  one  respect  the  success  has  been  complete.     Not  an  escape 
has  ever  been  effected ;  and  but  one  attempt  to  escape  has  been 
made. 

3.  The  conciergerie.  —  This  is  a  prison  destined  to  a  twofold 


PART  I.]  IN  FRANCE.  347 

• 

purpose :  (i)  To  receive  men  and  women  to  be  tried  by  the  court 
of  assizes  (accuses) ;  and  (2)  Sentenced  prisoners,  who  have  ap- 
pealed to  that  court  from  a  judgment  of  the  tribunal  of  correc- 
tional justice.  It  is  an  old  prison,  dating  back  hundreds  of  years. 
Among  the  illustrious  personages  who  have  there  been  impris- 
oned was  Marie  Antoinette ;  and  Talleyrand  was  afterwards 
confined  in  the  same  cell  which  had  received  his  unhappy  victim. 
Its  interior  has  a  sinister  aspect,  —  dark,  gloomy,  repellent.  In 
some  of  its  passages  lamps,  kept  burning  at  all  times,  give  but  a 
lurid  light.  Its  yard  resembles  a  well,  whose  sides  bristle  with 
points  of  iron,,  which  prevent  all  scaling.  Into  this  well  are  sent 
police  prisoners,  who  have  been  sentenced  to  a  single  day's  im- 
prisonment. Their  day  is  passed  here,  and  their  night  on  mat- 
tresses spread  on  the  floor  of  a  large  room.  What  of  evil  may 
not  a  single  day  and  night  spent  under  such  circumstances  ac- 
complish !  Is  not  the  influence  of  depraved  men,  even  for  so 
short  a  period,  enough  to  draw  into  the  paths  of  crime  an  irreso- 
lute and  feeble  spirit  ? 

4.  La  Grande  Roquette.  —  This  is  a  depot  for  sentenced  pris- 
oners awaiting  removal  to    a    central    prison    or   penal   colony, 
or  to  execution  for  a  capital  crime.     It  has  a  certain  celebrity 
as  being  the  vestibule  to  the  guillotine.     The  system  is  that  of 
associated  labor  by  day,  and  cellular  separation  at  night.     The 
discipline  is  more  severe  here  than  in  the  other  prisons  of  Paris. 
A  sickening  tragedy  was  enacted  within  the  walls  of  this  prison 
in  1870.     It  was  the  execution,  the  assassination  rather,  of  the 
venerable  Archbishop  of  Paris  and  the  president  of  the  court  of 
cassation,  by  the  commune  of  Paris,  —  two  men  without  stain, 
and  whom  all  the  good  revered  and  loved.     They,  with  six  or 
seven   others,  equally  guiltless  of  any  crime  against  the  State 
or  against  good  manners,  were  shot  down  as  felons,  for  whom  the 
sun  ought  no  longer  to  shine  nor  the  earth  to  yield  her  fruits. 
Before   his    martyrdom    the   archbishop   made   this   memorable 
declaration   to  his  assassins  :    "  You  may  take  my  life,  but  in 
doing  so  you  will  but  add  new  force  to  the  principle  which  I 
represent." 

5.  Sainte-Pttagie. — This  is  a  house  of  correction,  which  re- 
ceives men   sentenced   to  terms  of   a  year  and  less.     An  old 
structure,  reared  more  than  two  hundred  years  ago,  it  is  ill-suited 
to  its  present  use.    It  bends,  as  it  were,  under  the  weight  of  time, 
and  a  foul  and  repulsive  antiquity  invests  it  with  an  air  and  an 
odor  which  are  any  thing  but  agreeable.     The  prisoners  have  no 
dining-hall.     They  eat  in  the  open  court ;  there  also  they  make 
their  toilet  at  a  fountain.     When  it  rains,  and  in  the  winter,  they 
take  their  meals  in  a  vast  hall  on  the  ground  floor,  composed  of 
half  a  dozen  or  more  chambers,  whose  partitions  have  been  re- 
moved, with  portions  of  the  thick  walls  still  standing,  and  offer- 


348  STATE   OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  iv. 

ing  everywhere  obscure  angles,  into  which  the  eye  of  the  keeper 
penetrates  with  difficulty.  It  is  in  the  terrible  associations  of  this 
hall  that  the  language  of  villany  is  breathed  in  whispers.  There 
the  prisoners  boast  of  their  achievements  in  the  past ;  there  they 
plot  new  deeds  of  crime;  there  they  prepare,  in  advance,  the  good 
strokes  they  will  make  when  the  hour  of  their  release  is  come ; 
there  they  organize  those  combinations  which  keep  the  police 
ever  on  the  alert,  terrify  honest  people,  and  weary  the  tribunals 
of  justice.  A  man  enters  after  having  committed  a  peccadillo ; 
he  goes  out  ripe  for  the  central  prison  or  for  transportation. 

6.  Saint-Lazare.  —  This  is  a  female  prison,  devoted  to  the 
treatment  of  women  awaiting  trial  ;  women  sentenced  correc- 
tionally  for  a  year  or  less  ;  women  sentenced  to  a  central  prison 
and  awaiting  removal,  or  to  death  and  awaiting  execution  ;  girls 
sentenced  to  correctional  education  by  the  tribunals,  or  placed 
there  by  way  of  paternal  correction ;  and  prostitutes  correction- 
ally  sentenced  as  a  measure  of  municipal  police.  The  legal 
capacity  of  the  prison  is  for  eleven  hundred  and  fifty  prisoners, 
but  they  often  exceed  that  figure. 

The  prison  is  an  immense  pile,  with  an  old  and  decrepit  look. 
Originally  a  convent,  it  has  been  turned  into  a  prison,  for  which 
use  it  is  ill-adapted.  With  large  courts,  shaded  by  venerable 
trees,  it  has  wooden  stairways  ;  dormitories  under  the  roof ; 
workshops,  taken  apparently  at  random,  in  any  part  of  the  build- 
ing; huge  refectories;  lofty  walls;  a  chapel  sufficiently  large 
but  plain  almost  to  nakedness  ;  and  a  neat  little  oratory,  occupy- 
ing the  site  of  the  apartment  of  St.  Vincent  de  Paul,  which  was 
the  cradle  of  the  religious  order  of  the  Lazarites. 

For  more  than  a  generation  the  prefecture  of  police  has  sought 
to  change  this  state  of  things.  It  has  protested,  argued,  pleaded 
for  a  house  to  receive  female  prisoners  under  sixteen  and  girls 
in  their  minority,  confined  by  way  of  paternal  correction.  It  has 
no  power,  no  budget ;  it  can  only  supplicate.  But  the  municipal 
council  has  turned  a  deaf  ear  ;  it  had  no  money.  Meanwhile 
magnificent  barracks,  splendid  churches,  a  grand  opera-house  cost- 
ing millions  upon  millions,  running  to  I  know  not  what  figure, 
have  been  reared ;  but  no  house  of  rescue  has  yet  lifted  its  walls 
where  female  children,  who  have  fallen  in  a  moment  of  forgetful- 
ness,  and  whom  it  is  necessary  to  save  at  any  cost,  and  to  give  to 
marriage,  to  honor,  to  maternity,  may  find  a  retreat  for  repentance 
and  amendment,  away  from  the  purlieus  of  public  prostitutes  and 
professional  thieves.  Some  millions  no  doubt  have  been  saved 
by  not  building,  but  for  every  one  so  saved  many  have  been  ex- 
pended in  punishment,  with  a  moral  waste  of  appalling  magnitude. 

And  what  has  been  the  effect  of  this  misjudged  economy, 
which  wastes  souls  to  save  dollars  ?  Just  what  might  have  been 
expected.  M.  Maxime  du  Camp  declares  —  and  he  offers  very 


PART  i.]  IN  FRANCE.  349 

striking  proofs  —  that  every  young  girl  who  enters  Saint- Lazare, 
as  a  correctional,  leaves  it  corrupted  to  the  very  core  of  the  heart ; 
and  that  whoever  becomes  an  inmate  there  is  lost,  unless  saved 
by  a  miracle.  These  young  female  correction als  work  in  associ- 
ation, but  have  separate  sleeping-cells.  All  the  others  are  to- 
gether day  and  night.  In  the  dormitories  the  beds  are  pressed 
one  against  the  other,  and  in  the  workshops  the  chairs  touch.  It 
is  enough  to  mention  this  fact ;  its  corollary  is  but  too  obvious. 

La  Saute'.  —  This  is  the  model  prison  of  Paris,  and  one  of  the 
best  and  most  beautiful  in  Europe.  It  has  been  recently  erected, 
at  a  cost  of  more  than  a  million  of  dollars.  The  prison  covers 
about  seven  and  a  half  acres,  is  built  in  the  form  of  a  trapezium, 
and  is  quite  separated  from  all  other  buildings.  It  forms,  in  fact, 
two  distinct  prisons,  built  on  two  distinct  plans,  and  designed  for 
two  distinct  classes  of  prisoners.  One  part  is  for  prisoners  await- 
ing trial  (prevenus  and  accuses]  ;  this  is  on  the  cellular  plan,  and 
can  receive  five  hundred  inmates.  The  other  is  for  convicted 
prisoners  (condamnes),  sentenced  to  correctional  imprisonment 
for  terms  not  exceeding  a  year  ;  this  is  on  the  associated  plan, 
and  is  designed  in  like  manner  for  five  hundred  inmates.  It  is 
composed  of  common  halls,  common  eating-rooms,  common  work- 
shops, and  separate  sleeping-cells.  Each  cell  in  this  prison  is 
twelve  feet  long,  six  feet  wide,  and  nine  feet  high.  So  perfect 
is  the  ventilation  that  not  the  slightest  disagreeable  odor  is  any- 
where perceptible. 

Ingenious  contrivances  for  overcoming  grave  difficulties  and 
securing  valuable  facilities  abound  in  this  prison.  To  give  an 
example :  The  altar  in  the  chapel,  which  is  in  the  rotunda  (cen- 
tral apartment),  is  so  placed  that  the  officiating  priest  can  be 
seen  by  every  prisoner  in  the  four  wings  of  the  cellular  ward,  the 
door  of  his  cell  being  set  a  few  inches  ajar,  and  securely  locked 
at  that  angle  with  the  partition  wall.  At  the  same  time,  the  fold- 
ing doors  of  the  associated  part  which  forms  the  division  between 
the  two  prisons  at  that  point  being  thrown  open,  every  prisoner 
in  that  ward  has  also  a  full  view  of  the  ministrant.  This  is  but 
one  among  the  scores  of  such  contrivances  to  obviate  difficulties 
and  secure  important  ends  not  otherwise  attainable. 

La  Petite  Roquette.  — This  is  a  prison  for  male  children  of  four 
classes:  i.  Children  under  sixteen  awaiting  trial.  2.  Children  less 
than  sixteen  under  sentence.  3.  Children  en  roiite  to  agricultural 
colonies.  4.  Minor  children,  sentenced  to  correctional  imprison- 
ment on  request  of  their  parents.  It  is  on  the  cellular  system. 
Think  of  it !  Babes,  almost,  shut  up  in  a  cell !  These  children 
even  have  separate  exercise  yards.  They  have  hoops  to  trundle 
in  the  few  square  yards  allowed  them.  But  the  place  is  too  strait ; 
the  hoop  strikes  the  wall  after  two  or  three  revolutions,  and  the 
children,  wearied  by  this  mockery  of  play,  sink  down  upon  the 


35O  STATE   OF  PRISONS,   ETC.  [BooK  IV. 

ground  to  dream  of  real  amusements.  Separation  by  day,  separa- 
tion by  night,  separation  at  meals,  separation  at  work,  separation 
at  play,  separation  everywhere,  separation  always,  —  and  that  at 
an  age  when  freedom,  motion,  a  wide  range,  and  the  merry  laugh 
of  comrades  are  almost  a  condition  of  existence,  and  certainly 
an  absolute  condition  of  healthy  existence.  '  Tis  the  saddest 
prison  I  ever  saw ;  and  it  would  be  intolerable  if  it  were  not  for 
the  noble  "patronage  society  for  liberated  juveniles  of  the  depart- 
ment of  the  Seine,"  which  receives  them  at  their  discharge,  and, 
with  all  the  tenderness  and  assiduity  of  a  loving  parent,  lifts 
them  into  manhood,  virtue,  and  happiness.  But  what  the  children 
need,  even  before  they  reach  the  arms  of  this  "nursing  mother," 
is  to  quit  those  cramping,  pinching,  stifling  cells,  and  to  press  the 
green  sod,  breathe  the  fresh  air,  and  feel  the  warm  sunshine  of 
country  life  on  some  large,  well-managed  farm  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  Paris.  / 


CHAPTER  XXIII.  —  ADDITIONAL  ITEMS. 

AFTER  writing  the  foregoing  I  received  a  communication 
from  M.  Fernand  Desportes,  from  which  the  following  items 
are  gleaned.  There  may  be  a  few  repetitions  (not  many),  in  which 
however  the  facts  will  be  stated  in  a  different  form  and  in  differ- 
ent relations,  whereby  a  fresh  interest  will  be  imparted  to  them. 
It  will  be  better,  perhaps,  to  translate  than  to  summarize,  for  that 
will  give  more  life  and  freshness  to  the  statements  made. 

"  In  respect  to  children,"  says  M.  Desportes,  "  the  law  of 
August  5,  1850,  still  remains  in  force.  By  that  Act  we  have 
numerous  agricultural  colonies,  public  or  private  (some  of  which 
are  admirable  establishments,  such  as  Mettray  and  Ci'teaux 
for  boys,  and  that  of  the  Abbe*  Dodevin  at  Rouen  for  girls),  in 
which  children  who  have  committed  a  felony  or  misdemeanor  are 
placed  for  correctional  treatment,  having  been  either  sentenced 
for  punishment  or  acquitted  as  having  acted  without  knowledge, 
but  sent  there  in  correction.  Unfortunately  we  have  nothing,  or 
next  to  nothing,  for  children  who,  without  having  actually  com- 
mitted an  offence,  are  nevertheless  on  the  downhill  of  crime.1 
But  we  are  at  this  moment  engaged  in  an  earnest  study  of  the 
means  of  creating  preventive  establishments  (etablissements  de 
preservation)  similar  to  the  admirable  industrial  schools  of  the 
United  States  and  Great  Britain.  The  sole  progress  thus  far 
realized  is  the  establishment  of  two  reformatory  schools,  founded 

1  M.  Desportes  evidently  refers  here  to  government  establishments  only. 


PARTI.]  IN  FRANCE.  351 

by  the  administration  on  the  proposition  of  Director-General 
Choppin  for  children  not  exceeding,  on  admission,  twelve  years, 
sent  there  in  correction  by  the  tribunals. 

"  As  an  offset,  patronage  societies  for  liberated  juveniles  are  mul- 
tiplying. Apart  from  the  great  society  of  M.  Bournat,  with  which 
you  are  well  acquainted,  we  have  patronage  societies  for  Mettray, 
St.  Foy  (Protestant),  and  Ci'teaux.  The  latest  societies  founded  are 
that  of  M.  Felix  Voisin,  judge  of  the  court  of  cassation,  and  that 
of  M.  Fourier,  president  of  the  council  of  inspectors-general,  for 
liberated  juveniles  enlisted  in  the  army.  For  young  girls  there 
exists  also  a  certain  number  of  patronage  societies,  besides  that 
for  liberated  and  deserted  female  children  originally  established  by 
Madame  Lamartine,  and  of  which  to-day  the  Countess  of  Luppe 
is  president. 

"  So  far  as  the  patronage  of  adults  is  concerned,  there  exist  at 
Paris  the  national  patronage  society,  established  by  the  late 
lamented  M.  de  Lamarque  ;  a  society  lor prfvenus  who  have  been 
acquitted,  founded  by  the  late  M.  Demetz;  a  patronage  society 
for  discharged  Protestant  prisoners,  of  which  Pastor  Robin  is 
president ;  another  for  liberated  female  prisoners  of  Saint-Lazare  ; 
still  another  for  Protestant  women  discharged  from  the  same.  In 
the  departments  there  are  some  forty  organizations  of  the  kind, 
of  which  the  most  active  and  important  are  those  of  Bordeaux, 
Rouen,  Nancy,  Lyons,  St.  Leonard,  Versailles,  etc." 


352  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  iv. 


PART  SECOND. 

BELGIUM. 

CHAPTER  XXIV.  —  CELLULAR  SYSTEM. 

BELGIUM  has,  for  a  generation  and  more,  gone  on  improving 
and  perfecting  her  cellular  system  of  imprisonment,  till  it 
has  reached  a  point  where  there  remains  little  room  for  further 
progress.  The  advance  made  within  the  last  ten  years,  in  all 
branches  of  the  service  and  in  all  classes  of  prisons,  has  been 
very  remarkable,  insomuch  that  the  work  may  be  said  to  have  re- 
ceived its  last  touches,  and  to  be  absolutely  accomplished.  Bel- 
gium is  now  furnished  with  a  completed  penitentiary  system  with 
day  and  night  cells  to  the  number  of  4,702.  This  great  work 
has  been  achieved  at  a  cost,  spread  over  forty  years,  of  less  than 
20,000,000  francs  —  $4,000,000.  Not  only  is  the  system  of  ad- 
ministration and  discipline  one  and  the  same  in  the  central  or 
convict  prisons,  but  the  regime  of  the  secondary  prisons  (houses 
of  safety  and  of  arrest),  throughout  the  whole  country,  is  organ- 
ized on  a  uniform  footing.  The  divisions  of  the  day,  the  furniture 
of  the  cells,  the  beds,  the  clothing,  the  visits,  the  sanitary  arrange- 
ments, the  classification,  the  scholastic  instruction,  the  moral  les- 
sons, the  keeping  of  the  books,  —  all  is  uniform  ;  all  the  same 
everywhere.  Even  the  libraries  and  the  mode  of  cataloguing  the 
books  in  all  the  central  prisons  are  the  same  ;  and  this  is  true  also 
of  the  houses  of  surety  and  of  arrest. 


CHAPTER  XXV.  —  CLASSIFICATION  OF  PRISONS  AND 
SENTENCES. 

THERE  are  three  classes  of  prisons  in  Belgium,  —  houses  of 
arrest ;  houses  of  surety  and  reform  ;  and  central  prisons. 
A  fourth  must  be  added  if  the  penitentiary  colonies  for  juveniles 
are  to  be  so  regarded.  The  first  are  intended  mainly  for  persons 
waiting  trial ;  the  second,  for  the  same  class  of  persons,  and  also 
for  misdemeanants  sentenced  to  correctional  imprisonment ;  and 


PART  IL]  IN  BELGIUM.  353 

the  third,  for  those  convicted  of  felonies.  To  the  second  class  are 
also  committed  females  guilty  of  the  higher  crimes,  as  there  is 
no  central  prison  for  women.  The  penitentiary  colonies  receive 
young  offenders,  who  have  been  acquitted  as  having  acted  without 
knowledge,  but  are  placed  there  for  correctional  education. 

Besides  the  death-penalty  (practically  though  not  formally  abol- 
ished), the  Belgian  code  provides  three  grades  of  punishment,  — 
correctional  imprisonment,  reclusion,  and  hard  labor  (travaux 
forces).  All,  however,  are  obliged  to  labor,  except  those  in 
pistole  (a  term  to  be  hereafter  explained)  ;  the  main  distinctions 
being  the  length  of  the  sentence  and  the  distribution  of  the 
peculium,  —  the  part  of  the  prisoner's  earnings  assigned  to  him- 
self. Sentences  to  correctional  imprisonment  are  from  eight  days 
to  five  years ;  to  reclusion,  five  to  ten  years  ;  to  hard  labor,  ten  to 
twenty  years,  or  for  life.  The  sentences  were  fixed  when  asso- 
ciated imprisonment  was  the  rule.  Under  the  cellular  regime 
they  are  reduced  as  follows,  wholly  irrespective  of  conduct :  For 
the  first  year  three  months  are  thrown  off ;  second  to  the  fifth, 
four  months  ;  sixth  to  the  ninth,  five  ;  tenth  to  the  twelfth,  six ; 
thirteenth  and  fourteenth,  seven  ;  fifteenth  and  sixteenth,  eight  ; 
seventeenth  to  twentieth,  nine.  So  that,  according  to  this  scale, 
a  sentence  of  five  years  would  be  reduced  to  three  years  and 
seven  months,  and  one  of  twenty  years  to  nine  years  and  nine 
months. 

Nevertheless,  there  is  a  reduction  dependent  on  behavior.  It 
is  not  organized  into  a  system,  but  may  be  explained  thus  :  The 
local  council  of  supervision  assembles  monthly,  and,  after  exami- 
nation made,  recommends,  if  it  see  occasion,  to  the  minister  of 
justice  a  remission,  additional  to  that  mentioned  in  the  last  para- 
graph, of  some  months,  or  even  of  one  or  two  years,  in  the  case 
of  this  or  that  prisoner. 


CHAPTER  XXVI.  —  SUPERVISION.  —  PECULIUM.  —  PISTOLE. 

MENTION  has  been  made  in  the  preceding  chapter  of  a 
local  council  of  supervision.  Each  prison,  whether  central 
or  secondary,  has  such  a  council,  consisting  of  the  burgomaster, 
the  king's  attorney,  and  other  local  functionaries  named  by  the 
Government.  To  it  is  committed  the  administrative  supervision 
of  the  prison.  It  has  the  power  of  investigating  complaints,  cor- 
recting abuses,  imposing  punishments  not  within  the  power  of  the 
director,  recommending  remissions,  approving  or  rejecting  con- 
tracts for  the  labor  of  the  prisoners,  and  supervising  the  execu- 
tion of  contracts  for  prison  supplies  made  by  the  Government. 

23 


354  STA7'E   OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BooK  iv. 

As  regards  the  peculium,  prisoners  sentenced  correctionally 
receive  five-tenths  of  their  earnings  ;  those  sentenced  to  reclusion, 
four-tenths  ;  to  hard  labor,  three-tenths.  But  while  these  and 
some  other  differences  of  treatment  exist,  other  and  more  impor- 
tant ones  have  disappeared.  For  example  :  all  prisoners  are  now 
correctionals  ;  all  are  in  reclusion  ;  and  none  are  kept  at  hard 
labor,  in  the  sense  of  penal  and  technically  profitless  labor. 

A  usage,  under  the  name  of  pistole,  exists  in  Belgian  and  French 
prisons.  It  is  defined  by  Littre,  "  Chambre  apart  et  autres  com- 
modites  qu'un  prisonnier  obtient  in  payant"  (a  separate  room  and 
other  privileges  which  a  prisoner  obtains  by  paying  for  them).  His 
sole  punishment  is  detention.  He  is  not  obliged  to  work.  He 
can  be  freely  visited  by  his  friends.  He  may  have  such  furniture 
in  his  cell  as  he  can  procure,  such  food  as  he  can  purchase,  such 
luxuries  as  he  can  indulge  himself  in.  Books,  musical  instru- 
ments, flowers,  etc.  may  be  seen  in  his  cell.  The  prison  authori- 
ties can  transfer  a  prisoner  into  this  class,  although  he  may  not 
have  been  accorded  the  privilege  of  being  in  pistole  by  the  judge, 
provided  he  is  not  known  to  have  been  in  prison  before.  This 
seems  a  privilege  extremely  objectionable  in  itself,  and  extremely 
liable  to  abuse. 


CHAPTER  XXVII. —  THE  PRISON  STAFFS. 

MUCH  pains  is  taken  in  recruiting  the  prison  staffs.  Pro- 
motions take  place,  as  in  other  departments  of  the  public 
service,  on  the  ground  of  merit.  The  employes  begin,  so  to  speak, 
on  the  lowest  round  of  the  ladder,  and  step  by  step,  if  the  proper 
qualities  are  developed,  they  may  reach  the  position  of  director 
of  an  establishment.  It  is  this  organization  which  constitutes 
the  force  of  the  penitentiary  administration,  and  which  gives  it 
that  esprit  de  corps  by  which  it  is  distinguished.  Formerly,  the 
functions  of  director  of  prisons  of  a  certain  importance  were 
confided  to  military  officers,  who -had  been  pensioned  off.  That 
system  was  fruitful  only  of  evil.  A  prison  director  cannot  be 
improvised  ;  he  must  be  formed  by  long  training  and  experience. 
The  best  systems  will  yield  but  few  or  no  results  if  the  director 
lacks  activity,  intelligence,  capacity,  and  devotion.  Every  thing 
depends  on  the  head. 


PART  ii.]  IN  BELGIUM.  355 


CHAPTER  XXVIII.  —  PROFESSIONAL  EDUCATION. 

SCHOOLS  for  the  professional  training  of  prison  officers  do 
not  exist  in  Belgium.  Fifteen  years  ago  M.  Stevens,  then 
director  of  the  central  prison  at  Louvain,  organized  an  evening 
course  for  the  professional  instruction  of  the  keepers.  Good 
results  have  attended  this  effort,  which  however  he  regards  as 
quite  insufficient  to  meet  the  necessities  of  the  case.  The  crea- 
tion of  a  normal  school,  he  says,  is  much  needed,  into  which  could 
be  received  the  new  keepers  named  for  the  service  of  the  prisons, 
and  which  would  form  a  sort  of  de"p6t  to  draw  upon  in  all  cases 
of  need.  M.  Stevens  finds  nothing  more  extraordinary,  nothing 
more  opposed  to  the  true  and  best  interests  of  the  service,  than  to 
take  men,  put  on  them  the  uniform  of  prison  keepers,  and  charge 
them  with  the  application  of  rules  of  which  they  know  nothing. 
Herein  he  is  in  full  accord  with  Wichern,  Demetz,  Beltrani-Scalia, 
Guillaume,  Almquist,  and  other  able  specialists  in  the  science  of 
poenology. 


CHAPTER  XXIX.  —  SCHOOLS.  —  LIBRARIES.  —  MORAL 
LECTURES. 

ONE  half  of  the  prison  population  of  Belgium,  on  their 
committal,  are  wholly  illiterate.  Of  course  there  is  an 
urgent  need  for  schools  in  the  prisons,  which  accordingly  are 
provided.  In  effect,  school  exists  in  all  the  prisons  of  Belgium, 
even  the  smaller  ones.  An  objection  has  been  made  to  this  ;  it 
has  been  asked  whether  primary  instruction  could  yield  any  re- 
sults in  a  small  prison  whose  population  changes  so  often  ?  This 
is  the  answer  :  When  the  school  does  not  succeed  because  the 
sentences  are  of  too  short  duration,  the  time  allotted  to  it  still 
affords  opportunity  to  give  moral  lectures,  the  aim  of  which  is  to 
impart  to  the  prisoner  a  knowledge  of  certain  truths  which  he 
may  never  have  heard  elsewhere  in  all  his  life.  The  scholastic 
instruction  includes  reading,  writing,  arithmetic,  elementary  no- 
tions of  grammar,  history,  and  geography,  the  elements  of  geom- 
etry and  linear  drawing,  more  particularly  in  their  application  to 
trades  and  the  useful  arts.  The  illiterate  prisoners  are  made  the 
object  of  special  attention,  to  the  end  that  they  may  learn  to  read 
in  the  shortest  time,  so  as  to  facilitate  their  enjoyment  of  the 
reformatory  benefits  of  the  library,  and  afford  them  a  useful  en- 
tertainment during  the  intervals  of  labor  and  on  festal  days.  The 
greater  part  of  the  prisoners  acquire,  before  their  liberation,  at 


356  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  iv. 

least  the  indispensable  elements  of  primary  instruction.  Libra- 
ries are  found  in  all  the  prisons.  These  contain  not  only  works  of 
a  religious  and  instructive  character,  but  also  romances,  poetry, 
and  other  entertaining  books,  all  of  which  however  are  of  a  moral 
and  improving  type.  The  prisoners  are  fond  of  reading,  and  spend 
much  time  in  this  occupation.  Its  influence  upon  them  is  found 
to  be  excellent. 

Moral  lectures  of  a  colloquial  character  are  constantly  given  to 
the  prisoners.  In  these  conferences  they  are  instructed  especially 
in  their  social  duties.  The  lesson  is  addressed  to  prisoners  of  all 
religions,  and  relates  always  to  some  topic  of  simple  morals.  The 
administration  aims  by  these  lectures  to  reinforce  the  instructions 
of  the  chaplains,  which  are  not  always  attended  with  complete 
success,  because  these  official  teachers  are  apt  to  deal  too  much 
in  dogma,  and  do  not  enough  teach  and  inculcate  the  spirit  of  re- 
ligion. The  subjects  of  the  lectures  are  selected  by  the  principal 
officers,  who  meet  in  council  once  a  week.  This  special  instruc- 
tion is  given  in  the  school  by  the  masters,  fifteen  to  twenty  min- 
utes being  devoted  to  it  at  the  beginning  or  close  of  each  school 
lesson.  These  lectures  pass  in  review  the  principal  vices  that 
pervade  society,  and  show  their  sad  and  shameful  consequences. 
Alternately  the  lecture  has  for  text  the  quality  opposed  to  the  vice 
treated  of  in  the  preceding  one,  and  sets  forth  the  beauty  of  the 
contrary  virtue,  and  the  material  and  moral  advantages  which  it 
holds  out  to  those  who  practise  it.  In  a  word,  the  lectures  explain 
what  the  life  of  man  in  society  ought  to  be,  and  show  that  its 
foundation  must  be  laid  in  industry,  virtue,  and  religion.  Other 
instructions  are  given  on  the  more  frequent  infractions  of  the 
penal  code,  particularly  theft,  fraud,  rape,  assault,  assassination, 
murder,  and  indecent  exposure  of  the  person.  In  all  these  les- 
sons the  special  aim  is  to  develop  the  sentiments  of  justice,  do- 
mestic affection,  and  love  of  country. 


CHAPTER  XXX.  —  RELIGIOUS   INSTRUCTION. 

THE  exercises  of  worship  and  religious  instruction  are  organ- 
ized with  much  care.  The  religious  sentiment  is  regarded 
as  the  most  important  element  in  penitentiary  education,  and  as 
affording  the  strongest  foundation  for  it.  The  prisoners  of  differ- 
ent faiths  receive  the  religious  ministrations  of  clergymen  of 
their  respective  communions.  When  a  Protestant  is  imprisoned 
in  a  locality  where  there  is  no  minister  of  his  own  faith,  the  ad- 
ministration does  not  hesitate  to  bear  the  expense  of  bringing  to 
him  such  minister  from  another  locality. 


PART  n.]  IN  BELGIUM.  357 


CHAPTER  XXXI.  —  PRISON  LABOR. 

THE  industries  introduced  into  the  Belgian  prisons  of  the 
highest  class  are  shoe-making,  tailoring,  weaving,  car- 
pentry, smithery,  coopering,  book-binding,  etc.  The  industrial 
instruction  has  for  its  object  a  real  apprenticeship  to  some  trade 
or  business  for  all  convicts  who  have  not  already  mastered  one, 
by  the  practice  of  which  they  may  be  able  to  gain  an  honest 
living  in  freedom.  Accordingly  it  is  held  that  in  the  prison 
workshops  the  interest  of  apprenticeship  must  lead  that  of  pro- 
duction ;  that  this  interest  ought  never  to  be  sacrificed  to  any 
alleged  necessity  for  introducing  into  prisons  productive  labor  for 
the  benefit  of  the  State ;  that  the  organization  of  prison  labor 
ought  to  have  regard  to  the  future  of  the  convict  rather  than  to 
the  interest  of  the  public  fisc;  that  labor  is  to  be  introduced 
into  prisons  with  a  view  to  giving  to  punishment  a  reformatory 
character  ;  and  that  it  is  this  last  result,  and  not  the  financial 
question,  which  should  be  chiefly  had  in  view  in  the  organization 
and  management  of  convict  labor. 

There  is  an  extremely  interesting  paragraph  in  the  report  of 
M.  Berden,  director-general  of  prisons,  relating  to  industrial  labor 
in  the  secondary  prisons,  whose  organization  on  its  actual  basis 
dates  from  1869.  He  says  :  — 

"  It  has  been  repeated  to  satiety  that  labor  is  one  of  the  most  potent 
factors  in  the  reformation  of  prisoners,  and  that  without  it  the  amendment 
of  convicts  subjected  to  the  cellular  regime  cannot  be  realized.  To  de- 
velop industrial  labor,  and  above  all  to  assure  the  professional  education 
of  the  prisoners,  is  the  imperious  duty  of  the  administration.  But  it  is 
well  known  that  the  accomplishment  of  this  duty  encounters  grave  ob- 
stacles in  establishments  where  the  incessant  movement  of  the  population 
exposes  every  experiment  to  the  constant  hazard  of  failure.  Thanks  to 
the  devoted  co-operation  of  the  local  administrative  councils  and  the 
personnel  of  the  prisons,  the  administration  has  been  able  to  conquer 
these  great  difficulties.  Labor  has  come  out  victorious  from  the  struggle, 
and  the  progress  realized  has  been  such  that  there  can  be  no  fear  for  the 
future.  To  be  convinced  of  this  it  will  be  sufficient  to  place  under  the 
eye  the  results  annually  obtained  during  this  septennial  period ;  better  than 
all  reasonings  they  will  carry  conviction  to  the  mind.  I  have  thought  that 
it  would  not  be  without  interest  to  group  these  results  in  the  statistical 
part  which  follows  this  report.  This  exhibit  will  enable  the  reader  to  fol- 
low the  progress  realized  step  by  step,  a  progress  which  has  surpassed  all 
our  hopes.  There  still  remain,  however,  reforms  to  be  accomplished  in 
this  branch  of  the  service.  The  development  of  the  professional  education 
of  the  prisoners  is  far  from  having  reached  its  apogee.  It  will  be  neces- 
sary still  to  find  the  means  of  giving  it  a  more  permanent  success  by  the 
introduction  of  competent  work-overseers,  whose  mission  will  be  to  initiate 
and  perfect  the  prisoners  in  the  practice  of  trades  which. will  assure  to 
them  remunerative  employment  after  their  liberation." 


358  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  iv. 


CHAPTER  XXXII.  —  PRISON  HYGIENE. 

THE  sanitary  state  of  the  Belgian  prisons  is  in  general  all  that 
could  be  expected,  almost  all  that  could  be  desired.  Espe- 
cially is  this  true  of  the  model  prison  of  Louvain.  On  an  aver- 
age of  six  hundred  prisoners  in  that  establishment  there  are 
generally  but  four  or  five  in  the  hospital,  although  it  must  be 
stated  that  only  those  are  sent  there  whose  cases  require  special 
care.  Every  prisoner  has  a  cell  containing  one  thousand  cubic 
feet  of  air.  There  are  prisoners  who  have  been  confined  in  the 
prison  seven,  eight,  and  ten  years,  and  who  have  undergone  this 
imprisonment  at  an  age  when  they  stand  in  the  greatest  need  of 
activity,  —  young  men,  for  instance,  who  entered  Louvain  at  the 
age  of  eighteen,  and  were  discharged  at  twenty-eight  robust,  well- 
educated,  sound  in  mind  and  body,  and  capable  of  earning  an 
honest  living  by  hard  work. 

There  are  several  special  precautionary  measures  tending  to 
keep  up  this  very  satisfactory  sanitary  condition,  which  will  be 
alluded  to  in  the  following  chapter. 


CHAPTER  XXXIII.  —  THE  PRISONER'S  DAY. 

THE  prisoner's  day  is  regulated  as  follows  :  He  rises  at  five 
o'clock  in  summer  ;  the  organ  is  played  for  a  quarter  of  an 
hour  to  call  him  to  prayers.  At  half-past  five  he  breakfasts  ;  at 
six  he  begins  work,  which  is  obligatory,  and  continues  till  noon, 
except  an  hour's  promenade.  The  yard  in  which  this  exercise  is 
taken  is  a  garden  planted  with  flowers  and  covered  with  verdure ; 
even  the  gratings  are  concealed  by  climbing  plants.  This  gar- 
den is  fifty  feet  long  and  sixteen  wide  at  the  broadest  extremity. 
From  twelve  to  one  o'clock  the  prisoners  take  their  mid-day 
meal ;  during  this  hour  they  may  study,  read,  write,  or  other- 
wise amuse  themselves  in  their  cells.  At  one  work  is  resumed, 
and  continued  till  five  and  a  half.  These  hours  of  labor  are  inter- 
rupted and  relieved  by  the  weekly  lecture  and  the  daily  school, 
each  lasting  for  an  hour.  From  half-past  five  to  six  the  evening 
meal  is  taken.  From  six  to  eight  and  three-quarters  the  pris- 
oners continue  their  work  ;  then  the  organ  is  played  for  a  quarter 
of  an  hour,  and  at  nine  they  retire.  But  there  are  other  allevia- 
tions and  distractions.  During  his  hour  of  toil  the  prisoner  re- 
ceives visits.  All  the  employes  of  the  house  must  visit  him,  and 


PART  n.]  IN  BELGIUM.  359 

all  in  their  several  degrees  be  agents  for  his  reformation.  Each 
keeper  has  charge  of  twenty-five  prisoners.  The  keeper  does  not 
pass  a  part  of  the  day  in  the  corridor,  as  is  practised  elsewhere ; 
on  the  contrary,  it  is  his  duty  to  be  constantly  in  the  cells,  so  that 
every  prisoner  is  sure  of  having  one  twenty-fifth  part  of  the  day  of 
his  keeper.  The  prisoner  receives,  besides,  the  visits  of  the  prin- 
cipal keeper,  the  three  chaplains,  the  director,  the  sub-director, 
the  schoolmaster,  and  the  two  physicians.  There  is  a  regulation 
fixing  the  number  of  visits  which  each  functionary  of  the  house 
is  in  duty  bound  to  make  daily.  The  director  and  sub-director 
must  e,ach  visit  twenty-five  prisoners  per  day  ;  the  three  chaplains 
must  each  spend  five  hours  daily  in  the  cells  ;  and  the  two  doc- 
tors, over  and  above  their  care  of  the  sick,  must  each  see  twelve 
prisoners  a  day. 

These  visits  are  sufficient  to  keep  the  prisoners  from  being  left 
too  much  alone  ;  to  make  them  more  numerous,  it  is  thought, 
might  be  an  evil.  It  is  necessary  that  the  prisoner  look  upon  the 
visit  of  any  employe  of  the  prison  as  a  boon  ;  in  order  that  it 
may  do  him  good,  he  must  desire  it ;  if  it  is  too  frequent,  it 
might  cloy,  or  even  disgust. 


CHAPTER  XXXIV.  —  PATRONAGE. 

FORMERLY  there  existed  in  Belgium  a  complete  institution 
of  patronage  or  aid  for  liberated  prisoners.  There  was  at  the 
chief  city  of  each  province  a  patronage  committee,  each  having 
relations  to  the  other,  and  all  centralized  in  the  ministry  of  justice. 
This  institution  has  become  extinct.  It  had  a  radical  vice  ;  it 
was  an  affair  of  state,  wholly  official.  The  prisoners  did  not  like 
it,  and  would  not  avail  themselves  of  it ;  they  looked  upon  it  as  a 
sort  of  police  supervision.  M.  Stevens  expressed  to  the  French 
parliamentary  commission  his  desire  to  see  for  each  prison  a 
commission  of  patronage  and  supervision,  charged  with  the  duty 
of  seeking  the  convict's  reformation  while  in  prison,  and  of  find- 
ing a  situation  for  him  as  soon  as  he  is  at  liberty ;  but  the  hiatus 
still  remains,  —  certainly  a  very  grave  one.  Efforts  have  been 
made  at  various  times  to  reorganize  this  work,  but  so  far  without 
success. 


360  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  iv. 


CHAPTER  XXXV. —  MORAL  BIOGRAPHY  OF  PRISONERS. — • 
QUESTION  OF  REWARDS. 

AMORAL  record  of  the  inmates  of  the  Belgian  prisons  is 
kept  thus  :  To  each  prisoner  is  assigned  a  register  in  which 
are  recorded,  on  committal,  his  sentence,  his  physical  and  moral 
condition,  his  intelligence,  his  degree  of  instruction,  his  weight, 
his  manner  of  life,  and  his  previous  conduct.  To  test  his  education 
he  is  not  only  examined  orally,  but  is  required  to  write  a  few  lines 
with  his  own  hand.  During  his  detention,  notes  are  made  of  his 
conduct  and  morals.  These  notes  are  discussed  at  the  weekly 
meetings  of  the  prison  council,  and  by  them  the  moral  classification 
of  the  prisoners  is  determined.  However,  this  classification  does 
not  correspond  to  any  gradation  of  rewards,  because,  says  M.  Ste- 
vens, the  prisoner  who  behaves  best  is  not  always  the  best ;  there- 
fore the  Belgian  classification  serves  only  to  show  the  prisoner  just 
as  he  is.  This  is  a  little  difficult  to  see,  since  the  highest  class 
would  naturally  contain  the  best  prisoners,  — -  a  proposition  form- 
ally denied  in  the  immediately  preceding  sentence. 

To  the  question  put  by  a  member  of  the  French  parliamentary 
commission,  —  why  the  classification,  which  served  to  distinguish 
the  prisoners,  did  not  provide  rewards  for  the  deserving,  —  M. 
Stevens  replied  that  it  was  because  they  feared  that  hypocrisy 
would  be  fostered  by  recompensing  good  conduct.  Besides,  he 
added,  exceptional  treatment  must  be  avoided,  unless  we  mean  to 
encourage  an  arbitrary  use  of  power  ;  the  prison  must  be  the 
same  for  all.  The  soundness  of  this  view  is  not  quite  clear  It 
is  not  possible,  without  injury  to  discipline  and  a  violation  of  jus- 
tice, to  treat  refractory  and  disobedient  prisoners  in  the  same 
manner  as  the  docile  and  obedient.  But  if  a  discrimination  may 
be  and  indeed  must  be  made  between  individual  prisoners,  why  not 
between  classes  of  prisoners  ?  Arbitrariness,  it  seems  to  me,  would 
be  shown  in  treating  the  good  and  the  bad  alike,  rather  than  by 
applying  a  modified  treatment  to  the  two  classes.  Providence 
stimulates  men  to  virtue  and  industry  by  holding  out  rewards  to 
the  good  and  the  diligent.  Why  should  not  prison  authorities  in 
their  measure  and  degree  imitate  this  procedure  ?  So  far  as  the 
methods  of  the  divine  government  are  imitable  by  human  govern- 
ment, so  far  it  is  safe  —  I  would  say  much  more  than  safe  —  to 
follow  them.  "  Work  with  nature,  not  against  it."  is  a  maxim  that 
ought  to  be  applied,  so  far  as  it  fitly  may,  to  the  management  of 
prisoners  as  well  as  to  that  of  all  other  beings  who  are  moved  by 
motives  and  not  by  mechanism.  Even  criminals,  if  we  would 
make  them  better,  need  to  be  surrounded  by  motives  more  than 
by  walls.  The  last  are  good,  but  the  first  are  better.  In  my 


PART  n.J  IN  BELGIUM.  361 

opinion  it  is  mainly  because  the  prison  systems  of  the  past  have 
ignored  nature,  —  nay,  cramped,  repressed,  and  stamped  it  out,  — 
that  they  have  for  the  most  part  been  such  miserable  failures  ;  and 
I  am  persuaded  that  if  we  ever  succeed,  not  as  an  exception  but  as 
a  rule,  in  changing  bad  men  into  good  ones,  it  must  be  by  re- 
tracing our  steps  and  reversing  our  processes ;  that  is  to  say, 
by  respecting,  by  converting  to  our  use,  by  making  available  and 
effective  for  our  high  purpose,  those  great  principles  which  the 
Creator  has  stamped  indelibly  upon  the  human  soul,  —  and  among 
the  rest,  SOCIABILITY,  the  mightiest  as  well  as  the  most  pervading 
of  them  all.  I  admit  that  all  inmates  of  prisons,  as  well  as  all 
outside  of  them,  should  be  treated  justly;  but  justice  as  often 
requires  diversity  as  it  does  identity  of  treatment. 


CHAPTER   XXXVI.  —  PUBLIC  OPINION  AS  A  GOVERNING 
FORCE  IN  PRISONS. 

EVERY  well-regulated  community,  every  community  in  which 
the  moral  influences  are  sound  and  wholesome,  is  and  must 
be  largely  governed  by  public  opinion.  The  prison  forms  no  ex- 
ception, and  I  have  no  hesitation  in  expressing  the  conviction 
that  the  prison  governor  who  does  not  know  how,  or,  knowing,  is 
not  able  to  mould  and  fashion  it  to  his  purpose,  is  unfit  for  his 
place. 

It  has  long  been  held  that  the  intercourse  of  prisoners  is  and 
must  be  corrupting.  Here  are  two  propositions.  The  first,  as  de- 
scriptive of  the  past,  is  true  to  the  letter  ;  the  second  is  denied  in 
toto.  To  reason  from  what  has  taken  place  in  one  condition  of 
prison  discipline  to  what  must  take  place  in  another  and  totally 
different  condition,  is  as  illogical  as  it  would  be  to  draw  moral 
maxims  from  mathematical  data.  The  intercourse  of  prisoners, 
left  to  take  care  of  itself,  will  be  corrupting ;  fitly  guided  and  con- 
trolled, it  may  be  made  improving.  It  is  Count  Sollohub  who 
has  on  this  subject,  with  rare  felicity,  expressed  a  profound  truth 
thus :  "  There  is  a  contagion  of  good  as  well  as  of  evil."  It  all 
depends  on  whose  hands  the  prison  is  in,  and  whether  he  is  fit  for 
his  post  and  knows  how  to  use  his  opportunity.  This  contagion  of 
good,  —  we  all  know  what  it  is  on  the  battle-field,1  in  a  sea-fight,2 
in  the  uprising  of  a  whole  people,3  in  religious  awakenings,4  even 

1  Mark  the  effect  of  a  ringing  order  of  the  day  on  the  eve  of  a  great  battle. 

2  "  England  expects  every  man  to  do  his  duty."  —  Lord  Nelson. 

8  "  I  am  for  my  country  against  all  assailants."  —  Stephen  A.  Douglas. 
4  Witness  the  effects  produced  by  great  preachers,  —  St.  Paul,  Wesley,  Whitefield, 
and  others. 


362  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BooK  iv. 

in  the  theatre.1  But  has  anybody  ever  established  it  in  a  pris- 
on ?  Yes.  Maconochie  did  it  in  Norfolk  Island,  Montesinos  in 
Spain,  Obermaier  in  Germany,  Crofton  in  Ireland,  ^  Demetz  in 
France,  Despine  in  Savoy  ;  Mrs.  Smith  has  done  it  in  America, 
Guillaume  in  Switzerland,  Count  Sollohub  in  Russia. 


CHAPTER  XXXVII.  —  CHARACTER  OF  THE  DISCIPLINE. 

THE  discipline  of  the  Belgian  prisons  is  firm  but  humane.  It 
is  thought  better  to  prevent  evil  than  to  punish  it.  When 
punishment  becomes  necessary,  resort  is  had  to  chastisement,  not 
to  repressive  severity.  Such  chastisement  consists  mostly  in 
privations  of  the  promenade,  of  work,  of  visits,  and  of  correspon- 
dence ;  it  is,  as  will  be  seen,  moral  rather  than  physical.  The 
dark  cell  is  rarely  employed.  The  effect  is  found  to  be  to  demor- 
alize the  man,  and  lead  to  shameful  practices.  All  bodily  inflic- 
tions are  absolutely  prohibited. 

It  is  looked  upon  in  Belgium  as  important  to  keep  up,  as  much 
as  possible,  family  ties  and  family  affections  in  the  prisoners.  To 
prevent  the  rupture  of  these  domestic  ties  and  the  weakening  or 
perhaps  destruction  of  these  domestic  affections,  the  Belgian  Gov- 
ernment has  decreed  that,  henceforth,  correctional  punishments 
shall  be,  as  much  as  possible,  undergone  in  the  secondary  prisons 
near  the  residence  of  the  prisoner's  family.  It  is  considered  an 
aggravation  of  his  punishment  that  the  prisoner  be  far  removed 
from  his  home  during  his  incarceration.  To  keep  strong  and 
bright  the  love  of  kindred  and  of  home,  frequent  visits  and  letters 
are  allowed  to  pass  between  the  cell  and  the  fireside. 

It  is  claimed,  and  there  is  no  reason  to  doubt,  that  the  cellular 
system  as  practised  in  Belgium,  and  especially  at  Louvain,  has 
for  its  object,  above  all  things  else,  the  education  of  the  prisoner 
in  his  threefold  nature  of  body,  soul,  and  spirit.  The  idea  of 
suffering  is  not  ignored,  for  the  punishment  is  serious,  and  the 
discipline,  though  just,  severely  strict.  Nevertheless,  all  possible 
efforts  are  made  to  insure  the  scholastic,  moral,  religious,  and  pro- 
fessional instruction  of  the  prisoner. 

A  different  treatment  is  applied  to  prisoners  awaiting  trial  and 
prisoners  under  sentence.  To  the  former  class  a  special  ward  is 
assigned.  They  are  in  the  care  of  the  most  capable  and  humane 
of  the  employes.  The  healthiest  and  most  commodious  cells  are 

1  Theatrical  clap-trap  consists  largely  in  the  introduction  into  the  piece  of  high 
moral  sentiments.  There  is  nothing  that  "  brings  down  the  house  "  like  an  heroic 
word  or  an  heroic  act. 


PART  n.  ]  IN  BELGIUM.  363 

reserved  for  them.  They  are  permitted  to  furnish  their  cells  with 
objects  brought  in  from  outside.  They  may  also  procure  food 
from  without.  In  a  word,  every  convenience  is  allowed  them 
compatible  with  their  position  as  prisoners. 


CHAPTER  XXXVIII.  —  REFORMATORY  AND  PREVENTIVE  WORK. 

THERE  are  two  government  establishments  for  the  treatment 
of  juvenile  delinquents,  one  at  St.  Hubert  and  the  other  at 
Namur.  The  former  receives  boys  only;  the  latter,  children  of 
both  sexes,  about  one-third  of  whom  are  girls.  The  average  num- 
ber at  St.  Hubert  is  about  three  hundred  and  fifty  ;  at  Namur, 
three  hundred.  These  colonies  are  real  houses  of  education,  in- 
tellectual, moral,  and  religious.  Until  recently  the  agents,  under 
the  directors,  have  been  religious  brothers  ;  last  year  these  were 
removed  from  St.  Hubert  on  a  charge  of  immoral  practices  with 
the  boys,  and  their  places  supplied  by  laymen.  At  St.  Hubert 
the  labor  is  chiefly —  not  wholly — agricultural,  and  the  establish- 
ment draws  its  inmates  from  the  rural  districts  ;  at  Namur  the 
labor  is  industrial,  and  its  population  comes  chiefly  from  the  cities, 
although,  so  far  as  the  girls  are  concerned,  they  come  equally  from 
town  and  "country.  The  course  of  instruction  includes  religion 
and  morals,  primary  instruction,  instrumental  music,  singing,  gym- 
nastics, military  drill,  and  instruction  in  trades  or  farming. 

The  greatest  possible  care  is  given  to  professional  apprentice- 
ship. All  thought  of  making  the  labor  of  these  youths  a  source 
of  profit  is  excluded.  Nevertheless,  there  is  a  certain  profit,  as 
the  contractor  pays  a  stipulated  sum  to  the  administration,  while 
this  does  not  allow  any  part  of  the  earnings  to  the  youthful  pris- 
oners, acquitted  as  without  knowledge.  Contractors  are  admitted 
into  these  establishments,  but  the  contractor  is  there  only  to  mul- 
tiply the  number  of  industries.  The  contractor  pays  a  certain  sum 
per  day,  and  receives  for  it  the  product  of  the  labor.  After  a  fixed 
time  the  amount  is  doubled  ;  and  after  another  period  it  is  doubled 
a  second  time.  This  arrangement  makes  it  the  interest  of  the 
contractor  to  look  carefully  after  the  apprenticeship  of  the  young 
workmen. 

The  children  are  separated  at  night.  As  regards  the  details  of 
the  internal  management,  it  is  sought  to  make  them,  so  far  as 
possible,  like  those  of  free  life.  Thus,  the  costume  of  the  young 
prisoners  is  neither  civil  nor  military.  It  is  a  special  dress,  but 
the  farthest  possible  from  that  of  the  prisons. 

Idle,  vagrant,  and  viciously  inclined  children  —  not  yet  crim- 


364  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  iv. 

inal,  but  in  peril  of  becoming  so  —  are  sent  to  the  non-govern- 
ment preventive  establishments  at  Ruysselede  and  Beernem  ;  the 
former  for  boys,  the  latter  for  girls.  I  have  visited  and  inspected 
all  these  institutions,  except  that  at  Namur ;  therefore,  with  this 
one  exception,  I  am  able  to  attest  from  personal  knowledge  the 
excellence  of  both  the  work  done  and  the  results  attained. 


PART  m.]  IN  SPAIN.  365 


PART    THIRD. 

SPAIN. 

CHAPTER  XXXIX.  —  NOBLE  WORDS  BY  MADAME  ARENAL. 

I  HAVE  received  a  report  on  the  prisons  of  Spain  from  the 
hand  of  Dona  Concepcion  Arenal,  a  lady  thoroughly  compe- 
tent in  all  respects  for  such  a  labor.  Of  this  communication  she 
herself,  in  concluding  it,  uses  the  following  words,  which,  reversing 
their  position,  I  place  at  the  beginning :  "  Such  is  the  state  of 
the  prisons  in  Spain,  set  forth  with  exactness,  which  ought  never 
to  be  smoothed  over  by  a  pretended  patriotism,  because  the  love 
of  country,  so  pure  and  so  elevated,  cannot  take  on  the  form  of  a 
lie.  No,  a  genuine  love  of  country  speaks  the  truth,  which  shines 
like  an  aureole,  blackens  like  sin,  or  wounds  like  a  needle.  Truth, 
alas !  is  not  to-day  an  aureole  for  Spain.  Her  honest  children 
ought  to  make  her  understand  this,  to  the  end  that  she  may  cor- 
rect what  is  wrong  ;  that  she  may  blush  on  hearing  the  accusatory 
voices  which  come  from  beyond  the  mountains  and  the  seas,  ac- 
companied by  noble  examples  which  she  ought  to  imitate.  The 
greatest  evil  and  the  greatest  offence  that  can  be  done  to  a  people 
is  to  flatter  it ;  and  those  who  are  ready  to  sacrifice  themselves 
for  their  country  will  never  sacrifice  the  truth  in  her  supposed 
interest." 

In  what  I  shall  have  to  say  about  prisons  in  Spain  little  more 
will  be  attempted  than  to  translate,  with  occasional  condensations, 
the  sentences  of  Madame  Arenal.  Whenever  (if  at  all)  state- 
ments drawn  from  other  sources  are  introduced,  special  reference 
will  be  made  to  such  authorities. 


CHAPTER  XL.  —  PENAL  LEGISLATION. 

THE  penal  legislation  of  Spain,  though  it  leaves  much  to  be 
desired,  still  shows  a  progress  far  in  advance  of  her  penal 
practice,  —  that  is,  her  mode  of  applying  punishment.     This  fact  is 
thus  explained  :     Codes  are  easily  translated.     There  are  needed 


366  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  IV. 

only  a  few  able  jurists  to  improve  them,  and  a  few  able  practition- 
ers to  modify  and  apply  them,  when  public  opinion  is  not  decidedly 
hostile,  or  when  it  has  little  influence.  But  to  build  prisons,  which 
require  large  disbursements  ;  to  adopt  systems,  a  knowledge  of 
which  can  be  acquired  only  by  profound  study  ;  to  have  a  person- 
nel of  great  moral  and  intellectual  elevation  ;  to  give  to  the  pen- 
itentiary work  the  indispensable  succor  of  a  loving  devotion,  — 
it  is  necessary  that  the  idea  which  looks  upon  the  reformation  of 
the  convict  as  possible  and  rational,  and  that  the  sentiment  of  pity 
and  compassion  towards  him  penetrate  society  far  more  deeply 
than  they  have  hitherto  done.  All  this  demands  a  public  opinion 
enlightened  and  powerful,  capable  of  overcoming  the  numerous 
obstacles  which  oppose  penitentiary  reforms,  and  of  accepting  the 
sacrifices  which  they  exact. 

Whoever,  therefore,  would  form  an  idea  of  the  penal  justice  of 
Spain  must  distinguish  between  penal  legislation  and  penitentiary 
practice. 


CHAPTER  XLI.  —  CLASSIFICATION  OF  PUNISHMENTS  AND 

PRISONS. 

THE  punishments  inflicted  to-day  in  Spain  are  :  Death  ;  hard 
labor  for  life,  hard  labor  for  a  term  (travaux  force's  a  per- 
p£tuit£>  travaux  forces  a  temps)  ;  reclusion  for  life,  reclusion  for  a 
term  (reclusion  perpttuelle,  reclusion  temporaire)  ;  the  greater  penal 
servitude,  the  lesser  penal  servitude  {presidio  mayor,  presidio 
menor, —  \\\z  presidio  being  a  convict  or  central  prison)  ;  correc- 
tional reclusion,  correctional  prison  (r delusion  correctionelle,  prison 
correctionelle)  ;  forced  arrests,  simple  arrests  (arrets  forces,  arrets 
simples)  ;  relegation  for  life,  relegation  for  a  term  (rtte'gation  per- 
pe'tuelle,  relegation  temporaire)  ;  banishment  for  life,  banishment 
for  a  term  (bannissement  perpttuel,  bannissement  temporel)  ;  exile 
to  an  assigned  place  (confinamiento)  ;  exile. 

There  are  others  —  fine,  reprimand,  etc.  —  of  which  we  need 
not  treat,  because  they  have  no  direct  relation  to  our  subject. 
For  the  same  reason  we  may  omit  the  first  and  the  last  six,  and 
confine  ourselves  to  the  remaining  ten. 

Hard  labor  for  life,  hard  labor  for  a  term.  —  This  punishment 
is  undergone  in  the  convict  prisons  (presidios)  of  Africa,  of  the 
Canaries,  and  of  Outre-Mer.  Those  who  are  sentenced  to  it  work 
for  the  State  at  hard  and  painful  labors.  They  wear  a  chain,  of  a 
foot  length,  suspended  from  the  girdle.  On  account  of  age,  or 
other  circumstances,  the  court  may  release  the  convict  from  the 
obligation  to  work  outside  the  establishment  in  which  he  is  con- 


PART  in.]  IN  SPAIN.  367 

fined  by  so  providing  in  the  sentence.  A  prisoner  who  is  more 
than  sixty  years  old  receives  his  punishment  in  a  central  prison  of 
the  peninsula. 

Reclusion  for  life,  reclusionfor  a  term.  —  This  is  applied  in  es- 
tablishments situated  within  or  without  the  peninsula.  The  con- 
victs are  subjected  to  hard  labor  within  the  establishment,  for  the 
benefit  of  the  State. 

The  greater  and  correctional  penal  servitude.  —  The  first  of  these 
is  undergone  in  the  peninsula,  or  the  Canaries,  or  Balearic  Islands, 
and  the  second  in  the  peninsula.  Those  who  are  sentenced  to  it 
are  obliged  to  work  at  hard  labor  in  the  establishment  where  they 
are  imprisoned.  The  product  of  their  labor  is  intended,  (i)  To  ren- 
der effective  the  responsibility  resulting  from  the  offence  ;  (2)  To 
indemnify  the  State  for  the  expenses  occasioned  by  the  convict ; 
(3)  To  afford  some  comforts  to  the  convict  during  his  incarcera- 
tion, and  to  form  a  reserve  fund  to  be  paid  to  him  on  his  discharge, 
or  to  his  heirs  in  case  of  his  death. 

The  convict  ptison  and  the  correctional  prison.  —  The  first  pun- 
ishment is  undergone  in  the  peninsula,  or  the  Balearic  Islands  : 
the  second  within  the  territorial  jurisdiction  of  the  court  which 
pronounced  the  sentence.  Those  who  are  sentenced  to  this  pun- 
ishment do  not  leave  the  establishment  to  labor.  They  work  for 
their  own  advantage,  and  at  employments  of  their  own  choice,  as 
far  as  possible ;  but  they  are  subject  to  civil  responsibility,  and  to 
that  of  indemnifying  the  State. 

Forced  arrests.  —  These  are  undergone  in  a  special  establish- 
ment, which  exists  for  that  purpose  in  the  local  capital. 

Simple  arrests.  —  These  are  undergone  at  the  mayor's  office, 
or  some  other  house  set  apart  for  that  object,  or  even  in  the 
prisoner's  own  house,  if  the  sentence  so  declare. 

Women  never  wear  the  chain  ;  they  are  never  sent  away  from 
the  peninsula,  and  they  never  work  outside  the  penal  establish- 
ment. 

All  these  distinctions  and  classifications  are  made  by  the  law, 
to  which  the  magistrates  adhere  in  pronouncing  sentence,  but  not 
the  penitentiary  administration,  which,  for  its  execution,  would 
need  establishments  that  are  wanting  to  it.  In  the  same  estab- 
lishment there  are  prisoners  sentenced  to  hard  labor  for  life,  to 
hard  labor  for  a  term,  to  reclusion,  to  correctional  imprisonment, 
etc.,  occupying,  if  the  place  permit  (which  it  does  not  always), 
different  dormitories,  but  mingled  together  during  the  day,  —  the 
honorable  citizen,  who  has  broken  the  law  in  a  moment  of  passion, 
and  the  cruel,  depraved,  and  incorrigible  criminal.  Neither  the 
legislator  nor  the  administration  nor  public  opinion  takes  notice 
of  the  injustice  and  the  absurdity  that  result  from  the  fact  that 
the  code  ordains,  and  the  sentence  pronounces,  that  which  can  by 
no  possibility  be  reduced  to  practice. 


368  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BooK  iv. 

All  the  prisons,  as  well  the  penal  as  those  of  preliminary  deten- 
tion (carceles\  depend  on  the  ministry  of  the  interior  ;  which  is  a 
subject  of  regret  and  lamentation  to  all  who  know  the  evil  influ- 
ence of  a  demoralized  politics,  which  makes  itself  felt  in  that 
ministry  even  more  than  in  the  others. 


CHAPTER  XLII.  —  THE  DETENTION  PRISON  (Car eel}. 

THE  edifices  used  as  detention  prisons,  with  rare  exceptions, 
were  not  built  for  that  purpose,  or  they  are  of  an  epoch 
when  people  had  no  idea  of  what  a  prison  ought  to  be.  They  are 
too  small,  are  ill-arranged,  and  lack  the  proper  hygienic  conditions. 
The  prisoners,  pressed  and  mixed  up  together  in  these  contracted 
and  insalubrious  places,  are  in  conditions  as  fatal  to  health  as  to 
morals. 

Each  prisoner  awaiting  trial  is  allowed  for  his  maintenance 
ten  cents  a  day  in  some  communes  ;  in  others  much  less,  —  a 
sum  quite  insufficient  considering  the  price  of  articles  of  prime 
necessity,  —  so  that  he  who  does  not  receive  assistance  from  his 
family,  or  who  does  not  procure  some  resources  by  means  of  his 
labor,  lacks  what  is  absolutely  necessary.  The  accused  who  do 
not  wish  the  ration  of  the  prison  may  receive  in  money  that  which 
is  assigned  them,  and  can  procure  their  food  from  outside  the 
establishment. 

The  accused  receive  little  or  no  clothing,  or  money  to  buy  it  ; 
consequently,  as  they  are  generally  poor,  they  often  find  them- 
selves in  great  straits,  and  even  in  a  condition  of  the  most  lament- 
able nudity.  Public  charity  is  sometimes  earnestly  sought  on 
their  behalf  ;  but  the  appeal  is  not  always  responded  to  favorably ; 
indeed,  it  is  oftener  ineffectual  than  effectual. 

The  bed  varies  in  different  prisons.  In  some  it  is  of  straw, 
more  or  less  dirty,  spread  on  the  ground.  In  others  there  are 
paillasses  on  the  floor,  one  for  two,  three,  or  more  prisoners,  with- 
out sheets  or  spreads,  if  they  have  none  of  their  own. 

The  accused  who  can  pay  for  an  apartment  has  generally  a 
chamber,  either  for  his  sole  occupancy  or  with  another  person  of 
his  class.  This  varies  according  as  the  prisoners  are  able  to  pay, 
and  according  to  the  conditions  of  the  place  ;  but  whoever  the 
prisoner  may  be,  the  jailer  always  finds  a  way  to  afford  some 
special  accommodation  to  one  who  has  the  means  of  paying. 
However,  such  accommodation  is  only  relative  ;  for  the  apart- 
ments of  even  those  who  are  able  to  pay  are  not  comfortable, 
though  they  may  bring  there  their  own  bed  and  some  articles  of 
furniture. 


PART  in.]  IN  SPAIN.  369 

Of  classification,  it  may  be  said  there  is  none.  The  sexes  are 
separated  ;  but  all  prisoners  of  the  same  sex  are  mingled  in  com- 
mon dormitories  and  yards.  However  different  the  ages  or  the 
morality  of  the  accused,  they  all  communicate  with  each  other. 
If  there  is  any  separation,  it  is  generally  more  nominal  than  real ; 
it  is  not  favored  by  the  arrangement  of  the  buildings,  and  still 
less  by  the  disposition  of  the  employes. 

The  accused  in  general  are  idle ;  those  who  work  do  so  on  their 
own  account  and  to  their  own  profit. 

In  towns  of  some  importance  there  is  in  the  hospitals  an 
apartment  for  the  accused,  where  they  receive  the  same  care  as 
the  other  patients,  except  that  it  is  not  quite  so  good.  When 
there  is  no  hospital  to  receive  them  they  remain  in  the  prison, 
where  they  get,  according  to  circumstances,  a  tolerable  attention 
or  an  inhuman  neglect. 

Despite  long  codes  of  regulations,  the  general  rule  is  to  adhere 
to  none  that  is  reasonable,  and  to  continue  in  the  practice  of  in- 
veterate abuses,  which  may  be  reduced  to  three  classes  :  — 

1.  The  exploitation^-  of  the  accused.  — This  exploitation  is  exer- 
cised in  an  infinity  of  ways  by  those  who  are  charged  with  the 
maintenance  of  order,  who,  by  menaces,  by  violence,  by  vexations 
of  all  sorts,  compel  even  the  poor  prisoners  to  contrive  ways  of 
getting  money  to  buy  off  ill-treatment.     This  abuse  increases  in 
proportion  to  the  importance  of  the  prison  ;  but  there  are  few  in 
which  the  accused  are  not  exploited,  as  is  proved  by  the  dispro- 
portion which  generally  exists  between  the  salary  of  the  jailer  and 
the  expenditures  which  he  makes. 

2.  The  privileges  accorded  to  the  accused  who  can  buy  them.  — 
These  privileges  range  from  entire  liberty  of  action  within  the 
prison  to  that  of  going  out  on  promenade  or  to  visit  the  cafe', 
granted  even  to  prisoners  charged  with  grave  offences.     This  last 
case  does  not  often  occur,  but  with  sufficient  frequency  to  give 
occasion  to  the  director-general  of  prisons  to  write  it  in  his  report, 
—  not  for  the  purpose  of  proposing  a  remedy,  but  by  way  of  set- 
ting off  his  subject  with  a  certain  sprightliness  and  wit. 

3.  Vexations  and  acts  of  violence  among  the  accused. — These 
vexations  are  numerous  in  the  prisons  of  large  towns,  where  there 
are  prisoners  guilty  of  grave  offences,  *—  as  is  proved  by  the  fre- 
quency with  which  a  new  comer  is  exploited,  as  well  as  by  the 

1  To  exploit  and  exploitation  are  not  English  words;  but  they  ought  to  be,  and, 
T  venture  to  think,  must  be,  introduced  into  the  language,  since  there  is  no  single 
English  term  which  expresses  their  meaning.  Exploitation  is  defined  by  Littre,  the 
latest  and  best  of  French  lexicographers,  thus :  "  To  make  available,  to  bring  out  the 
product,  —  as  to  exploit  a  mine,  a  railway,  a  journal,  a  theatre,  etc.  To  derive  profit  or 
advantage  from  a  thing,  —  as  to  exploit  the  public  curiosity.  In  a  bad  sense,  to  gain  an 
unlawful  or  discreditable  advantage  from  something,  —  as  to  exploit  the  public  credu- 
lity." Littre  speaks  of  exploiting  a  man,  and  among  his  definitions  of  exploitation  is 
this  :  "  Excessive  profit  derived  from  a  man  in  employing  him,"  —  a  definition  which 
very  well  fits  the  present  case,  though  it  does  not,  as  we  say,  "go  on  all  fours." 

24 


3/0  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  iv. 

blows,  the  wounds,  and  even  the  death  of  one  prisoner  at  the 
hands  of  another. 

Without  suitable  buildings,  without  punishment  cells,  with  that 
old-time  leaven  of  abuses  of  every  kind,  with  the  almost  certain 
impunity  of  those  who  practise  them,  with  employes  whose  dis- 
position to  do  their  duty,  if  they  have  it,  encounters  so  many 
obstacles  and  so  little  support  in  public  opinion  and  in  the  Gov- 
ernment itself, — with  all  these  opposing  elements,  it  is  hardly 
possible  that  there  should  be  order  in  a  prison  ;  and,  as  a  matter 
of  fact,  for  the  most  part  there  is  none. 

The  personnel  (prison  staff}.  —  According  to  the  importance  of 
the  prison  the  jailer  has  or  has  not  aids,  —  turnkeys  and  other 
helpers.  Among  these  are  counted  the  prisoners  who  are  sup- 
posed to  be  capable  of  contributing  to  the  maintenance  of  order, 
but  who  are  a  great  element  of  disorder  and  immorality.  To  be 
an  employe  in  a  detention  prison  (carcel)  there  is  needed  no 
condition  of  education  or  morality;  even  bull-fighters  (toreros) 
are  sometimes  employed.  Nor  does  the  best  conduct  on  the  part 
of  the  employe  furnish  any  guarantee  of  continuance  in  the  ser- 
vice. In  the  prisons  of  large  towns  there  is  a  chaplain  and  also 
a  chapel  where  mass  is  celebrated. 

Visitation  of  the  detention  prisons.  —  The  magistrates  and  the 
judges  visit  the  prisons  once  a  week,  but  this  visit  has  no  effect 
to  prevent  abuses.  As  the  employes  depend  on  the  ministry  of 
the  interior,  they  would  make  small  account  of  the  complaints 
of  the  magistracy,  —  which  does  not  make  any,  with  a  few  very 
meritorious  exceptions. 

The  transportation  or  passage  of  prisoners  accused  and  con- 
victed.—  There  are  no  vehicles,  cellular  or  otherwise,  to  convey 
them  ;  and  little  use,  in  general,  is  made  of  the  railways  for  this 
purpose.  Commonly  they  go  on  foot,  escorted  by  the  gendarmery 
(guard  civil},  passing  nights  and  days  in  the  transfer  prisons 
(which  are  worse  than  the  others),  where  the  sexes  are  not  al- 
ways separated.  During  the  journey  men  and  women  march 
together.  These  journeys  which  sometimes  continue  several 
months  with  cold,  with  heat,  with  rain,  with  snow,  are  very  in- 
jurious to  the  physique  of  the  feeble  and  to  the  morals  of  all, 
innocent  or  guilty,  who  will  carry  with  them  to  the  penitentiary, 
or  to  their  homes,  the  disgrace  of  this  shameful  exposure,  the 
rancor  excited  by  ill-treatment,  and  the  contagion  of  association 
with  great  criminals. 

What  a  judge,  Mr.  Longue,  brings  to  the  knowledge  of  the 
minister  of  justice  in  a  memoir  addressed  to  him,  may  give  an 
idea  of  the  state  of  the  detention  prisons  in  the  large  towns.  The 
following  passage  is  extracted  from  his  paper  :  "  One  of  the  causes 
(perhaps  the  most  potent)  productive  of  crime  at  Madrid  is  the 
state  of  the  judicial  (detention)  prison  for  men  ;  that  is  to  say, 


PART  in.]  IN  SPAIN*.  371 

the  organization,  the  discipline,  the  staff  of  employes,  and  the 
vices  and  customs  of  the  Saladero.1  This  year  (1878)  there  have 
been  brought  before  this  tribunal,  for  crimes  committed  in  the 
prison,  ninety-three  criminal  processes.  The  most  frequent  crimes 
are  forged  signatures,  frauds,  lesions,  and  illegal  exactions,  as  well 
as  unfaithfulness  in  the  supervision  of  the  prisoners.  During  the 
four  years  that  the  undersigned  judge  has  been  in  this  jurisdic- 
tion, he  has  had  occasion  to  observe  that  certain  crimes  always 
find  protection  in  the  prison,  and  that  it  is,  so  to  speak,  their 
home.  There  is  an  acctisj,  who  is  at  this  moment  at  a  hard-labor 
prison  (presidio),  against  whom  there  have  been  instituted  forty- 
one  criminal  suits  for  forgery  and  swindling  in  four  years.  Noth- 
ing of  that  sort  would  happen  under  a  good  system  of  surveillance, 
and  with  a  different  organization  of  the  prison  ;  it  is  inconceivable 
that  such  a  thing  should  take  place  in  the  case  of  men  who  are  sub 
judiceand  at  the  disposition  of  the  public  authority.  Let  it  not  be 
said  that  some  faults  must  be  tolerated  in  the  employes,  at  least 
in  that  which  relates  to  the  administration  of  justice  and  this  tri- 
bunal. Within  the  space  of  four  years  the  undersigned  judge 
has  known  five  or  six  chiefs  of  the  prison,  and  against  nearly  all 
there  have  been  instituted  criminal  suits,  and  they  have  been  con- 
victed ;  and  the  same  thing  is  true  as  regards  more  than  thirty 
subaltern  officials.  At  this  moment  indictments  are  pending 
against  two  chiefs,  two  sub-chiefs,  and  six  or  seven  subalterns ; 
the  judicial  authority  cannot  do  otherwise."2 


CHAPTER  XLIII.  —  THE  PENAL  PRISON  (presidio}. 

THE  classifications  of  the  penal  code  do  not  go  beyond  the 
paper  on  which  they  are  printed  ;  practice  does  not  adhere 
to  them  even  in  the  letter  ;  and  there  is  only  a  word,  presidio,  — 
nothing  more,  —  to  designate  the  penitentiary  establishments  of 
Spain. 

Buildings.  —  Of  these  there  are  "  bad  "  and  "  worse  "  (tnatwais 
et  pires) ;  none  is  fit  for  a  penitentiary.  A  portion  of  that  at 
Corufia  tumbled  down  not  long  ago,  and  a  considerable  number 
of  the  prisoners  were  killed  or  wounded  beneath  the  ruins. 

Distribution  of  the  convict  population.  —  From  the  last  prison 
statistics  it  appears  that  there  are  prisons  which  have  1,591, 
2,242,  and  even  2,352  inmates.  Such  an  accumulation  would 

1  This  is  the  name  of  the  prison  referred  to. 

*  This  seems  incredible,  but  it  is  an  exact  translation  of  the  French  version  by 
Madame  Arena!  of  the  original  Spanish. 


3/2  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  iv. 

make  order  and  correction  impossible  with  the  most  perfect  sys- 
tem, —  of  which  there  is  none ;  and  in  the  moral  and  material 
conditions  of  the  Spanish  prisons  the  vast  number  of  the  convicts 
carries  demoralization  and  disorder  to  the  highest  point. 

The  food.  —  This  is  supplied  by  contract.  In  the  last  contract 
the  price  of  each  ration  was  fixed  at  eight  cents,  including  the 
lighting  of  the  dormitories  and  the  expenses  of  the  hospital.  On 
an  examination  of  the  conditions  accepted  by  the-  contractor,  the 
ration  (considering  the  frugality  of  the  Spanish  people)  appears 
sufficient  for  most  of  the  convicts  ;  but  the  conditions  are  not 
fulfilled,  and,  what  is  more,  they  cannot  be  fulfilled,  when  the 
indemnity  to  be  paid  to  the  contractor  and  the  price  of  the  articles 
to  be  supplied  to  the  prisoners  are  considered.  The  articles  are 
ordinarily  bad,  especially  the  bread,  which  gives  occasion  to  com- 
plaints, disturbances,  and  sometimes  insurrections,  when  the  guard 
is  obliged  to  fire,  and  wounds  and  even  deaths  ensue.  Though 
matters  are  not  often  for  this  cause  carried  to  such  an  extreme, 
the  relaxation  of  the  discipline  is  constant.  The  ration  given  by 
the  State  being  insufficient,  supplementary  supplies  are  tolerated. 
They  are  not,  however,  bestowed  as  a  reward  on  him  who  merits 
them,  but  are  furnished  to  him  who  can  pay  for  them.  From 
this  abuse  there  result  many  others,  to  the  prejudice  of  order  and 
of  equality  before  the  law.  That  the  ration  furnished  by  the 
State  is  not  sufficient  the  administration  itself  has  admitted  on 
different  occasions,  and  recently  in  a  circular  of  the  director- 
general  of  prisons,  in  which  he  recommends  to  the  chiefs  of  the 
penal  establishments  the  use  of  chalybeate  waters  by  the  prisoners 
for  the  purpose  of  renewing  their  impoverished  blood. 

The  clothing;  — This  consists  of  a  shirt,  blouse,  jacket,  trousers, 
cap,  and  sandals  of  twisted  broom. 

The  bed.  —  The  convicts  have  none,  for  that  name  cannot  be 
given  to  the  mat,  —  a  piece  of  tissue  of  Spanish  broom,  —  on 
which  they  repose  with  a  coverlet  over  them. 

The  dormitories. — The  dormitories  are  common  and  ill-ventilated, 
and  as  the  supervision  leaves  much  to  be  desired  the  moral  conse- 
quences can  easily  be  divined.  The  physical  conditions  are  no 
better  ;  there  are  too  many  people  and  too  little  air,  and  this  last 
is  extremely  foul.  The  prisoners  call  the  dormitories  "  stables  " 
with  a  great  deal  of  fitness. 

Classification.  —  If  there  is  any  classification,  it  is  but  nominal ; 
for  neither  have  the  buildings  the  necessary  material  conditions, 
nor  have  the  employes  either  the  idea  or  the  strength  of  will  to 
make  at  least  such  a  classification  as  would  contribute  to  the 
material  order  of  the  prison.  In  some  prisons  there  is  a  room  for 
young  delinquents,  but  they  communicate  with  the  adults.  When 
a  convict  is  very  intractable,  he  is  sometimes  conveyed  to  another 
prison,  on  the  supposition  that  he  will  have  less  influence  with 


PART  HI.]  IN  SPAIN.  373 

his  new  comrades,  and  that  he  will  be  less  dangerous.  Whether 
this  supposition  is  realized,  or,  as  is  more  likely,  is  illusory,  and 
these  changes  of  place  yield  as  their  sole  result  the  propagation 
of  a  bad  leaven  and  increase  the  probability  of  escapes,  what  is 
certain  is  that  there  is  no  penal  prison  for  the  intractable  and 
the  incorrigible. 

Labor.  —  According  to  the  latest  official  statistics  (1879),  of 
16,562  convicts  4,370  worked  in  the  shops,  and  3,246  on  public 
works  ;  so  that  more  than  half  are  idle,  or  engaged  in  occupations 
prejudicial  to  the  morals  and  discipline  of  the  prisons.  Among 
those  laboring  in  the  shops  1,054  work  on  account  of  the  State, 
the  labor  of  758  is  let  to  the  highest  bidder,  and  2,688  work  for 
individuals,  the  administration  serving  as  intermediary.  In  all 
cases  the  convict  is  employed  in  the  manner  most  convenient  and 
most  useful  to  the  State  or  to  the  individuals  who  profit  by  his 
labor,  without  any  thought  of  giving  him  an  industrial  instruction 
which  will  serve  him  as  a  resource  to  gain  a  living  when  he 
recovers  his  freedom.  No  reformatory  aim  is  kept  in  view  in  the 
remuneration  of  the  convict  for  his  labor,  by  making  it  bear  any 
relation  to  his  conduct.  Work  ceases,  therefore,  in  part  to  serve 
its  chief  object  in  convict  treatment,  and  is  even  on  some  occasions 
actually  opposed  to  that  object. 

There  are  eleven  hundred  and  three  sergeants  of  the  birch 
(caporaux  a  verge,  Fr. ;  cabos  de  tara,  Sp.),  who  are  generally  guilty 
of  the  gravest  offences.  They  learn  no  trade,  and  have  no  other 
occupation  than  that  of  helping  to  maintain  what  is  called  material 
order,  to  the  prejudice  of  moral  order.  They  contract  habits  of 
idleness,  of  imperiousness,  and  of  striking  terror  into  people  of 
bad  life,  which  is  their  manner  of  gaining  prestige  with  them. 

There  are  one  hundred  and  fifty  convicts  employed  in  the 
infirmaries,  who  likewise  learn  no  trade ;  and  the  hardness  with 
which  they  treat  the  sick,  and  the  acts  of  complaisance  which 
they  sell  to  them,  are  well  calculated  to  render  them  more 
perverse. 

There  are  one  hundred  and  eleven  convicts  destined  to  be 
orderly  officers,  and  they  are  equally  unable  to  learn  a  trade. 

In  the  offices  two  hundred  and  eleven  convicts  are  employed 
as  clerks,  to  the  prejudice  of  good  administration,  good  order, 
and  justice.  However  bad  may  have  been  his  antecedents  and 
his  morals,  if  he  writes  a  good  hand  it  is  easy  for  the  convict  to 
fill  these  positions  of  trust  and  confidence  which  he  abuses  in  so 
many  ways  ;  and,  still  further,  as  the  directors  and  other  function- 
aries in  the  administration  of  the  prisons  enter  the  service  with- 
out any  knowledge  of  it,  as  the  regulations  which  they  have  to 
enforce  are  numerous,  and  as  these  are  not  collected  and  arranged 
in  an  orderly  manner,  it  results  that  the  employe  allows  himself 
to  be  guided  by  the  knowledge  of  the  convict,  and  it  is  very  easy 
for  this  latter  to  mislead  and  compromise  him. 


3/4  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  iv. 

The  products  of  the  prison  labor  are  inferior  in  quality  to  the 
generality  of  those  which  are  offered  in  the  market.  For  that 
reason,  and  because  there  is  no  aim  or  effort  to  avoid  an  unjust 
competition  with  free  labor,  these  products  are  sold  at  prices 
extremely  low,  increasing  the  tendency  to  lower  the  wages  in  cer- 
tain industries,  which  is  observed  most  in  the  labor  of  the  women. 
As  in  the  prisons  they  work  little  and  ill,  these  low  prices  have 
produced  some  alarm  in  outside  industries,  which  from  time  to 
time  complain,  censure,  and  even  demand  that  there  be  an  abso- 
lute prohibition  against  convicts'  laboring.  No  measures  are 
taken  to  avoid  the  evil  which  gives  rise  to  these  complaints. 

Instruction.  —  Industrial  instruction  is  such  as  that  just  men- 
tioned in  the  preceding  paragraph.  Literary  instruction  is  re- 
duced to  some  notions  of  reading  and  writing,  which  are  given  to 
a  small  number  of  convicts  (four  hundred  and  eighty-one). 

Religion.  —  It  may  be  said  that  this  powerful  element  of  educa- 
tion and  consolation  is  wanting,  since  the  worship  in  the  Spanish 
prisons  does  not  deserve  the  name  of  religion.  The  mission  of 
religion  in  one  of  these  prisons,  although  it  contain  one  thou- 
sand to  two  thousand  convicts,  is  confided  to  a  chaplain,  who 
thinks  that  he  fulfils  it  in  saying  low  mass  on  feast-days,  in  pro- 
curing the  presence  during  Lent  of  some  priests  to  aid  him  in 
hearing  confessions,  and  in  administering  the  sacraments  to  those 
who  are  dangerously'  sick.  He  is  even  astonished  if  told  that 
with  such  ministrations  he  does  not  fulfil  his  mission.  The  chap- 
lain is  an  employe,  like  any  other,  brought  down  by  his  salary 
(two  francs  a  day)  to  the  rank  of  overseer,  and  who  is  held  in  no 
higher  esteem.  The  chief  of  the  establishment  has  very  little 
consideration  of  him,  and  he  inspires  no  greater  in  the  convicts. 
It  is  not  that  they  insult  or  are  hostile  to  him,  but  rather  that 
they  regard  him  with  indifference,  —  sometimes  with  disdain. 
A  mission  so  difficult  as  that  of  converting  malefactors  —  of 
changing  thieves  and  assassins  into  Christians — is  confided  to 
the  least  instructed  of  a  clergy  by  no  means  distinguished  for  its 
enlightenment,  and  who  lack,  besides,  that  ardent  zeal  and  active 
charity  which  might  in  some  degree  supply  the  place  of  education. 
There  may,  says  Madame  Arenal,  be  exceptions  which  have  not 
come  to  her  knowledge  ;  but  in  general  the  administration  has  no 
idea  of  what  these  chaplains  ought  to  be,  and.  they  themselves 
seem  to  be  equally  ignorant  of  it.  It  is  thus  that,  in  the  prisons 
of  Spain,  impiety  or  religious  indifference  finds  more  stimulus 
than  correction  in  an  external  worship  which  seems  well-nigh 
mechanical,  and  which  appears  to  have  for  its  object  to  satisfy 
the  law  rather  than  the  conscience. 

The  hospital.  —  The  hospital  premises  almost  always  leave 
much  to  be  desired  ;  sometimes  they  are  very  bad,  and  the  at- 
tendance, confided  to  criminals,  is  worse  than  the  premises. 


PART  in.]  IN  SPAIN.  375 

There  are  no  Sisters  of  Charity  in  the  hospitals,  and,  if  exception 
be  made  of  the  medical  officer,  the  whole  service  is  performed 
by  convicts.  It  will  be  readily  understood  that  they  are  not  very 
compassionate  towards  the  sick,  nor  very  strict  in  adhering  to  the 
prescriptions,  nor  very  firm  against  the  temptation  to  let  those 
prisoners  eat  and  drink  who  give  them  a  gratification.  However, 
the  strongest  temptation  does  not  come  from  the  sick  who  have 
money,  but  from  the  contractors.  In  the  food-contract  are  in- 
cluded the  hospital  supplies  ;  and  as  the  ration  for  the  sick  —  to 
whom  are  given  meat,  better  bread,  bed,  medicines,  etc.  —  is  much 
dearer  than  that  of  the  prisoner  in  health,  the  contractors  have 
a  strong  interest, — 

1.  That  the  smallest  possible  number  of  sick  enter  the  hos- 
pital. 

2.  That  they  leave  it  as  quickly  as  possible,  either  for   the 
cemetery  or  the  common  dormitory. 

3.  That  costly  remedies  be  not  ordered. 

4.  That  the  fulfilment  of  the  contract  be  not  exacted  relatively 
to  the  food,  the  bed,  etc. 

Whoever  has  had  some  experience  of  these  things,  or  he  who 
reflects  a  little  upon  them,  will  understand  whether  this  great  and 
constant  interest,  with  the  means  of  seduction  which  are  as  con- 
stant and  as  great  relatively  to  the  persons  to  be  seduced,  must 
not  give  results  extremely  unfavorable  to  the  sick. 

The  prison-staff. — The  personnel  of  each  prison  is  composed 
of  a  commandant,  a  major,  two  adjutants,  an  overseer  for  every 
one  hundred  convicts,  and  a  sergeant  (taken  from  among  the 
prisoners)  for  every  twenty-five.  No  condition  of  intelligence  or 
of  morality  is  required  to  be  a  prison  employe,  and  one  who  dis- 
charges his  duty  with  exactness  has  no  guarantee  that  he  will 
retain  his  position,  and  even  less  that  he  will  be  recompensed  ; 
and  the  case  is  very  rare  in  which  one  who  conducts  himself 
badly  is  punished  for  it.  Such  being  the  condition  of  things, 
with  salaries  mean  and  contemptible,  with  the  idea  (little  favora- 
ble) entertained  of  the  prison-staffs,  —  an  idea  made  public  by 
the  administration  in  a  document  printed  and  published  not  long 
since,  —  these  employes  cannot  fulfil  their  difficult  mission,  nor 
even  comprehend  it.  There  are  some  exceptions  of  persons 
qualified  for  their  work,  —  there  have  been  notable  persons,  like 
Montesinos  and  Canalejas  ;  but  the  rule  is  and  must  be  that  as 
long  as  this  service  is  not  well  organized  it  will  not  be  well  ac- 
complished. In  the  opinion  of  many  persons,  the  security  and 
order  of  the  prisons  depend  on  the  sergeant,  who  are  ordinarily 
chosen  from  among  the  homicides  and  assassins  who  have  given 
proof  of  courage  and  hardness.  It  is  to  them  that  is  confided  the 
immediate  and  constant  supervision  of  the  convicts,  upon  whom 
they  practise  immoral  impositions  through  the  authority  exercised 


376  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BooK  iv. 

over  the  wicked  by  the  more  wicked.  It  is  at  once  comprehended 
that  such  men  will  sell  the  impunity  of  offences  to  those  who  are 
able  to  pay  for  it,  and  will  be  furious,  on  calculation  or  through 
natural  irascibility,  towards  those  who  have  not  the  means  to 
appease  their  perversity,  which  in  this  case  is  armed  and  protected 
by  the  law. 

Order  and  discipline.  —  Order,  in  the  vocabulary  of  Spanish 
prisons,  consists  in  this, — that  the  prisoners  do  not  raise  tumults ; 
that  they  do  not  make  too  much  noise  ;  that  they  do  not  refuse 
the  bread  or  the  soup  furnished  them  ;  that  they  rise  and  retire, 
come  in  and  go  out,  at  the  word  of  command  ;  and  that  they  do 
not  stab  each  other  with  knives.  When  this  last  happens,  the 
club  or  the  musket  is  brought  into  play  according  to  circum- 
stances. It  must  however  be  said  that  tumult,  violence,  and 
assaults  are  not  in  proportion  to  the  lack  of  work,  of  order,  and  of 
justice  in  the  prisons.  Why  so  ?  Because,  according  to  the  firm 
conviction  of  Madame  Arenal,  Spanish  convicts  are  in  general 
docile,  easy  to  be  led,  submissive,  and  have  at  bottom  often  hid- 
den (sometimes  deeply  hidden)  a  certain  honorableness  and, 
in  many  cases,  even  nobleness.  Consequently,  she  is  of  the 
opinion  that  a  good  penitentiary  system  would  yield  in  Spain 
results  the  most  desirable  and  the  most  satisfactory. 

Disciplinary  punishments.  —  On  seeing  the  rod  of  the  ser- 
geants, whose  use  is  authorized  by  the  prison  code,  it  will  be 
understood  that  bodily  inflictions  make  an  integral  part  of  the 
discipline.  It  may  be  said  that  the  rod  of  the  sergeant  inflicts  a 
punishment,  not  preceded  by  judgment,  because  it  is  assumed  to 
be  employed  under  a  pressing  necessity  to  maintain  order,  which 
would  be  endangered  unless  resort  were  had  to  it.  The  judge  of 
this  necessity  is  a  criminal,  and  in  general  one  of  the  worst  of  crim- 
inals. According  to  what  is  attested  by  persons  worthy  of  credit, 
the  bastinado  is  often  inflicted,  and  even  to  a  point  where  the  vic- 
tim is  left  in  such  a  condition  that  he  has  to  be  carried  to  the  hos- 
pital :  but  this  is  officially  denied.  Besides  the  rod,  there  is  the 
punishment  of  the  dungeon  with  or  without  a  reduction  of  food, 
the  chain,  painful  and  disagreeable  labor,  and  reprimand.  As 
arbitrariness  is  an  endemic  evil  in  Spain,  as  those  who  are  the 
victims  of  it  submit  without  complaint  in  despair  of  obtaining 
justice,  and  as  in  the  prisons  justice  may  be  withheld  without  the 
intervention  of  either  authority  or  public  opinion,  it  thence  re- 
sults that  the  severity  of  the  discipline,  the  rigor  of  the  punish- 
ments, the  regime  of  the  prison  in  short,  depends  largely  on  the 
director,  and  varies  with  him.  At  all  events,  disciplinary  punish- 
ments have  a  material  or  physical  character,  and  are  intended  to 
mortify  the  body  rather  than  to  impress  and  mould  the  spirit. 

The  organization  of  the  regiment  has  been  introduced  into  the 
prison ;  there  are  a  commandant,  a  major,  adjutants,  sergeants ; 


PART  in.]  IN  SPAIN.  377 

the  convict  population  is  called  a  force,  and  the  rules  an  order. 
This,  which  at  first  blush  might  appear  only  ridiculous,  has  proved 
extremely  injurious,  because  the  idea,  thereby  introduced,  of  sub- 
stituting authority  in  the  place  of  reason,  breaks  or  compromises 
wills  which,  instead,  ought  to  be  rectified,  made  straight.  Orders 
are  not  argued ;  they  are  enforced.  It  is  the  brutality  of  mili- 
tary procedure  without  the  honor  which  diminishes  its  effects ; 
it  is  the  alliance  of  despotism  and  infamy.  One  can  understand 
what  sort  of  children  will  be  engendered  by  such  parents. 


CHAPTER  XLIV.  —  SPANISH  PRISONS  IN  AFRICA. 

MADAME  ARENAL  observes  that  she  has  not  visited  these 
prisons,  but  that,  being  far  removed  from  the  supervision  of 
the  authorities  and  from  the  little  influence  that  public  opinion 
might  have,  and  as  the  most  perverted  criminals  are  taken  there, 
these  establishments  must  be  still  worse  than  those  of-  the  penin- 
sular. In  proof  of  this  she  cites  certain  facts  and  enters  into 
certain  reasonings,  which  need  not  be  repeated  in  this  work. 


CHAPTER  XLV.  —  PRISONS  FOR  WOMEN. 

ALL  that  has  been  said  of  the  prisons  for  men  is  applicable  to 
those  for  women,  with  the  following  differences  :  — 

1.  Women  never  undergo  their  sentence  outside  the  peninsula. 

2.  They  never  wear  the  chain. 

3.  They  never  work  outside  the  penal  establishment. 

4.  It  is  rare  that  disorder  proceeds  to  tumult,  and  still  more 
rare  that  it  reaches  the  point  of  blows  and  wounds. 

5.  Escapes  occur  seldom,  or  even  attempts  to  escape. 

6.  They  are  furnished  with  beds,  mattresses,  and  sheets. 

7.  Those  who  have  nursing  children  take  them  into  the  prison, 
and  these  children  remain  there  sometimes  to  the  age  of  eleven 
years.     Many  of  them  die ;  all  become  perverted  ;  and  although 
charitable  persons  have  written  and  done  much  in  behalf  of  these 
unfortunate  innocents,  they  have  not  been  able  to  move  the  ad- 
ministration to  do  its  duty,  and  gather  these  little  ones  into  a 
house  of  mercy.     Some  sympathizing  ladies  collect  alms,  and, 
aided  at  present  by  L  Association  Protectrice  des  Enfants,  carry 


3/3  STATE   OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  iv. 

to  these  small  prisoners  a  meal  every  day.  They  thus  save  the 
physical  life  of  some  of  them,  but  it  is  impossible  that  they 
should  save  their  moral  life.1 

There  is  no  prison  for  young  girls  ;  they  are  not  separated  — 
no,  not  even  nominally  —  from  depraved  and  incorrigible  women. 

8.  The  women's  prison  is  in  a  different  building,  but  in  the 
same  town  as  the  men's  prison,  and  the  commandant  is  the  chief 
of  both,  and  directs  their  administration,  disciplinary  and  finan- 
cial. The  employes  in  the  female  prison  are  women.  They 
have  no  other  charge  than  that  of  keeping  order ;  and  if  it  fall 
into  decay,  they  are  powerless  to  re-establish  it.  They  belong  to 
a  low  class,  and  their  merit  is  lower  still.  They  have  no  prestige, 
and  generally  are  not  worthy  of  it.  Even  when  there  happens 
to  be  some  honorable  exception,  it  is  a  rare  thing  that  it  is  appre- 
ciated, and  that  the  person  who  forms  such  exception  is  not  dis- 
missed from  the  service  unless  supported  by  influence. 

The  convict  women  of  Spain  find  themselves  in  worse  condi- 
tions, both  material  and  moral,  than  they  were  some  years  ago. 
This  is  due  to  the  unfortunate  idea  of  bringing  them  all  to 
Alcala,  without  a  suitable  building,  without  a  personnel,  without 
regime,  without  any  thing,  in  short,  that  might  lessen  the  incon- 
veniences resulting  from  the  accumulation. 


CHAPTER  XLVI.  —  EFFECT  OF  IMPRISONMENT. 

THE  punishment  undergone  in  these  conditions  is  neither 
exemplary  nor  correctional,  and  it  mortifies  and  humiliates 
precisely  in  the  inverse  ratio  of  the  convict's  perversity.  If  the 
punishment  does  not  intimidate,  neither  does  it  reform  ;  and  one 
of  the  rare  cases  in  which  all  Spaniards  are  of  the  same  opinion 
is,  that  the  convicts  leave  the  prison  worse  than  they  entered  it. 

If  this  is  so,  how  happens  it  that,  according  to  official  reports, 
there  are  only  fourteen  per  cent  of  recidivists  ?  Because  the 
police  is  very  bad,  the  administration  of  justice  very  imperfect, 
and  the  criminal  statistics  very  inexact.  If  it  were  not  so,  it 
would  follow  that  the  worse  the  penitentiary  regime,  and  the 
more  corrupting  the  penitentiaries,  the  smaller  is  the  number  of 

1  How  strange,  how  inconceivable,  how  incredible  this  sounds !  In  the  State  of 
New  York,  female  convicts  who  have  sucklings  are  permitted  to  keep  them  in  prison 
as  long  as  a  mother's  care  is  absolutely  needed ;  but  no  longer.  When  this  necessity 
ceases,  they  are  removed  to  some  suitable  institution,  where  the  life  and  health  of 
both  body  and  soul  are  cared  for,  and  they  are  "  trained  up  in  the  way  they  should 
go."  Does  the  Spanish  Government  wish  to  make  criminals  of  these  little  ones  ? 
What  terrible  responsibility! 


PART  in.]  IN  SPAIN.  379 

recidivists.  As  this  conclusion  is  inadmissible,  it  is  impossible 
to  admit  the  data  that  lead  to  it.  The  truth  is  that  re'cidive1 
(relapse),  unknown  or  unpunished,  does  not  appear  in  the  statis- 
tics. In  a  word,  it  seems  impossible,  to-day,  to  say  with  exact- 
ness, or  even  approximately,  what  is  the  recidive  in  Spain. 

To  the  reasons  mentioned  above  why  punishment  is  neither 
deterrent  nor  correctional  must  be  added  the  abuse  which  is 
made  of  the  right  of  pardon,  the  prerogative  of  clemency.  Its 
right  use  is  perhaps  impossible  everywhere  ;  but  even  an  ap- 
proach to  it  is  difficult  in  Spain,  where  there  are  no  means  of 
ascertaining  who  are  the  convicts  that  deserve  pardon,  which  is 
obtained  by  favor  or  by  chance.  To  crown  the  injustice,  the 
pardon  of  criminals  and  the  commutation  of  punishments  are 
bestowed  in  mass,  in  honor  of  political  events,  which  are  called 
fastcs  (lucky  days)  by  those  who  find  themselves  favored  in  their 
interests  or  satisfied  in  their  passions. 


CHAPTER  XLVII.  —  PRISON  REFORM. 

ON  seeing  the  state  of  prisons  in  Spain,  on  reading  certain 
documents  that  have  emanated  from  official  centres,  on 
observing  that  nothing  has  been  done  for  that  which  is  most 
essential  and  most  urgent,  —  namely,  to  organize  the  personnel  ®i 
the  employes,  so  that  it  may  in  some  degree  approach  what  it 
ought  to  be,  —  giving  attention  only  to  these  facts,  one  would 
say  that  as  yet  there  has  reached  the  peninsula  no  knowledge  of 
penitentiary  systems,  and  that,  more  isolated  from  the  rest  of  the 
world  by  her  ignorance  than  by  her  geographical  position,  Spain 
has  no  idea  of  either  the  justice  or  the  advantage  of  a  reform  of 
her  prisons. 

Such  a  conclusion  would,  nevertheless,  be  wide  of  the  truth. 
For,  although  in  small  number,  there  are  persons  in  Spain  who 
are  earnestly  studying  the  question  of  penitentiary  reform,  who 
ardently  desire  it,  and  who  are  seeking  to  obtain  it  with  a  stead- 
fastness of  purpose  and  of  effort  which  is  proof  against  the  dis- 
dain of  the  public  and  the  indifference  of  successive  Governments. 
Some  literary  and  scientific  bodies  have  proposed  theses  and  have 
awarded  prizes,  in  which  theses  the  writers  have  treated  of  the 
manner  of  applying —  that  is,  of  executing  —  punishment.  In  polit- 
ical gatherings  some  voices  have  been  raised  against  the  shame- 

1  This  is  another  French  word  that  needs  to  be  domesticated  in  our  language,  as 
so  many  others  have  been.  Relapse,  recommittal,  come  nearest  to  its  meaning ;  but 
there  are  many  occasions  on  which  neither  will  answer.  Regime  has  become  com- 
pletely Anglicised ;  why  may  not  r&cidive  ? 


380  STATE   OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  iv. 

ful  state  of  the  prisons,  and  the  administration  has  proposed  and 
the  legislature  (las  cortes)  has  voted  the  erection  of  a  prison  with 
one  thousand  cells,  which  is  already  well  advanced,  as  also  an- 
other of  nine  hundred  cells  not  yet  commenced. 

Although  with  a  precipitation  not  well  considered,  the  admin- 
istration ordered,  two  years  ago,  that  the  mayoralties  should 
immediately  take  measures  to  convert,  according  to  models  fur- 
nished them,  all  the  judicial  or  detention  prisons  (carceles)  of 
Spain  into  cellular  establishments.  The  models  were  not  good, 
the  time  was  insufficient,  the  plan  (if  plan  there  was)  was  not 
conceived  in  a  manner  to  give  good  and  speedy  results,  and  has 
not  given  them.  The  mayoralties  act  very  leisurely  in  forming 
plans,  lacking  generally  the  intelligence  necessary  to  frame  them 
and  the  faith  needed  to  carry  their  projects  into  effect  The  diffi- 
culty depends,  — 

1.  On  the  little  interest  which  public  opinion  accords  to  this 
matter. 

2.  On  the  state  of  impecuniosity  in  which  the  communes  find 
themselves,  —  overwhelmed  with  obligations  and  debts. 

3.  On  the  absurd  dimensions  (with  proportionate  cost)  which  it 
is  sought  to  give  to  the  judicial  prisons.     There  is  a  town  where, 
by  rare  exception,  there  will  be  some  single  accused  person  de- 
prived of  his  liberty,  and  where  the  judge  asks  for  one  hundred 
cells  !     This  joined  to  the  slowness  of  the  proceedings,  —  a  slow- 
ness described  by  an  expression  fearfully  graphic,  and  according 
to  which  the  accused  rot  in  the  prisons, — makes  it  difficult,  and  in 
fact  will  make  it  impossible  for  a  long  time  to  come,  that  they  be 
converted  into  cellular  prisons.     If  the  detention  prison  proposed 
were  what  it  ought   to  be,   the  reform  could  be  accomplished 
within  a  period  relatively  not  very  long. 

The  Government  has  named  a  commission  of  penitentiary  re- 
form to  study  this  grave  question  and  give  its  advice.  This 
commission  is  badly  organized ;  because  the  persons  composing  it, 
not  being  compensated  for  their  labor,  employ  in  the  investigation 
only  the  time  allowed  by  other  occupations  on  which  their  living 
depends,  so  that  they  work  little  and  accomplish  little.  The 
administration  proceeds  by  feeling  its  way,  does  little,  and  that 
little  not  well  ;  but  it  essays  something  in  the  way  of  reform, 
which  formerly  it  never  did. 

If  it  cannot  be  said  that  public  opinion  occupies  itself  seri- 
ously with  the  question  of  prison  reform,  at  least  there  is  no 
doubt  that  it  gives  some  signs  of  life. 

At  Madrid  a  private  citizen  conceived  the  idea  of  creating  a 
house  of  correction  for  juvenile  delinquents.  He  made  an  ap- 
peal to  the  public,  which  responded  with  considerable  contribu- 
tions. These  not  being  sufficient  he  abandoned  the  project,  less 
it  would  seem  for  want  of  money  than  from  that  of  a  fixed  pur- 
pose and  a  well-considered  plan. 


PART  in.]  IN  SPAIN.  381 


CHAPTER  XLVIII.  —  GROUNDS  OF  ENCOURAGEMENT. 

THE  departmental  council  (provincial  legislature)  of  Barce- 
lona sent  at  its  own  expense  a  representative  to  the  Peni- 
tentiary Congress  of  Stockholm,  and  made  to  the  Government  a 
proposition  to  build  a  house  of  correction  for  the  prisoners  of 
Catalonia,  without  other  recompense  than  to  receive  for  each 
prisoner  what  he  now  costs  the  Government.  In  the  same  city 
of  Barcelona  it  is  seriously  proposed  to  form  a  general  society  for 
the  promotion  of  prison  reform.1 

A  patronage  society  has  been  organized  at  Valencia. 

The  citizens  of  Seville  have  memorialized  the  Government  on 
the  advantage  thai  would  accrue  from  utilizing  the  railways  for 
the  transportation  of  prisoners  and  from  constructing  cellular 
carriages  for  that  purpose.  Here  and  there  from  time  to  time 
are  observed  tokens  that  the  penitentiary  question  is  jiot  abso- 
lutely a.  stranger  to  the  people  of  Spain. 

There  exist  books,  pamphlets,  and  an  occasional  article  in  a 
journal  on  penitentiary  subjects  ;  and,  although  they  are  little 
read,  it  is  always  necessary  to  begin  by  writing. 

If  we  compare  what  is  done  in  Spain  with  what  is  done  in 
other  countries,  the  comparison,  says  Madame  Arenal,  is  very 
sad  ;  but  if  we  compare  what  was  known  and  said  ten  years  ago 
on  the  subject  of  prisons  with  what  is  known  and  written  to-day, 
there  is  reason  to  feel  consoled  and  encouraged.  In  seeing  the 
penitentiary  practice  so  vicious  and  so  deplorable  ;  in  seeing  the 
administration  so  little  in  earnest  to  call  competent  persons  to  its 
aid,  so  deaf  to  their  counsels,  so  obstinate  in  yielding  to  politics 
and  to  favor  the  appointment  of  prison  employes  both  small  and 
great,  —  in  seeing  it  without  plan  and  without  system,  one  feels 
a  painful  impatience.  But  history  intervenes  to  calm  that  impa- 
tience, showing  that  these  are  not  things  peculiar  to  Spain,  but 
belong  to  the  whole  world ;  that  imprudence,  negligence,  igno- 
rance, are  the  heritage  of  the  race  as  well  as  logic,  order,  justice, 
reason.  History  shows  also  that  in  other  countries  and  during 
long  periods  these  causes  gave  for  result  efforts  apparently  use- 
less, evils  that  seemed  incurable,  and  slow  progress  in  reform. 
But,  in  spite  of  all,  thought  is  translated  into  action,  though  with 
much  difficulty  it  makes  way,  and  reform  will  come.  Metis  ctgitat 
molem. 

Those  who  are  to-day  seeking  to  realize  penitentiary  reform 
in  Spain  resemble  workmen  who  lay  the  foundations  of  the 
structures  they  propose  to  rear  at  the  bottom  of  the  sea  ;  they 

1  This  purpose  has  been  carried  into  effect,  as  will  appear  further  on. 


382  STATE   OF  PRISONS,   ETC.  [BOOK  iv. 

work,  work,  work,  —  who  knows  at  what  profound  depths  ?  —  and 
nothing  tangible,  nothing  substantial  appears.  But  the  work  ad- 
vances without  being  seen ;  and  when  it  becomes  perceptible  to 
the  multitude,  it  is  almost  finished.  Then  those  will  no  longer 
be  living  who  laid  the  foundations,  —  those  who  under  many  at- 
mospheres of  indifference  had  been,  able  to  live,  breathing  hope, 
love,  and  faith.  For  them  we  must  hope  that  Spain  is  not  ex- 
cluded from  the  communion  of  the  just,  nor  blotted  out  from 
among  the  nations  that  believe  in  the  regeneration  of  their  crim- 
inal children,  and  which  make  that  regeneration  possible. 


CHAPTER  XLIX.  —  ORGANIZATION  OF  A  GENERAL  PRISON 

SOCIETY. 

THE  General  Association  for  the  promotion  of  penitentiary 
reform  in  Spain,  referred  to  as  in  contemplation  by  Mad- 
ame Arenal  in  a  former  paragraph,  has  been  organized  under  the 
lead  of  Sefior  Don  Armengol  y  Cornet,  —  to-day  without  doubt  the 
foremost  man,  as  Madame  Arenal  equally  beyond  doubt  is  the  fore- 
most woman,  in  Spain,  of  all  those  who  take  an  interest  in  and 
labor  for  the  promotion  of  the  cause  of  penitentiary  reform  in 
that  country.  A  few  weeks  ago  a  large  and  enthusiastic  meeting 
was  held  in  the  city  of  Barcelona,  composed  of  the  most  eminent 
citizens  in  all  the  professions  and  walks  of  life,  at  which  the  pro- 
posed association  was  inaugurated  under  auspices  the  most  hope- 
ful and  promising.  It  would  occupy  too  much  space,  besides 
being  out  of  harmony  with  the  main  design  of  this  work,  to  enter 
into  a  detailed  account  of  what  took  place  on  that  occasion.  I 
can  only  make  room  for  the  closing  words  of  Sefior  Armengol's 
speech,  which  was  but  one  of  several,  all  breathing  the  same 
spirit :  — 

"  The  child  who  to-day  enters  within  the  walls  of  a  prison  for  a  mere 
bagatelle  to-morrow  will  go  back  as  a  thief,  later  as  an  assassin,  and  he  will 
end  by  coming  out  of  it  to  mount  the  steps  of  a  gallows.  Visit  the  court- 
yard of  a  prison,  and  ask  the  unfortunates  whom  you  find  there,  and 
they  will  answer  with  a  most  just  and  crushing  reproach,  before  which  we 
all  ought  to  bow  the  head,  '  We  are  criminals  because  society  used  no  means 
to  make  us  virtuous  /'  " 


PART  in.]  IN  SPAIN.  383 


CHAPTER  L.  —  FURTHER  ITEMS  TOUCHING  PRISON  WORK 

IN  SPAIN. 

SINCE  the  foregoing  chapters  on  Spain  were  written  I  have 
had  the  honor  to  receive  from  the  illustrious  Sefior  Don 
Fernando  Cos-Gayon  a  discourse  pronounced  by  him  on  the 
1 5th  June,  1879,  before  the  Academy  of  Moral  and  Political 
Sciences,  at  a  meeting  over  which  the  king  himself  presided. 
The  subject  of  his  discourse  was  the  prison  problem,  and  in  it  was 
contained  much  relating  to  that  problem  as  connected  with  his 
own  country.  What  is  most  needed  in  Spain  at  this  moment, 
according  to  Mr.  Cos-Gayon,  is  information,  —  the  diffusion  of 
ideas.  When  the  necessity  of  any  reform  is  fully  recognized  by 
public  opinion,  he  says,  it  is  quickly  realized,  at  whatever  cost  of 
money  or  effort ;  whereas,  if  the  administration  of  the  State  by 
itself,  and  without  the  concurrence  and  aid  of  public  opinion,  un- 
dertake such  a  reform,  the  first  serious  obstacle  will  be  apt  to  put 
an  end  to  it.  Therefore,  to-day  the  most  important  thing  for 
Spain  is  discussion,  —  the  wide  diffusion  among  the  people  of 
the  true  theory  of  penitentiary  reform.  The  illustrious  orator 
draws  a  sorrowful  picture  of  the  state  of  things  in  Spain,  even 
down  to  the  present  hour.  Among  other  things  he  says  :  — 

"Of  agricultural  colonies  for  young  criminals,  which  have  had  such 
large  success  in  other  countries,  we  have  no  knowledge  whatsoever  from 
our  own  experience.  Of  the  various  combinations  contrived  elsewhere 
for  the  gradual  recovery  of  his  liberty  by  the  convict,  none  has  been  tried 
here.  No  societies  have  been  organized  to  extend  a  helping  hand  to  the 
liberated  prisoner  at  the  critical  moment  of  his  leaving  the  penitentiary 
establishment.  We  have  held  no  national  prison  congresses  ourselves,  and 
scarcely  taken  part  in  those  of  an  international  character.  Neither  in 
prison  literature  nor  in  the  management  of  prisons  have  we  had  specialists 
who  have  devoted  their  whole  life  to  the  study  of  penitentiary  problems. 

"  All  the  books,  pamphlets,  and  fugitive  articles  on  these  subjects  in 
Spain  would  form  a  very  scanty  library,  not  at  all  comparable  to  the  abun- 
dant publications  in  our  country  on  other  subjects.  The  laws  and  admin- 
istrative provisions  which  we  Spaniards  have  till  now  enacted  would  fill  a 
very  restricted  space  in  the  history  of  the  already  vast  comparative  legisla- 
tion on  penitentiary  systems.  Not  even  has  there  been  attempted  any 
reform  in  the  prison  system  to  give  effect  to  the  provisions  of  the  code 
relating  to  the  various  penalties  therein  enacted.  In  nothing  has  the  ad- 
vance of  our  country  been  so  slow  during  so  long  a  time.  Neither  in 
science,  nor  art,  nor  administration,  nor  material  improvements,  nor  in  the 
progress  of  manners,  nor  in  any  thing  else  whatsoever,  has  there  been 
encountered  an  example  of  an  apathy  so  prolonged  and  absolute  in  the 
presence  of  reforms  undertaken  and  pursued  with  ardor  everywhere  else. 

"  Nevertheless,  this  inactivity  has  for  some  time  been  growing  less.  The 
Spanish  Government  not  long  since  commissioned  a  veteran  publicist  to 


384  STATE   OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  iv. 

examine  the  most  important  prisons  in  foreign  countries,  and  afterwards 
sent  an  official  representation  to  the  Congress  of  Stockholm.  The  legis- 
lature has  made  provision  for  a  vast  cellular  prison  in  Madrid,  whose  con- 
struction the  public  administration  is  pushing  forward  with  activity.  The 
initiative  of  a  private  citizen  has  also  undertaken  the  establishment,  in  the 
environs  of  the  capital,  of  a  reformatory  for  juvenile  delinquents.  His 
excellent  plan  has  been  accepted,  although  contributions  have  not,  so  far, 
corresponded  to  the  importance  of  the  project.  This  illustrious  academy 
opened  a  competition  between  writers  who  might  desire  to  discuss  one  of 
the  most  interesting  among  penitentiary  problems,  and  it  had  the  satisfac- 
tion of  receiving  manuscripts,  worthy  of  its  prizes,  due  to  pens  already 
repeatedly  employed  on  this  branch  of  knowledge.  By  the  side  of  the 
ministry  of  the  interior  (gobernaciori)  there  has  been  established  a  council 
{junta)  of  penitentiary  reform,  and  an  institution  in  aid  of  discharged 
prisoners  and  deserted  children.  In  the  ministry  of  grace  and  justice  has 
been  opened  a  general  registry  of  prisoners,  which  must  be  attended  with 
considerable  advantage  in  rendering  more  prompt  the  administration  of 
criminal  justice,  in  perfecting  penitentiary  statistics,  and  in  securing  a 
more  righteous  application  of  penalties." 

My  friend  and  co-worker,  Senor  Don  Francisco  Lastres,  one  of 
the  official  delegates  from  Spain  to  the  Congress  of  Stockholm, 
writes  me  from  Madrid  that  the  Government  has  commissioned 
him  to  visit  and  inspect  some  of  the  more  important  of  the 
European  prisons,  and  especially  to  make  a  close  examination  and 
study  of  the  great  normal  school  at  Rome  for  the  training  of 
prison  officers  and  employes,  inasmuch  as  the  Spanish  Govern- 
ment has  the  thought  of  creating  a  similar  establishment  at 
Madrid,  or  some  other  point  which  may  be  deemed  more  suitable. 
This  is  a  very  important  and  a  very  long  stride  taken  in  the  direc- 
tion of  solid  and  lasting  prison  reform. 

Mr.  Lastres  mentions  other  reforms,  of  no  little  importance 
recently  introduced.  These  are:  i.  A  decree  of  August  12 
most  important,  because  its  tendency  is  to  create  an  excellent  body 
of  employes  for  the  convict  prisons  by  requiring  of  them  special 
aptitudes,  and  by  securing  to  those  appointed  conformably  to  said 
decree  permanence  in  their  positions  so  long  as  they  discharge 
their  duties  satisfactorily.  2.  A  decree  of  the  ist  September, 
having  in  view  a  classification  of  prisons  by  creating  a  special 
prison  for  young  men  under  twenty  years  of  age,  and  another  for 
political  offenders  and  persons  convicted  of  crimes  against  honor 
(slander,  etc.),  which  can  only  be  prosecuted  on  complaint  of  the 
aggrieved  party.  3.  Another  decree  of  the  same  date,  organizing 
the  personnel  of  the  detention  prisons  on  the  same  basis  as  those 
of  the  decree  of  the  I2th  August  relating  to  the  employes  of  the 
convict  prisons. 

Thus  has  the  good  work  been  begun  in  earnest  in  Spain,  and 
it  seems  to  be  moving  forward,  if  slowly,  nevertheless  prosper- 
ously. The  next  decade  is  sure  to  witness  progress  as  vast  as  it 
will  be  gratifying. 


PART  iv.]  IN  TURKEY.  385 


PART   FOURTH. 

TURKEY. 

CHAPTER  LI.  —  BLACQUE  BEY'S  LETTER  TO  THE  AUTHOR. 

FOR  eight  years  I  have  sought  with  diligence  to  obtain  from 
the  Sublime  Porte  some  official  report  on  the  penal  system 
and  penitentiary  administration  of  the  Turkish  Empire.  I  have 
received  through  our  American  ministers  many  fair  words,  many 
expressions  of  sympathy  and  interest  in  the  cause  and  work  of 
prison  reform,  from  successive  ministers  of  justice  in  the  Turkish 
cabinet,  but  no  syllable  of  information  from  an  official  source. 
The  nearest  approach  to  it  was  in  a  communication  received  from 
Blacque  Bey,  Turkish  minister  at  Washington,  in  1872,  apologiz- 
ing for  his  absence  from  a  public  meeting  in  the  interest  of  prison 
reform  at  New  York.  I  cite  this  letter  in  extenso,  that  I  may  not 
be  charged  with  keeping  back  any  word  or  syllable,  vouchsafed 
from  any  quarter,  having  the  slightest  semblance  of  an  official 
character.  The  letter  thus  referred  to  is  in  the  following 

words :  — 

WASHINGTON,  Jan.  22,  1872. 

DEAR  SIR,  —  I  very  much  regret  that  indisposition  will  keep  me  from 
fulfilling  my  promise ;  but  you  will  allow  me  in  this  way  to  present  some 
of  the  ideas  that  I  would  gladly  have  imparted  to  the  meeting  if  I  had  been 
able  to  address  it  in  person.  Although  prison  discipline  in  Turkey  has 
been  for  a  long  time  neglected  for  the  want  of  initiative  on  the  part  of 
gentlemen  like  yourself,  who  are  led  by  a  commendable  philanthropy  to 
devise  the  means  of  relieving,  morally  as  well  as  physically,  the  unfortunate 
whom  justice  has  visited  with  punishment,  yet  there  is  a  fact  which  cannot 
be  too  much  dwelt  upon  :  never,  during  the  six  centuries  of  the  existence 
of  the  Ottoman  Empire,  has  imprisonment  for  crime  given  occasion  to 
such  tortures  as  are  disclosed  by  the  history  of  civilized  nations  in  Europe. 
The  religious  faith  that  impelled  the  Ottoman  people  to  conquest,  and  did 
so  much  towards  their  grandeur  in  former  times,  never  degenerated  into 
cruelties,  either  in  their  social  or  political  organization.  Universal  philan- 
thropy and  charity  are  the  broad  and  immovable  bases  on  which  the 
Mahometan  creed  rests. 

Solitary  confinement  does  not  and  never  did  exist  in  Turkey.  Prisoners 
live  in  common,  divided  into  classes,  and  receive  the  same  food  as  soldiers. 
The  prison  recently  established  on  the  Place  d'  Hippodrome,  in  Constanti- 
nople, which  I  visited  a  few  months  ago,  is  a  prison  of  the  first  class.  It 

25 


386  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  iv. 

contains  more  than  six  hundred  convicts,  for  various  terms  of  sentence. 
Imprisonment  in  Turkey  cannot  exceed  twenty-five  years.  I  saw  in  this 
remarkable  establishment  —  formerly  used  as  a  barrack  for  janissaries,  but 
since  with  the  most  careful  solicitude  appropriated  to  its  present  use  — 
several  large,  longitudinal,  well-aired  rooms,  on  either  side  of  which  are 
small  apartments  for  the  beds  of  prisoners.  Each  inmate  has  a  cotton 
mattress,  a  bolster,  and  a  thick  blanket.  These  are  unfolded  on  the 
wooden  floor  at  night,  and  folded  again  in  the  morning  to  serve  as  seats 
for  the  prisoners.  There  are  both  Mussulman  and  Christian  chaplains ;  an 
infirmary,  superior  to  many  public  hospitals  ;  a  dispensary ;  a  large  marble 
bath-room,  divided  into  several  compartments,  where  the  prisoners  are 
required  to  bathe  weekly ;  a  number  of  yards  for  taking  air  and  exercise 
twice  a  day ;  an  agricultural  and  horticultural  garden  ;  various  workshops 
for  divers  industries,  from  watch-making  to  smithery ;  a  spacious  laundry  ; 
a  scho6l  for  juvenile  prisoners ;  and,  finally,  a  private  kitchen,  in  which, 
as  a  reward  for  good  conduct,  convicts  are  allowed  to  prepare  at  their  own 
expense  such  extra  dishes  as  they  may  choose. 

There  is,  moreover,  close  by  the  establishment  a  little  bazaar,  where 
the  industrial  products  of  the  prisoners  are  exhibited  and  sold  on  their 
own  account. 

Unfortunately,  I  am  not  able  here  to  give  you  the  rules  and  regulations 
of  this  prison.  But  on  my  recent  visit  I  saw  three  spacious  and  well- 
ventilated  cells,  more  or  less  darkened,  where  prisoners  are  confined  who 
have  been  insubordinate  ;  and  I  know  that  corporal  punishments,  such  as 
the  Russian  knout,  the  English  cat-o'-nine-tails,  or  rods  of  any  kind,  which 
are  so  commonly  used  in  European  prisons,  are  entirely  forbidden  in  this 
establishment. 

In  brief,  after  having  visited  several  prisons  in  London,  Paris,  Toulon, 
and  other  parts  of  Europe,  speaking  conscientiously  and  without  any  feel- 
ing of  national  pride,  I  must  declare  that,  although  the  prison  in  Con- 
stantinople lacks  the  monumental  appearance  and  proportions  which 
render  some  European  establishments  of  this  kind  so  remarkable,  yet,  as 
a  compensation,  it  is  unquestionably,  as  far  as  the  ideas  and  principles  you 
are  seeking  to  propagate  among  civilized  nations  are  concerned,  superior 
to  those  I  have  seen  anywhere  else. 

With  assurances  of  distinguished  consideration,  I  have  the  honor  to  be, 
Sir,  your  obedient  servant, 

BLACQUE. 

Such  is  the  letter,  which  speaks  for  itself  and  its  author.  It 
will  not  be  regarded  as  a  very  sharp  criticism  to  characterize  it  as 
of  rather  high  couleur  de  rose. 


PART  iv.]  IN  TURKEY.  387 


CHAPTER  LII.  —  PRISONS  AT  ERZROUM,  ADRIANOPLE,  AND 

CYPRUS. 

FAILING  to  obtain  the  information  sought  from  official  sources, 
I  have  endeavored  to  procure  it  elsewhere,  especially  from 
a  most  intelligent  gentleman  long  resident  in  Turkey.  This  per- 
son sent  me  a  copy  of  a  letter,  describing  "  a  Turkish  prison  in 
Cyprus,"  by  Mr.  Archibald  Forbes,1  special  correspondent  of  the 
London  "  Daily  News,"  —  a  prison  attached  to  the  konak,  or  gov- 
ernor's palace  of  Nikosia.  My  friend,  in  a  letter  accompanying 
the  transcript,  says  :  — 

"  Possibly  you  may  not  have  seen  this  letter ;  I  have  therefore  had  it 
copied  for  you.  I  have  not  forgotten  my  promise  to  write  you  in  regard 
to  Turkish  prisons,  but  since  my  return  to  Turkey  I  have  not  been  in  the 
vicinity  of  any  of  the  great  Turkish  establishments  of  this  sort.  On  my 
way  here  I  stopped  a  few  days  at  Constantinople.  While  there  I  applied 
to  the  head  of  the  Protestant  community  for  any  information  he  might  be 
able  to  give  me.  He  promised  to  see  if  he  could  obtain  for  me  some 
official  reports  in  regard  to  the  state  of  the  prisons  in  this  country.  These 
reports  I  intended  to  send  you.  Hagop  Effendi,  however,  assured  me 
that  the  Turkish  Government  was  so  suspicious  in  these  days  that  he  did 
not  hope  for  much  success  in  seeking  for  information  on  such  a  point. 

"  I  once  visited  the  large  prison  at  Erzroum,  and  subsequently  the  one 
in  Adrianople.  There  were  about  six  hundred  prisoners  in  each.  The  pris- 
ons corresponded  precisely  to  the  one  in  Cyprus  described  by  Mr.  Forbes 
in  the  letter  to  the  '  Daily  News.'  The  prisoners  were  loaded  with  im- 
mense chains.  Six  poor  Protestants  were  thus  burdened,  and  kept  in  the 
prison  at  Erzroum  for  six  months.  They  were  convicted  of  no  crime, 
and  were  at  last  released  without  a  trial.  The  charge  was  a  trumped-up 
one  by  persecuting  Armenians.  Turkish  judges  were  bribed,  and  Protes- 
tant witnesses  were  driven  out  of  court." 

Mr.  Forbes  writes  as  follows  :  — 

"This  prison  has  nearly  six  hundred  inmates ;  and  among  them  are  male- 
factors of  every  dye,  —  murderers,  robbers,  political  prisoners,  forgotten 
suspects.  I  have  seen  not  a  few  horrible  sights.  I  have  ridden  across  a 
battle-field  on  which  lay  five-and-thirty  thousand  dead  and  dying  soldiers ; 
I  have  seen  a  whole  field  full  of  famine-stricken  miserables ;  I  have  fre- 
quented the  pest-houses  of  Metz  after  the  siege,  where  lay  neglected  the 
wretched  victims  of  black  small-pox  and  spotted  typhus ;  I  have  trodden 
the  corridors  of  the  Grand  Hotel  of  Paris,  heart-sick  because  of  the  foeted 
effluvium  from  pyaemia,  sloughing  wounds,  and  hospital  gangrene  ;  I  have 
seen  the  bodies  of  men  who  had  been  roasted  alive ;  I  have  been  in  a 

1  Of  world-wide  renown  for  honesty  and  accuracy,  as  well  as  for  energy  and 
ability. 


388  STATE   OF  PRISONS,   ETC.  [BOOK  IV. 

cholera  hospital,  —  but  never  have  I  witnessed  a  more  noisome  spectacle 
than  that  which  these  foul  dungeons  in  the  Nikosia  Konak  afford.  There 
is  no  concealment  of  the  cursed  shame  of  the  thing.  The  official  rooms  of 
the  governor  overhang  the  courtyard  of  the  prison ;  and  the  pasha,  as  he 
smoked  his  hookah,  had  but  little  other  view  than  the  putrid  courtyard  in 
which  the  prisoners,  who  have  a  measure  of  liberty,  swarm  in  their  clank- 
ing chains.  I  wonder  that  the  very  stench  of  the  place  did  not  sicken 
him.  I  read  that  the  night  before  we  left  England  questions  had  been 
put  in  Parliament  on  the  subject  of  slavery  in  Cyprus.  What  slavery  exists 
in  Cyprus  is  domestic  servitude  of  the  generic  Eastern  character,  —  a  theo- 
retic rather  than  a  practical  evil.  But  here  in  this  prison  is  an  institution 
which  puts  the  slavery  of  Louisiana  into  the  shade,  and  which  puts 
humanity  to  the  blush.  Yet  the  Turks  seem  to  accept  it  as  a  matter  of 
course.  I  entered  the  konak,  and  a  Turkish  officer  with  a  polite  bow 
asked  me  if  I  cared  to  see  the  prison,  much  in  the  tone  that  the  warder  at 
Holyrood  asks  the  tourist  if  he  has  a  mind  to  see  Queen  Mary's  rooms. 
I  assented  ;  and  he  handed  me  over  to  a  little  bow-legged  fellow  who  sat 
outside  a  wicket-gate  in  a  palisading  that  ran  across  the  courtyard  of  the 
konak.  Dante  might  have  visited  this  pandemonium  to  gain  ideas  for  his 
description  of  the  Inferno ;  but  the  Turks  are  not  blessed  with  sentiment, 
and  there  is  no  inscription  over  the  gate.  Entering  through  the  wicket,  I 
found  myself  in  a  narrow  courtyard,  surrounded  on  three  sides  by  gloomy 
stone  walls,  broken  by  heavily  barred  windows,  with  here  and  there  a 
strong  wooden  door.  From  under  each  door  oozed  a  gutter  of  inexpress- 
ible foetor,  —  the  naked  sewage  of  the  loathsome  dungeon  inside.  I  was 
at  once  surrounded  by  a  horde  of  prisoners  of  villanous  aspect,  all  or 
nearly  all  manacled  in  the  most  curiously  diverse  fashions.  Some  wore  a 
heavy  chain,  one  end  of  which  was  fastened  to  a  clumsily  massive  shackle 
round  the  ankle,  the  other  tied  up  around  the  waist.  Others  merely  wore 
this  grim  anklet  with  no  chain  attached.  Yet  others  had  a  huge  link 
'fastened  to  the  anklet,  which  was  worn  against  the  outside  of  the  leg,  and 
fastened  into  position  by  a  leathern  garter.  These  were  the  '  liberty ' 
men,  to  whom  so  much  favor  is  accorded  by  reason  of  long  imprisonment 
coupled  with  good  conduct,  —  who  are  not  huddled  into  the  dungeons,  but 
are  allowed  to  loaf  out  here  in  the  courtyard.  A  long  gloomy  passage 
opened  out  of  one  end  of  the  courtyard  ;  and  this  I  entered,  encompassed 
by  the  concourse  of  villains,  and  with  no  other  escort  than  the  little  bow- 
legged  warder  of  the  gate.  Into  this  passage  looked  several  barred 
windows,  and  behind  the  bars  there  glowered  and  strained  the  close-set 
faces  of  the  more  dangerous  prisoners.  What  ruffianly  faces  most  of  these 
were  !  faces  the  expression  of  which  -*-  wolfish,  ferocious,  hungry  for  blood, 
sardonic,  utterly  devilish  —  made  the  flesh  creep.  With  every  movement 
there  was  the  clank  of  chains,  for  every  man  wore  fetters.  The  expression 
1  hugging  his  chains  '  I  have  hitherto  regarded  as  a  mere  allegorical  figure 
of  speech,  but  now  I  was  to  see  the  literal  reality.  The  crowd  around  the  • 
window  gave  back,  and  there  approached  a  tall,  stalwart  figure,  somewhat 
bowed  down  by  some  heavy  burden  that  he  carried  in  his  arms.  He 
stopped  and  laid  this  burden  down,  and  then  stood  erect,  —  a  Hercules  of 
a  man,  with  a  face  out  of  which  every  thing  human  save  the  mere  linea- 
ments was  erased.  And  what  think  you  was  his  burden  ?  It  consisted  of 
a  mass  of  heavy  iron  links  knotted  up  into  a  great  clump,  and  fastened  to 


PART  iv.]  IN  TURKEY.  389 

the  man's  ankle.  Its  weight  was  eighty  okes,  or  one  hundred- weight ;  and 
when  he  unravelled  it  and  stretched  it  out  on  the  ground,  I  saw  that  it 
was  about  fifteen  feet,  and  resembled  in  the  massiveness  of  its  links  the 
chain-cable  of  a  trading  schooner.  What  had  been  the  man's  crime  ?  — 
Murder.  How  long  had  he  been  in  prison  ? — Six-and- twenty  years.  Had 
he  worn  the  chain  all  that  time  ?  —  Yes.  Great  Heaven,  were  not  death 
infinitely  to  be  preferred  to  such  a  fate  !  Never  to  be  able  to  move 
throughout  all  these  long  years  without  hugging  to  his  bosom  that  huge 
knot  of  iron  !  I  passed  on  along  this  gallery  of  crime  and  misery,  till  the 
spectacles  and  the  stenches  sickened  me,  and  I  had  to  escape  to  purer  air. 
The  memory  still  haunts  me  of  the  ghastly  faces  at  the  barred  windows, 
of  the  clank  of  the  trailing  chains,  of  the  indescribable  fcetor  of  the  air  in 
which  a  human  being  has  clung  to  life  for  six-and-twenty  years.  This 
abomination  must  be  swept  away  without  delay.  We  have  received  from 
the  Turks  the  legacy  of  a  fair  island,  ruined  by  their  neglect  and  rapacity  j 
but  it  is  not -possible  that  we  can  include  in  the  acceptance  such  a  horror 
as  this.  His  Excellency  has  made  energetic  demands  on  the  Porte  that  it 
without  delay  cleanse  Cyprus  from  this  reproach  on  an  age  of  civilization. 
The  Porte,  I  believe,  promises  to  send  for  its  prisoners ;  but  it  does  not 
do  so,  and  there  they  remain." 


CHAPTER  LIII.  —  GENERAL  CONDITION  OF  TURKISH  PRISONS. 

I  HAVE  received  a  further  communication  from  an  American 
residing  in  Turkey,  under  date  of  June  17,  1879,  ^n  which  he 
says :  — 

"  The  penitentiary  system  in  this  empire  is  scarcely  worthy  of  the  name. 
The  prisons  are  simply  places  of  detention,  where  prisoners  or  convicts 
can  be  kept  securely ;  and  no  attempt  is  made  at  reforming  them.  There 
is  no  such  thing  as  a  reformatory  institution  in  the  country.  Convicts 
after  being  released,  having  served  their  time,  are  more  hardened  in  crime 
than  when  convicted.  In  the  provinces  the  prisons  are  even  worse,  if 
possible,  than  here.  Reforms  in  this  direction  are  greatly  needed ;  but 
where  there  is  so  much  required  all  over  the  empire,  it  is  probable  that  the 
prison  system  will  be  one  of  the  last  things  that  will  receive  attention. 
Reforms  in  every  branch  of  the  public  service,  from  the  highest  to  the 
lowest,  are  much  spoken  of  and  promised ;  but  as  yet  nothing  has  been 
done,  and  the  excuse  is  the  extreme  penury  of  the  Government  and  the 
great  disturbances  to  which  Turkey  has  been  subjected  for  the  last  years. 
Elaborate  systems  of  reform  have  been  planned  and  announced,  but  I 
have  heard  nothing  suggested  in  regard  to  the  amelioration  of  the  physical 
or  moral  condition  of  convicts.  Education  of  the  people  as  a  possible 
preventive  of  crime  receives  but  little  attention  on  the  part  of  Mahometans. 
In  some  of  the  European  provinces  which  have  shaken  off  in  a  degree  or 
altogether  the  pttoman  yoke  a  laudable  ambition  is  manifested  to  bring 


3QO  STATE   OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  iv. 

the  people  up  from  the  state  of  deep  debasement  into  which  they  have 
sunk  from  centuries  of  despotic  government.  The  rayahs  are  beginning 
to  raise  their  heads,  and  show  in  numerous  instances  that  all  they  require 
is  freer  and  more  liberal  institutions  to  take  again  the  intellectual  position 
that  their  ancestors  once  held  in  Europe. 

"  Prisons  in  Turkey  are,  I  repeat,  simply  places  of  detention.  Persons 
are  kept  in  them  to  await  trial,  or  as  punishment  for  the  crimes  of  which 
they  have  been  convicted.  The  sexes  are  kept  separate ;  but  criminals, 
from  the  boy  convicted  of  petty  larceny  to  the  mature  man  sentenced  for 
some  atrocious  crime,  are  thrown  together,  —  with  the  usual  result  of 
sending  the  incipient  sinner  back  into  society  hardened  and  prepared  for 
any  crime. 

"  In  fine,  nothing  is  done  which  evinces  a  '  desire  to  arrive  at  a  right 
solution  of  the  great  problem  of  crime-prevention  and  crime-repression,' 
unless  it  be  by  the  employment  of  force  ;  and  even  this  is  used  with  energy 
only  when  some  unusually  atrocious  attack  on  the  safety  of  society  has 
been  committed." 


CHAPTER  LIV.  —  ADDITIONAL  ITEMS  ON  TURKISH  PRISONS. 

THE  following  particulars  have  been  communicated  by  a  gen- 
tleman of  high  culture  as  well  as  great  intelligence,  who 
has  resided  in  Turkey  many  years. 

Prisons  for  men  and  for  women  are  separate.  They  are  not 
merely  different  wards,  but  different  establishments,  under  distinct 
administrations,  and  usually  at  considerable  distance  from  each 
other. 

In  the  male  prisons  of  large  cities  there  are  separate  apart- 
ments for  prisoners  awaiting  trial,  for  prisoners  under  sentence, 
and  for  persons  imprisoned  for  debt.  In  the  female  prisons  this 
is  not  the  case,  so  that  a  woman  of  good  character  imprisoned  for 
debt  may  be  thrown  into  the  same  ward  with  women  of  the  most 
abandoned  character. 

Male  prisoners  are  sometimes  employed  on  public  works,  a  ring 
and  chain  being  uniformly  attached  to  one  leg.  There  is  no  pro- 
vision for  other  useful  employment  of  prisoners,  except  that  men 
not  condemned  to  the  chain-gang  are  allowed  to  work  at  their 
own  trades  for  their  own  benefit. 

The  only  food  furnished  to  prisoners  is  about  two  pounds  of 
bread  each  per  day.  Friends  are  permitted  to  supply  them  with 
food,  or  if  they  have  the  means  they  can  purchase  it  themselves. 

Torture  is  not  how  practised  to  extort  confessions.  Men  are, 
however,  sometimes  removed  for  this  purpose  from  one  apartment 
to  another  more  uncomfortable;  and,  when  strong  suspicions 
exist,  this  process  is  repeated  several  times.  No  provision  is  made 
for  the  instruction  of  prisoners. 


PART  iv.]  IN    TURKEY.  391 

Naturally  the  prisons  in  the  capital  are  in  a  somewhat  better 
condition  than  those  in  smaller  towns.  There  is  also  a  general 
amelioration  in  the  condition  of  prisons  now  as  compared  with 
their  state  thirty  or  forty  years  ago.  But  it  is  due  to  the  advance 
of  society  in  that  period  (an  advance  shared  in  some  degree  by 
Turkey  with  the  world  at  large),  and  not  to  any  systematic  efforts 
made  by  the  Government  or  by  the  community. 

No  reformatory  institutions  for  vicious  or  criminal  children 
exist  in  Turkey. 


392  STATE   OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BooK  iv, 


PART    FIFTH. 

HOLLAND. 

CHAPTER  LV.  —  ACTIVITY  IN  PENITENTIARY  REFORM. 

HOLLAND  is  one  of  the  countries  which  has  felt  most  strongly 
the  impulse  recently  given  to  penal  and  penitentiary  reform, 
and  has  shown  herself  most  active  in  pushing  forward  the  work 
within  her  domain.  The  work  has  been,  at  the  same  time  and 
with  the  same  energy,  carried  forward  in  two  directions  ;  namely, 
the  reform  of  the  penal  code  and  the  reform  of  the  penitentiary 
system.  Indeed,  it  is  held,  and  rightly,  that  the  solution  of  the 
penitentiary  question  is  among  the  graver  problems  presented  to 
the  legislator  who  undertakes  the  codification  of  the  penal  law. 
On  the  penitentiary  system  which  he  adopts  will  largely  depend 
the  success  of  his  work.  The  repression  of  crime  and  the  dimi- 
nution of  criminality  do  not  depend,  alone  or  chiefly,  on  the  rigor 
of  penalties  and  punishments.  An  excess  of  severity  injures  the 
cause  which  it  is  intended  to  benefit.  In  dealing  with  criminals,  it 
is  not  a  question  of  striking  hard,  but  of  striking  justly  and  surely. 
And  in  striking  down,  the  aim  should  be  at  the  same  time  to  lift 
up.  Such  has  been  the  thought  of  the  "  Low  Countries,"  —  the 
Nether-lands  ;  such  her  aim  and  effort. 


CHAPTER  LVI.  —  CELLULAR  SYSTEM. 

HOLLAND  has  followed  closely  in  the  track  of  Belgium  ;  but 
not  with  the  same  unanimity  or  the  same  success.  No 
doubt  the  cellular  system  has  for  many  years  been  steadily  gain- 
ing ground  there  ;  but  the  progressive  principle,  as  applied  on  the 
Irish  or  Crofton  plan,  has  also  found  adherents  not  a  few.  At 
the  annual  meeting  of  the  juridical  association,  held  soon  after  the 
Congress  of  London,  an  entire  day  was  given  to  a  discussion  of 
the  best  prison  system  for  a  State,  in  which  frequent  reference  was 
made  to  the  debates  and  proceedings  at  London.  A  resolution, 
declaring  that  the  progressive  system  ought  not  to  be  recommended 


PART  v.]  IN  HOLLAND.  393 

in  the  case  of  sentences  of  a  long  duration,  was  carried  by  only  a 
small  majority ;  while  another  resolution,  affirming  that  in  such 
cases,  after  the  maximum  of  cellular  imprisonment  allowed  by  law 
(three  years)  had  been  undergone,  the  prisoner  ought  to  be  admit- 
ted to  associated  imprisonment  based  on  a  sound  classification, 
was  adopted  by  a  nearly  unanimous  vote.  There  would  seem  to  be 
a  slight  inconsistency  between  these  two  votes  ;  but  let  that  pass. 
They  show  that  cellular  separation,  for  long  terms  at  least,  has 
not  yet  won  that  complete  victory  in  Holland  which  it  has  in  Bel- 
gium ;  while,  on  the  contrary,  the  Crofton  principle  of  progressive 
classification  has  found  there  many  adherents,  —  whence  it  is  fur- 
ther manifest  that  the  Low  Countries  have  not  yet  attained  to  a 
definite  and  fixed  prison  system.  But  the  question  is  vigorously 
studied  there,  and  a  conclusion  must  be  reached  at  no  distant 
day,  which  is  more  likely  than  otherwise  to  be  in  favor  of  the 
Belgian  system. 


CHAPTER  LVII.  —  CLASSIFICATION  OF  PRISONS  AND  PRISONERS. 
—  FUNDS.  —  PENSIONS.  —  PROPORTION  OF  WOMEN. 

IN  the  Netherlands  four  classes  of  prisons  exist,  —  the  central 
prisons,  for  criminals  sentenced  to  eighteen  months  and  over ; 
detention  prisons,  for  terms  of  sentence  less  than  eighteen  months  ; 
houses  of  arrest,  for  sentences  of  three  months  and  under ;  and 
police  or  cantonal  prisons,  for  sentences  not  exceeding  a  month. 
The  three  classes  last  named  also  receive  prisoners  under  arrest 
and  awaiting  trial.  In  some  cases  all  three  are  united  together, 
forming  a  single  establishment. 

The  classification  of  prisoners  does  not  seem  to  receive  much 
attention  in  the  Netherlands.  In  the  central  prisons,  the  more 
hardened  and  dangerous,  and  those  sentenced  on  reconviction, 
are  separated  from  the  other  prisoners.  The  results  are  reported 
as  favorable. 

The  funds  for  the  support  of  the  prisons  are  a  charge  upon  the 
annual  budget  of  the  State.  The  part  contributed  by  the  labor 
of  the  prisoners  is  quite  inconsiderable. 

The  pensions  granted  to  prison  officers  when  they  become  in- 
capacitated for  further  service  are  the  same  as  those  accorded  to 
all  other  employe's  of  the  State. 

The  general  proportion  in  which  the  sexes  are  represented  in 
the  Netherlands  prisons  is  about  one  woman  to  five  men ;  but 
this  proportion  varies,  especially  in  the  different  provinces. 


394  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  iv. 


CHAPTER  LVIII.  —  ADMINISTRATION.  —  INSPECTION.  —  OFFICES. 

—  DISCIPLINE. 

ALL  the  prisons  in  the  Netherlands  are  under  the  supreme 
direction  of  the  minister  of  justice,  and  the  general  inspec- 
tion of  the  prisons  is  made  by  an  inspector,  who  has  his  deputy 
in  the  bureau  of  the  department  of  justice.  For  the  inspection 
of  the  buildings  an  engineer-architect  is  attached  to  the  same  de- 
partment. The  courts  and  tribunals  are  also  required  to  cause 
the  prisons  to  be  inspected  from  time  to  time,  by  members  as- 
signed to  that  duty.  The  reports  of  all  these  inspections  are 
addressed  to  the  minister. 

The  administration  of  the  several  prisons  is  confided  to  ad- 
ministrative commissions  named  in  each  locality  where  a  prison 
exists.  The  members  of  these  commissions  are  named  by  the  king 
from  among  the  notables  of  the  locality,  who  receive  no  salary. 
Whatever  appertains  to  the  local  administration,  to  the  internal 
service,  to  the  discipline,  and  to  the  execution  of  the  general  and 
special  regulations  is  confided  to  these  commissions,  or  is  done 
through  their  agency.  They  are  in  official  relation  with  the  min- 
ister, either  directly  or  by  the  deputy  of  the  royal  commissioner 
(governor)  of  the  province,  their  immediate  superior  and  their 
honorary  president. 

The  directors  of  the  central  prisons  are  appointed  by  the  king, 
the  other  officers  by  the  minister  of  justice.  There  is  no  defined 
tenure  of  office.  Incumbents  hold  their  offices  until  they  are  dis- 
placed, or  voluntarily  retire  from  the  service.  They  are  as  a 
general  thing  removed  only  for  cause,  so  that  in  effect  they  hold 
their  offices  by  a  good-behavior  tenure. 

No  diminution  of  the  sentences  awarded  by  the  tribunals  can 
be  obtained  as  matter  of  legal  right  by  prisoners  confined  in  the 
jails  and  penitentiaries  of  Holland.  But,  agreeably  to  a  royal  de- 
cree of  1856,  the  administrative  commissions  of  the  central  pris- 
ons submit  every  year  a  proposition  for  pardons  or  remissions,  to 
be  granted  to  prisoners  who  have  distinguished  themselves  by 
their  good  conduct.  Besides  this,  all  prisoners  have  the  ordinary 
resource  of  applying  to  the  king  for  pardon  or  remission ;  and 
since,  in  general,  a  decision  is  made  only  after  a  report  from  the 
commission  on  the.  conduct  of  the  prisoners,  this  conduct  has 
generally  a  strong  influence  upon  the  decision. 

The  portion  of  their  earnings  allotted  to  the  prisoners  are :  To 
civil  prisoners  sentenced  to  reclusion  and  to  military  prisoners, 
forty  per  cent ;  to  the  inmates  of  the  central  prisons,  fifty  per 
cent  ;  and  to  those  confined  in  other  prisons,  seventy  per  cent. 
These  proportions  are  not  increased  by  reason  of  the  prisoners' 


PART  v.]  IN  HOLLAND.  395 

good  conduct.  No  other  rewards  are  given  to  prisoners  beyond 
this  participation  in  their  earnings.  The  distribution  of  premiums 
has  for  some  time  been  abolished,  and  the  industry  of  the  prison- 
ers finds  its  recompense  in  the  increase  of  profits  which  naturally 
result  from  zeal  and  capacity.  Still,  the  re-establishment  of  pre- 
miums is  under  consideration  at  the  present  time. 

The  kinds  and  frequency  of  the  violations  of  prison  rules  differ 
sensibly  in  different  prisons,  and  often  depend  on  the  more  or  less 
intelligent  administration  of  the  chiefs  and  the  employes.  Insub- 
ordination and  quarrels  may  be  regarded  as  the  most  frequent  in- 
fractions. Isolation  by  night  (which  is  not  yet  generally  introduced) 
has  in  this  respect  produced  good  fruits.  The  disciplinary  pun- 
ishments in  use  are  restriction  to  a  diet  of  bread  and  water,  with- 
drawal of  the  privilege  of  writing  and  receiving  letters,  privation 
of  books,  the  dungeon,  fetters,  and,  in  the  central  prison,  isolation 
in  a  cell.  All  these  punishments  are  recorded  in  a  register. 


CHAPTER  LIX.  —  RELIGIOUS  AND  LITERARY  INSTRUCTION. 

THERE  are  no  chaplains,  as  such,  attached  exclusively  to  any 
of  the  prisons  of  Holland  ;  but  in  all  the  central  prisons, 
in  all  the  houses  of  detention,  and  in  most  of  the  houses  of  arrest, 
the  duties  of  chaplain  and  the  religious  services  are  confided  to 
one  of  the  parish  ministers  of  each  religion,  who  is  named  by  the 
minister  of  justice.  The  duties  of  the  chaplain  consist  in  per- 
forming religious  service  on  Sundays  and  feast-days,  in  making 
pastoral  visits,  and  in  imparting  religious  instruction.  Religious 
instruction,  given  with  intelligence,  is  considered  of  great  impor- 
tance as  an  agency  in  the  reformation  of  prisoners.  In  some 
prisons  there  has  been  introduced  the  system  of  proverbs.  This 
consists  of  hanging  on  the  walls  of  the  corridors  and  cells  pithy 
moral  sentences,  and  in  changing  them  from  time  to  time.  In 
the  opinion  of  experienced  persons  this  plan  deserves  to  be  rec- 
ommended for  general  use.  Persons  of  both  sexes,  outside  of 
the  administration,  are  admitted  into  the  prisons  to  labor  among 
the  prisoners,  with  a  view  to  their  moral  regeneration.  Sunday- 
schools  have  not  been  established  in  the  prisons. 

As  a  rule,  about  one-third  of  the  prisoners  received  are  unable 
to  read  and  write.  Schools  exist  in  all  penal  establishments,  ex- 
cept in  the  police  and  cantonal  prisons.  All  prisoners,  up  to  the 
age  of  forty  years,  who  do  not  know  how  to  read  and  write,  are 
obliged  to  receive  that  instruction.  The  branches  commonly 
taught  are  reading,  writing,  and  arithmetic.  The  system  of  in- 


39^  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  IV. 

struction  leaves  much  to  be  desired.  Reforms  have  been  intro- 
duced, or  are  in  contemplation.  In  the  two  central  prisons  for 
juvenile  prisoners  the  system  of  instruction  is  all  that  can  be  de- 
sired. There  are  libraries  in  all  the  prisons,  which  include  books 
on  morals  and  religion,  histories,  travels,  etc.  Most  of  the  prison- 
ers are  fond  of  reading ;  they  generally  prefer  books  of  history, 
travels,  and  the  like.  Their  reading  has  a  happy  effect  upon  them. 


CHAPTER  LX.  —  PRISON  LABOR. 

IN  the  penitentiary  establishments  of  Holland  unproductive  or 
merely  penal  labor  is  unknown.  Industrial  labor,  the  only 
kind  in  use,  is  for  the  most  part  directed  by  the  administration. 
But  both  systems  of  labor,  —  the  contract  system  and  the  system 
by  which  the  labor  is  utilized  on  account  of  the  State,  —  have 
place.  Taking  the  whole  country  together,  it  is  believed  that 
about  one  in  four  will  correctly  represent  the  proportion  of  pris- 
oners without  a  trade  at  the  time  of  commitment.  It  is  regarded 
as  a  matter  of  the  highest  importance  to  impart  to  prisoners  dur- 
ing their  incarceration  the  power  of  self-help ;  and  this  result  is 
diligently  sought  by  teaching  them,  to  the  utmost  extent  pos- 
sible, some  useful  calling. 


CHAPTER  LXI.  —  HYGIENE  OF  THE  PRISONS. 

IN  some  of  the  prisons  the  sewerage  is  imperfect,  but  this  evil 
is  sought  to  be  everywhere  corrected.  The  supply  of  water 
is  unlimited.  Most  of  the  prisons  are  well  ventilated.  Cleanli- 
ness both  of  the  building  and  of  the  person  is  enforced.  As 
regards  the  system  of  water-closets,  preference  is  given  to  inodor- 
ous, portable  vessels,  with  a  reservoir  outside.  The  prisons  are 
lighted  by  gas  or  petroleum.  Lights  are  kept  burning  in  the  dor- 
mitories during  the  night.  The  system  of  heating  varies  in  dif- 
ferent prisons.  In  some  it  is  effected  by  hot  water  or  steam,  in 
others  by  stoves.  The  prisoner's  bed  is  made  of  straw  ;  for  the 
sick,  of  sea-grass  or  sea-weed.  The  bed,  complete,  consists  of  a 
mattress  and  bolster,  two  sheets,  one  coverlet,  and  one  or  two 
blankets  according  to  the  season. 

A  distinct  part  of  the  prison  building  serves  as  an  infirmary. 


PART  v.]  IN  HOLLAND.  397 

In  the  cellular  prisons,  cells  of  double  dimensions  are  appropriated 
to  the  sick.  The  medical  service  is  confided  to  a  military  surgeon 
wherever  there  is  a  garrison  ;  to  a  civil  physician  in  localities 
where  there  is  no  garrison.  The  entire  service  is  under  the  in- 
spector-general of  the  medical  service  of  the  army,  and  is  per- 
formed in  a  highly  satisfactory  manner.  The  most  common 
diseases  in  the  prisons,  as  outside,  are  diseases  of  the  chest,  espe- 
cially consumption.  The  average  of  the  sick  and  of  deaths  it  is 
not  easy  to  give.  It  differs  a  good  deal  in  different  prisons,  de- 
pending on  local  circumstances  and  the  class  of  prison.  The 
difference  in  the  duration  of  punishments,  which  is  by  no  means 
inconsiderable,  exercises  an  influence  on  the  proportionate  number 
of  the  sick  and  of  deaths. 


CHAPTER  LXII.  —  REFORMATORY  ACTION,  ETC. 

THE  aim  is  to  make  the  punishment  contribute,  so  far  as  pos- 
sible, to  the  reformation  of  prisoners.  The  proportion  of 
recidivists  given  by  the  (admitted)  imperfect  statistics  of  the 
country  is,  for  the  general  mass  of  prisons,  twenty-five  per  cent  ; 
for  the  central  prisons,  thirty-eight  per  cent. 

It  is  not  thought  that  repeated  sentences  to  short  imprison- 
ments produce  any  good  effect  upon  the  prisoner.  A  relapse  may 
give  occasion  to  an  increase  of  the  punishment  in  the  ratio  of 
one-third,  when  the  first  sentence  was  for  more  than  a  year's  im- 
prisonment ;  and  in  all  cases  it  is  a  circumstance  which  may 
determine  the  judge  to  award  the  maximum  of  punishment  al- 
lowed by  the  law. 

Imprisonment  for  debt  exists  in  Holland.  Persons  so  impris- 
oned are  placed  in  the  houses  of  detention  and  of  arrest ;  some- 
times in  the  cantonal  prisons.  They  are  entered  on  a  special 
register,  and  are  not  confounded  with  other  prisoners.  The  best 
apartments  are  assigned  to  them  and  a  little  better  furniture. 
They  do  not  wear  the  prison  dress  unless  they  have  no  other,  and 
their  food  is  of  a  better  quality. 

The  chief  causes  of  crime  are  want  of  education,  drunkenness, 
and  the  desire  to  make  a  figure  beyond  one's  means  and  position. 
In  the  case  of  young  prisoners  there  may  be  mentioned  in  addi- 
tion the  influence,  often  pernicious,  of  a  second  marriage  of  their 
parents,  which  not  unfrequently,  by  embittering  the  position  of 
the  children  of  the  first  marriage,  deprives  them  of  the  salutary 
influence  of  family  life. 


398  STATE   OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  iv. 


CHAPTER  LXIII.  —  AID  TO  DISCHARGED  PRISONERS. 

THE  Netherlands  Government,  as  such,  does  not  charge  itself 
with  the  care  of  liberated  convicts  ;  but  many  directors  of 
prisons  take  great  pains  to  find  work  for  them,  and  generally 
they  have  cause  to  congratulate  themselves  on  the  result  of  their 
efforts. 

The  Netherlands  society  for  the  moral  amelioration  of  prison- 
ers has  for  its  object,  not  only  the  visiting  of  prisoners,  but  also 
the  manifestation  of  an  interest  in  their  welfare  after  their  dis- 
charge from  prison.  This  society  counts  forty  branches,  scattered 
throughout  the  whole  kingdom,  and  corresponding  members  in 
thirty-seven  places  where  there  are  no  branches.  To  some  of  the 
branch-societies  are  attached  committees  of  ladies.  As  regards 
the  prisoners,  a  variety  of  methods  is  employed  to  encourage  and 
help  them.  Their  patrons  procure  situations  for  them  at  service, 
place  them  in  the  merchant-marine,  supply  them  with  tools,  ob- 
tain for  them  some  little  industry  or  business,  provide  them  with 
the  means  of  emigrating,  etc.  The  results  differ,  as  a  matter  of 
course  ;  but  the  society  accomplishes  much,  and  often  has  the 
satisfaction  of  seeing  its  efforts  crowned  with  success.  Upon  the 
whole,  there  are  few  countries  where  the  system  of  patronage  is 
better  organized  or  better  applied. 

In  Amsterdam,  and  wherever  branches  of  the  central  society 
exist,  the  members  are  permitted  and  are  accustomed  to  visit  the 
prisoners  confined  in  the  prisons,  with  a  view  to  guide  and  influ- 
ence them  to  good.  Many  of  the  societies  have  committees  of 
ladies  attached,  who  are  active  in  this  work,  and  whose  labors  are 
most  acceptable  and  useful.  When  I  had  the  honor  to  call  upon 
the  president  of  the  parent  society  at  Amsterdam,  the  venerable 
William  H.  Suringar,  then  over  eighty  years  old,  he  showed  me 
a  thick  folio  volume  filled  with  closely-written  manuscript  from 
cover  to  cover,  and  containing  the  record  of  his  personal  visits  to 
prisoners  or  their  visits  to  him  (during  a  period  of  forty  years),  in 
which  are  set  down  the  main  facts  in  each  case.  I  cannot  state 
the  number  of  cases  in  that  rare  book,  but  am  sure  that  it  runs 
up  into  the  thousands. 


CHAPTER  LXIV.  —  MILITARY  PRISON  AT  LEYDEN. 

SEVERAL  of  the  prisons  of  Holland,  one  at  least  of  each 
class,  were  visited  by  the  author,  and  generally  with  satis- 
faction ;  but  it  would  carry  him  beyond  due  limits  to  enter  into 
any  lengthened  detail  of  their  organization  and  discipline.     In  the 


PART  v.]  IN  HOLLAND.  399 

congregate  military  prison  at  Leyden,  I  found  both  the  industrial 
and  scholastic  work  good  and  effective.  Among  the  industries 
pursued  are  shoe-making,  rope-making,  tailoring,  carpentry,  smith- 
ery,  painting,  etc.  The  prisoners  are  allowed  half  of  what  they 
earn,  and  of  this  a  moiety  may  be  spent  in  the  purchase  of  addi- 
tional food  and  other  comforts  during  their  captivity,  the  other 
moiety  being  kept  as  a  masse  de  reserve,  to  be  paid  to  them  on 
their  discharge.  The  proceeds  of  the  one-half  of  the  labor,  which 
goes  into  the  chest,  suffices  to  defray  all  current  expenses,  except 
the  pay  of  the  staff,  who,  being  all  officers  of  the  army,  receive 
their  salaries  in  the  same  way  and  from  the  same  fund  as  other 
military  officers.  Every  prisoner,  if  he  did  not  know  one  before, 
is  taught  a  full  trade  whenever  his  sentence  is  long  enough  for 
the  purpose,  which  is  by  no  means  always  the  case,  as  the  sen- 
tences run  from  two  months  to  twenty  years. 

The  proportion  of  prisoners  wholly  illiterate  on  entrance  is  ten 
per  cent ;  most  of  the  remaining  ninety  have  a  fair  common  edu- 
cation. Nevertheless,  the  whole  body  of  the  prisoners  are  required 
to  attend  school  two  hours  every  day.  Three  schoolmasters  are 
employed,  who  devote  each  six  hours  a  day  to  the  work  of  instruc- 
tion, and  in  this  they  are  further  aided  by  twelve  convict  assist- 
ants. All  the  branches  of  primary  and  more  advanced  common- 
school  education  are  taught,  to  which  are  added,  in  the  case  of  all 
prisoners  desiring  it,  French,  English,  and  drawing,  particularly 
linear  or  mathematical  drawing.  A  large  room  is  appropriated  to 
this  last-named  department.  The  improvement  made  by  the  con- 
vict pupils,  particularly  some  of  those  in  the  drawing  department, 
was  as  marked  as  it  was  gratifying. 

The  hospital  arrangements  were  the  perfection  of  neatness  and 
convenience. 


CHAPTER  LXV.  —  CELLULAR  PRISON  AT  AMSTERDAM. 

THE  cellular  prison  at  Amsterdam  is  a  misdemeanants'  prison, 
where  sentences  range  from  a  few  days  to  two  years.  The 
order  and  cleanliness  of  the  prison  left  nothing  to  be  desired.  It 
has  two  hundred  cells,  occupied  at  the  date  of  my  visit  by  one 
hundred  and  sixty  inmates. 

The  industries  are  brush-making,  tailoring,  carpentry,  smithery, 
etc.  The  State  receives  three  tenths  of  the  earnings,  the  other 
seven  tenths  belonging  to  the  prisoners. 

With  rare  exceptions  the  prisoners  can  read  and  write  when 
committed.  Nevertheless,  two  schoolmasters  are  employed  to 
give  lessons  in  the  cells,  and  thus  to  supplement,  by  added  acquisi- 
tions, the  education  previously  possessed. 


40O  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BooK  iv. 


CHAPTER  LXVI.  —  DETENTION  PRISON  AT  THE  HAGUE. 

THE  detention  prison  at  the  Hague,  in  which  are  confined 
prisoners  awaiting  trial  and  those  sentenced  to  short  impris- 
onments, is  an  old  structure  built  more  than  three  hundred  years 
ago,  and  seems  chiefly  distinguished  for  two  qualities,  —  massive- 
ness  and  irregularity.  So  far  as  what  is  material  was  concerned, 
the  prison  is  well  kept,  and  every  thing  was  clean  as  soap,  water, 
brush,  and  muscle  could  make  it.  But  all  praise  must  stop  at  this 
point.  Prisoners  to  the  number  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  were 
congregated  there,  doing  almost  nothing  but  corrupt  each  other 
by  day,  and  at  night  sleeping  in  common  dormitories,  without 
supervision,  to  continue  the  same  business  with' increased  vigor. 
Few  have  trades  when  they  enter,  and  fewer  still,  even  of  the 
sentenced,  remain  long  enough  to  learn  them.  There  is  here  an 
ample  margin  for  reform. 


CHAPTER  LXVII.  —  CHILD-SAVING  WORK.  —  NETHERLANDS 

METTRAY. 

HOLLAND  boasts  one  of  the  model  reformatories  of  the 
world,  under  the  name  of  the  "  Netherlands  Mettray," 
founded  twenty-five  years  ago,  through  the  indefatigable  efforts  of 
the  venerable  Mr.  Suringar.  Its  name  sufficiently  indicates  its 
general  organization  and  character.  It  is  a  close  imitation  of  the 
French  Mettray,  except  that  the  families  are  much  smaller,  con- 
taining fifteen  boys  instead  of  fifty,  and  in  that  respect  is  an 
improvement  on  the  original.  It  is  situated  at  Arnheim,  on  a 
farm  called  Rijsselt,  distant  five  hours  from  Amsterdam  by  rail. 
There  are  ten  houses  for  boys,  on  two  sides  of  a  parallelogram, 
with  the  residence  of  the  director  at  one  end  and  the  beautiful 
little  church  of  the  colony  at  the  other.  In  the  rear  of  the 
director's  residence  are  the  workshops,  schoolhouse,  etc.  On 
either  side  of  the  quadrangle,  but  at  considerable  distance  from 
the  other  buildings,  are  the  picturesque  residences  of  the  sub- 
director  and  schoolmaster.  A  large  and  substantial  farm-house 
with  all  needful  out-buildings,  near  but  outside  the  main  en- 
trance, completes  the  tout-ensemble  of  edifices  belonging  to  the 
establishment.  The  spacious  square  itself,  around  which  all  these 
structures  cluster,  has  the  appearance  of  an  elegant  garden,  in 
the  centre  of  which  is  a  charming  flower-plot.  The  effect,  to 
an  observer  on  passing  the  iron  gate  which  forms  the  chief  en- 


PARTY.]  IN  HOLLAND.  401 

trance  to  ~  the  colony,  is  very  pleasing,  the  coup  (Tail  offering  to 
his  view  what  at  first  strikes  him  as  a  miniature  paradise. 

At  the  head  of  each  household  is  placed  a  monitor,  selected 
from  among  the  larger  boys,  who  acts  as  an  under-officer  during 
the  day  and  has  sole  charge  of  them  at  night.  This  system  has 
been  substituted  for  that  of  house-fathers  —  first,  on  economic 
grounds  ;  and,  second,  because  of  the  difficulty  of  finding  suitable 
persons  willing  to  serve  the  colony  in  that  capacity.  The  interior 
of  the  family  houses  is  simple  and  commodious,  but  they  were 
not  remarkable  for  cleanliness  ;  and  the  establishment  seemed  to 
me  to  suffer  sensibly  from  the  lack  of  female  care  and  influence. 
Each  house  has  a  dwelling-room,  wash-room,  and  closet  on  the 
ground  floor,  and  a  dormitory  above.  The  meals  are  prepared  in 
a  general  kitchen,  from  which  they  are  taken  to  the  several  houses, 
and  each  family  breakfasts,  dines,  and  sups  by  itself. 

The  labor  is  chiefly  farm  and  garden  work,  sixty-four  acres 
constituting  the  farm.  There  is  a  kitchen  garden  of  eight  acres, 
and  a  smaller  garden  for  fruits  and  flowers,  with  nursery,  hot- 
beds, and  conservatory,  where  the  boys  are  taught  and  trained  in 
all  the  mysteries  of  both  the  ruder  and  finer  kinds  of  gardening. 
A  considerable  income  is  derived  from  the  sale  of  flowers,  as  well 
in  pots  as  bouquets,  and  also  from  that  of  fruits,  large  and  small. 
The  occupations  of  the  colony  additional  to  farming  and  garden- 
ing are  shoe-making,  tailoring,  carpentry,  cabinet-making,  smith- 
ery,  painting,  varnishing,  baking,  and  I  think  a  few  others.  As 
far  as  possible  —  and  it  is  found  possible  in  most  cases  —  the 
boys  are  permitted  to  choose  the  calling  they  will  follow.  There 
is  even  a  normal  school  and  a  military  school  in  the  establishment, 
where  those  whose  tastes  incline  them  to  teaching  or  to  military 
life  acquire  the  technical  knowledge  and  training  required  for 
those  professions.  I  was  curious  to  know  how  many  school- 
masters had  been  graduated  from  this  seminary.  The  sub-director 
was  unable  to  give  the  aggregate,  but  said  that  eight  had  gone 
out  to  be  teachers  during  his  two  years'  incumbency.  One  of 
these  was  on  a  visit  to  his  former  home  when  I  was  at  Rijsselt. 
He  was  a  stout,  manly-looking  youth,  and  seemed  greatly  to 
enjoy  this  renewal  of  intercourse  with  his  late  comrades.  He 
reported  himself  as  "  doing  well,"  and  as  satisfied  with  his  place 
and  prospects. 

As  a  means  of  moral  education,  much  stress  is  laid  on  what  is 
called  the  "  sentence  system."  It  has  long  since  been  observed 
that  a  pithy  saying,  a  proverb,  a  fable,  even  a  single  word  that 
infolds  a  pregnant  meaning,  often  produces  a  happy  and  lasting 
effect  upon  the  young  mind.  Charles  Dickens,  when  on  a  visit 
to  a  ship-reformatory  in  Massachusetts,  being  called  upon  for  an 
address,  said  simply :  "  Boys,  do  all  the  good  you  can,  and  make 
no  fuss  about  it."  That  curt,  crisp  sentence  was  better  for  the 

26 


4O2  STATE   OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BooK  IV. 

boys  than  would  have  been  an  hour  of  silver-tongued  rhetoric. 
So  the  conductors  of  the  Netherlands  Mettray  have  thought  it 
good  and  helpful  to  make  much  use  of  such  sentences  as  these 
(sometimes  hanging  them  on  the  walls,  sometimes  giving  them 
out  to  be  learned  by  heart) :  "  He  who  seeks  himself  will  not  find 
God."  "  A  poor  man  he  who  has  nothing  but  money."  "  He  is 
a  fool  who  lives  poor  to  die  rich."  "  Labor  has  a  golden  bottom." 
"  Care  for  the  moments,  and  these  will  care  for  the  years." 

Whenever  any  thing  extraordinary  takes  place  in  a  family,  or 
when  a  boy  makes  himself  notorious  by  his  bad  behavior,  a  sen- 
tence is  applied.  Thus,  on  the  occasion  of  the  death  of  one  of 
the  parents  of  a  boy,  a  consoling  text  or  sentence  is  suspended 
on  the  wall  of  his  dormitory.  One  day  a  boy  was  overheard  using 
foul  speech  to  a  comrade.  The  sentence,  "  It  is  better  to  be 
dumb  than  to  use  the  tongue  for  filthy  talk,"  was  given  to  him, 
which  he  had  to  read  to  the  company  every  morning  for  eight 
days.  It  had  the  desired  effect. 

Not  more  than  two  per  cent  of  the  Netherlands  Mettray  boys 
go  to  swell  the  ranks  of  crime. 


PART  vi.j  IN  THE  GERMAN  EMPIRE.  403 


PART  SIXTH. 

THE    GERMAN    EMPIRE. 

CHAPTER  LXVIII.  —  NEW  PENAL  CODE. 

THE  empire,  as  such,  sent  no  report  to  either  the  Congress  of 
London  or  that  of  Stockholm,  though  several  of  the  States 
of  the  empire  did  to  each.  However,  in  1867,  Baron  Franz  von 
Holtzendorff,  then  professor  of  international  and  criminal  law  in 
the  University  of  Berlin,  and  now  holding  the  same  position  in 
that  of  Munich,  addressed  to  the  author  an  elaborate  paper  on 
the  prisons  of  Germany  in  general,  which  was  printed  in  the 
twenty-third  annual  report  of  the  Prison  Association  of  New  York. 
There  has  been  progress  since  then,  no  doubt,  particularly  in  the 
unification  and  improvement  of  the  penal  code.  Since  the  Lon- 
don Congress  (1872),  Germany  has  adopted  a  new  criminal  code, 
which  has  itself  very  recently  undergone  a  thorough  revision  in 
the  imperial  parliament ;  and  it  is  claimed  to  be  one  of  the  best 
to  be  found  to-day  in  any  country. 


CHAPTER  LXIX.  —  PRISON  REFORM  EARNESTLY  STUDIED. 

THE  question  of  prison  reform  is  made  the  object  of  an 
earnest  study  throughout  the  whole  German  Union,  but  its 
solution  encounters  special  difficulties,  owing  to  the  new  political 
relations  which  have  sprung  up  within  the  last  few  years.  Uni- 
formity in  German  prison  discipline  is  regarded,  with  reason,  as 
the  logical  sequence  of  the  unification  of  the  German  penal  code. 
To  bring  about  such  uniformity  in  twenty  or  more  different  States, 
—  each  of  which  until  recently  had  its  own  prison  system,  and 
practised  it  quite  independently  of  all  the  others,  —  is  a  matter  of 
serious  difficulty,  and  one  which  requires  much  thought  and  wis- 
dom. The  State  governments  and  the  national  parliament  are 
agreed  as  to  the  necessity  of  revising  and  consolidating  the  rules 
to  which  prison  discipline  still  remains  subject  in  the  several 
parts  of  the  empire.  In  anticipation,  however,  of  the  completion, 
or  rather  the  supplementing,  of  the  criminal  code  by  a  uniform 


404  STATE   OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BooK  iv. 

penitentiary  law  for  the  whole  empire,  it  is  natural  that  the  State 
governments  should  not  be,  and  in  point  of  fact  they  are  not 
willing  to  make  hasty  alterations  in  existing  arrangements. 
Prison  organization  and  prison  discipline  might  feel  the  bad 
effects  of  sudden  changes  and  doubtful  experiments.  But  the 
logic  of  events  is  as  inexorable  as  the  logic  of  thought  ;  and  the 
attainment  of  the  end  sought  will  be  hastened  by  the  ferment  of 
thought  and  investigation  concerning  this  whole  question,  of 
which  Germany  has  become  the  busy  theatre. 


CHAPTER  LXX.  —  INFLUENCE  OF  DR.  JULIUS  AND 
PROFESSOR  MITTERMAIER. 

OWING  to  the  circumstances  set  forth  above,  penitentiary 
reform  has  moved  much  more  slowly  than  criminal-law  re- 
form. Therefore  prison  matters  remain  much  the  same  as  at 
the  date  of  Baron  von  HoltzendorfF s  communication,  and  upon 
that  I  shall  draw  largely  in  the  present  exposition,  modifying 
the  account,  if  need  be,  from  personal  knowledge  or  other  sources 
of  information  within  my  reach. 

Baron  von  Holtzendorff  remarks  that  little  progress  has  been 
made  since  the  date  of  Dr.  Julius's  visit  to  America.  His 
report  was  the  manifesto  of  a  school  who  believe  that  reforma- 
tion can  be  obtained  only  by  a  treatment  strictly  cellular.  This 
theory  was  afterwards  popularized  by  the  congress  of  interna- 
tional philanthropy  and  the  able  advocacy  of  Mittermaier,  the 
high  priest  of  juridical  science  in  his  day. 

From  1846  to  1856  the  doctrine  of  pure  separation  prevailed 
in  Germany,  without  serious  contradiction.  There  was  a  belief 
in  the  most  intelligent  classes  that  isolation  would,  of  necessity, 
effect  the  reformation  of  the  most  hardened  criminal.  Some  new 
prisons  were  constructed  upon  the  panoptic  cellular  plan,  among 
which  those  of  Bruchsal,  in  the  Grand-Duchy  of  Baden,  and 
Moabit,  near  Berlin,  are  the  largest ;  the  latter  being  an  almost 
complete  imitation  of  Pentonville  prison.  Both  these  prisons 
continue  to  be  regarded  as  representatives  of  the  so-called  "  pure 
isolation  theory,"  while  a  somewhat  different  mode  called  "the 
system  of  modified  isolation,"  without  stalls  in  school-room  and 
chapel,  is  followed  in  some  minor  prisons.  Towards  the  end  of 
1857  the  cellular  system  may  be  said  to  have  been  adopted  in 
principle.  In  comparison  with  the  traditional  imperfection  in 
German  prisons,  no  one  could  fairly  deny  the  superiority  of  sep- 
aration, in  warranting,  at  least,  some  better  prospect  of  checking 
the  progressive  corruption  of  criminals  during  their  detention. 


PART  vi.]  IN  THE  GERMAN  EMPIRE.  405 


CHAPTER  LXXI.  —  No  GENERAL  SYSTEM  YET 
ESTABLISHED. 

TAKING  Germany  as  a  whole,  Baron  von  Holtzendorff  feels 
warranted  in  saying  that  no  system  has  there  been  carried 
beyond  the  tentative  stage.  There  are  prisons  constructed  on 
the  old  pattern,  wanting  in  any  adequate  arrangement  for  classifi- 
cation, except  of  course  the  separation  of  the  sexes.  Next,  there 
are  prisons  managed  according  to  what  is  called  the  Auburn  sys- 
tem, the  rule  of  silence  not  being  enforced  very  strictly,  —  some 
being  constructed  with  sleeping  Cells,  some  having  no  sleeping 
cells,  but  large  dormitories  instead.  Finally,  there  are  prisons 
managed  with  a  view  to  admit  of  an  opportunity  of  agricultural 
labor. 

This  complicated  condition  of  the  prison  arrangements  renders 
it  difficult  to  report  exactly  on  the  special  manner  of  treatment 
adopted  in  the  German  States.  All  prisons  are  placed  under 
government  inspection  and  a  centralized  administration,  —  that 
is,  of  the  States,  not  of  the  imperial  government.  The  rules, 
however,  to  be  observed  in  the  management  of  prisons  greatly  de- 
pend not  on  legal  prescription,  but  on  the  administrative  power 
of  the  executive  branch  ;  hence  they  may  vary  every  day.  As 
yet,  legislation  has  done  very  little  to  define  accurately  how  the 
various  kinds  of  punishment  shall  be  made  applicable  to  the 
trespassers  on  law. 


CHAPTER  LXXII.  —  CLASSIFICATION  OF  PUNISHMENTS 
AND  PRISONS. 

MOST  of  the  German  States  have  from  three  to  four  different 
kinds  of  punishment  privative  of  liberty.  Punishment 
of  the  highest  degree  is  legally  termed  zuchthaus  (correction- 
house).  It  is  applicable  to  the  longest  terms,  and  deprives  dis- 
charged prisoners  of  their  municipal  rights.  The  maximum  of 
zuchthaus  is  for  life,  or  for  twenty  years,  the  minimum  being 
two  years.  Another  degree  of  punishment  is  termed  arbeitshaus 
(workhouse).  It  is  applicable  to  terms  varying  from  some  months 
to  several  years,  and  does  not  destroy  municipal  rights  ;  as  its 
name  denotes,  it  involves  compulsory  labor,  as  does  also  zucht- 
haus. The  third  degree  is  called  gefangniss  (jail).  It  is  applied 
to  lighter  offences,  —  extending  from  the  period  of  one  day  to  five 


406  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  iv. 

years.  It  excludes  compulsory  labor ;  prisoners,  however,  can  be 
furnished  with  occupation  in  accordance  with  their  social  position 
and  their  abilities.  A  fourth  kind  of  punishment  is  applicable  to 
gentlemen  offenders  in  cases  of  political  crime  and  duelling, 
termed  festung  (detention  in  a  fortress),  or  eins  Mies  sung  (reclu- 
sion).  Besides  these  rather  nominal  distinctions  there  exist  some 
complementary  institutions  of  a  more  preventive  character,  such 
as  workhouses  to  receive  beggars,  vagrants,  and  prostitutes,  after 
they  have  undergone  a  previous  treatment  in  a  penal  prison,  — 
the  period  of  their  detention  in  the  workhouse  being  limited  as 
to  its  maximum,  but  not  as  to  its  minimum,  this  being  left  to  the 
determination  of  the  police. 


CHAPTER  LXXIII.  —  PROGRESSIVE  CLASSIFICATION. 

SINCE  1859  the  current  of  public  opinion,  according  to  Baron 
von  Holtzendorff,  has  been  turning  away  from  separation  as 
a  means  indispensable  to  the  criminal's  reformation.  Professor 
Mittermaier,  whose  authority  in  prison  matters  had  been  well- 
nigh  supreme  in  Germany,  had  then  just  given  a  first  short  ex- 
position of  Sir  Walter  Crofton's  system  as  applied  in  Ireland. 
From  that  moment  Baron  von  Holtzendorff  gave  much  atten- 
tion to  the  study  of  that  system.  He  visited  Ireland,  examined 
the  system  on  the  spot,  became  a  convert,  established  a  monthly 
journal  to  explain  and  defend  it,  and  issued  several  tractates  in 
its  support.  Writing  his  report  for  the  New  York  Prison  Asso- 
ciation in  1867,  he  declared  that  after  ten  years'  discussion  the 
Crofton  system  had  laid  hold  on  the  German  mind  ;  more  especi- 
ally in  the  northern  countries,  where  the  doctrinaire  spirit  has 
less  force  than  practical  considerations.  There  are  still  some 
writers  in  south  Germany  who  passionately  persist  in  their  former 
belief  in  the  reformatory  power  of  mere  cellularism.  But  many 
of  the  most  competent  judges  incline  to  contrary  conclusions. 
Public  opinion,  so  far  as  it  can  be  ascertained  among  such  ex- 
perts as  are  not  morally  engaged  by  their  adhesion  formerly 
given  to  the  cellular  system,  strongly  appears  to  demand  sepa- 
ration to  be  applied  to  shorter  sentences  in  common  jails,  and, 
so  far  as  longer  sentences  are  to  be  carried  out,  as  an  initial 
stage  to  be  afterwards  completed  by  progressive  classification 
and  conditional  discharge  under  police  supervision,  Even  Dr. 
Julius  frankly  expressed  his  conviction  that  the  Irish  system 
should  be  considered  the  most  remarkable  progress  ever  made 
since  the  first  attempt  to  execute  the  Pennsylvania  system. 


PART  vi.]  IN  THE  GERMAN  EMPIRE.  407 

Professor  Mittermaier,  one  of  the  most  decided  partisans  of  the 
separate  system,  declared  his  persuasion  as  to  the  soundness 
of  the  plan  governing  the  intermediate  prisons  and  conditional 
liberty. 


CHAPTER  LXXIV.  —  DEVOTION  OF  BADEN  TO  PENITENTIARY 

STUDIES. 

IN  the  first  rank  of  German  States  for  progress  in  prison  re- 
form must  be  named  the  Grand-Duchy  of  Baden.  Convicts 
belonging  to  the  first  and  second  degrees  of  punishment  (zucht- 
haus  and  arbeitshaus),  although  specially  treated  under  different 
rules,  are  subjected  to  a  strict  and  absolute  system  of  isolation 
within  the  cellular  prison  of  Bruchsal,  which  may  be  regarded  as 
the  model  prison  of  Germany.1  According  to  law  no  prisoner 
can  be  kept  in  separation  beyond  a  period  of  six  years,  unless  he 
expresses  a  special  desire  for  remaining  in  his  cell.  By  an  ad- 
ministration excellent  in  all  its  details  it  has  been  proved  that  the 
danger  usually  inherent  in  the  separate  system  of  damaging  the 
prisoner's  mental  health  can  be  diminished  to  such  a  degree  that 
it  may  be  considered,  in  the  opinion  of  Baron  von  Holtzendorff, 
to  have  been  practically  overcome. 


CHAPTER  LXXV.  —  INTEREST  IN  PRISON  REFORM  SHOWN 
BY  OTHER  GERMAN  STATES. 

SIMILAR  views  have  prevailed  in  the  Bavarian  legislation. 
The  old  system  of  association  as  formerly  managed  by 
Obermaier,  whose  personal  ability  in  keeping  down  great  num- 
bers of  prisoners  in  the  Munich  prison  had  rendered  him  famous 
throughout  Europe,  has  been  recognized  as  deficient,  and  a  mixed 
system  of  progressive  treatment  was  introduced  by  a  law  of  No- 
vember n,  1861.  As  a  premium  to  good  conduct  association  is 
allowed  after  one  year  of  isolation,  which  therefore  may  be  said 
to  serve  as  an  initial  stage. 

As  regards  the  States  of  Wiirtemberg  and  Hesse-Darmstadt, 
there  is  not  much  to  say  about  prison  reform.  In  the  latter  State 
under  the  influence  of  Count  Gortz  who,  after  his  return  from 

1  At  present  only  prisoners  of  the  first  degree  are  received,  so  that  the  penitentiary 
of  Bruchsal  has  become  strictly  a  convict  or  central  prison. 


408  STATE  OF  PRISONS,   ETC.  [BOOK  iv- 

America,  had  given  unqualified  praise  to  the  Pennsylvania  sys- 
tem, the  Chambers  recommended  the  introduction  of  separation. 
Nothing,  however,  has  been  done  in  the  way  of  erecting  new 
prisons.  In  the  Kingdom  of  Wiirtemberg  a  law  has  been  put  in 
operation  by  which  a  progressive  system  of  separation  and  asso- 
ciation is  made  applicable  to  women.  Female  convicts  sentenced 
to  the  punishment  of  arbeitshaus  and  zuchpolizeihaus  (which  are 
both  an  intermediate  punishment  between  the  lowest  and  the 
highest  degrees)  must  be  kept  in  separation,  not  extending  to 
divine  worship,  etc.,  and  may  afterwards  be  transferred,  when  giv- 
ing proof  of  good  behavior,  into  association,  provided  that  half 
the  term  of  their  sentence  has  expired. 

In  the  Grand-Duchy  of  Brunswick  a  law  referring  to  the  mode 
of  carrying  out  imprisonment  applicable  to  the  gravest  kind  of 
punishment  admits  of  transferring  criminals  into  association,  pro- 
vided that  they  shall  have  remained  for  four  (and  in  exceptional 
cases  for  two)  years  in  separation,  and  expressing  a  desire  to  be 
removed  from  their  cells.  The  committee  appointed  to  inquire 
into  this  matter  gave  their  approval  to  the  Irish  system. 

The  Grand-Duchy  of  Oldenburg  has  for  a  long  time  enjoyed 
high  reputation  for  the  excellent  administration  of  her  prison  at 
Vechta,  which  had  been  placed  under  the  direction  of  the  late 
Mr.  Hoyer,  one  of  the  most  enlightened  experts  in  prison  matters. 
His  constant  zeal  has  been  successful  in  transforming  old  build- 
ings into  a  modern  prison,  containing  one  hundred  and  eleven 
working  and  forty-seven  sleeping  cells.  After  pleading  for  years 
in  favor  of  the  separate  system,  Mr.  Hoyer  professed  his  unlimited 
approval  of  the  Irish  principle  as  soon  as  he  became  acquainted 
with  it.  He  succeeded,  moreover,  in  establishing  an  intermediate 
stage  by  giving  farm  labor  as  a  reward  to  the  most  advanced  class 
of  convicts.  His  authority  has  very  much  contributed  to  propa- 
gating just  ideas  about  the  Irish  system,  which  at  the  beginning 
was  objected  to  on  a  pretext  that  it  contained  too  many  compli- 
cated details.  Unfortunately,  Mr.  Hoyer  died  before  he  could 
complete  his  work.  His  successor  appears  to  incline  towards  a 
more  rigid  rule  of  separation  ;  at  least,  he  has  discontinued  the 
practice  of  agricultural  labor. 

The  other  States  of  northern  Germany  have  done  very  little  in 
the  way  of  prison  reform  ;  although,  from  time  to  time,  the  mat- 
ter has  been  discussed  in  every  legislative  assembly.  After  the 
Irish  principles  became  more  generally  known,  the  King  of  Saxony 
resolved  upon  adopting  the  system  of  conditional  pardons.  This 
measure,  in  operation  since  1862,  has  worked  exceedingly  well 
(the  number  of  pardons  revoked  being  insignificant),  and  there  is 
no  doubt  that  the  course  taken  by  the  King  of  Saxony  will  find 
speedy  imitation  in  other  German  States.  As  yet,  not  one  voice 
has  been  heard  contradicting  the  splendid  results  obtained  in 


PART  vi.]  IN  THE  GERMAN  EMPIRE.  409 

Saxony.  Indeed,  the  reformatory  tendency  of  conditional  par- 
dons, when  combined  with  a  proper  system  of  police  supervision, 
is  the  more  extraordinary,  as  in  Saxony  the  previous  treatment  of 
prisoners  was  by  no  means  unexceptionable.  On  the  contrary,  the 
system  of  general  association  and  insufficient  classification  might, 
at  first  sight,  appear  to  be  in  opposition  to  every  expectation  of 
good  results  obtainable  by  conditional  pardons.  Such,  however, 
is  the  beneficial  influence  exercised  by  the  psychological  element 
of  hope,  that  even  a  deficient  state  of  prison  administration  may 
thus  be  corrected  to  a  certain  degree. 

My  friend  gives  a  long  account  of  the  Prussian  prison  system, 
even  the  substance  of  which,  for  the  reason  that  Prussia  will  be 
treated  at  some  length  separately,  I  forbear  to  introduce  here, 
except  to  cite  his  analysis  of  the  moral  effect  of  unbroken  isola- 
tion in,  destroying' the  prisoner's  confidence  in  himself  and  in  his 
keeper :  "  I  firmly  believe  it  erroneous,"  he  says,  "  to  attach  too 
much  value  to  technical  arrangements  for  separation,  with  regard 
to  long  terms  of  imprisonment.  A  sound  reformatory  system 
cannot  be  based  upon  the  probability  of  a  merely  negative  result, 
to  be  obtained  in  keeping  prisoners  apart  from  each  other.  Con- 
victs, when  ordered  to  refrain  from  mutual  intercourse  during  the 
whole  term  of  a  lengthened  detention,  will  naturally  lose  their 
confidence  in  their  moral  power  to  resist  temptation.  Keeping 
them  constantly  in  cells  and  stalls  and  on  separate  exercising 
grounds  would  be  tantamount  to  a  proclamation  of  perpetual  dis- 
trust on  the  part  of  the  prison  authorities.  The  prisoner,  there- 
fore, would  very  soon  cpme  to  regard  his  keepers'  confidence  in 
the  moral  efficiency  of  this  artificial  system  as  at  war  with  their 
appeal  to  his  own  energy." 


CHAPTER  LXXVI.  —  BARON  VON  HOLTZENDORFF'S  VIEW 
OF  THE  IRISH  SYSTEM. 

BARON  VON  HOLTZENDORFF,  in  conclusion,  thus  ex- 
presses his  general  estimate  of  the  Irish  system,  which 
will  be  assented  to,  I  think,  by  most  of  its  American  adherents : 
"Ten  years  of  assiduous  study  and  uninterrupted  observation  have 
considerably  strengthened  my  opinion,  that  the  Irish  system  is  the 
best  to  warrant  us  against  the  shortcomings  of  the  old  system  of 
association,  as  well  as  the  punitive  excesses  inherent  in  long  peri- 
ods of  absolute  separation.  When  speaking  of  the  Irish  system,  I 
am  very  far  from  recommending  a  punctilious  and  short-sighted 
imitation  of  all  its  arrangements.  On  the  contrary,  I  believe  it  to 


410  STATE   OF  PRISONS,   ETC.  [BooK  iv. 

be  a  serious  defect,  which  Sir  Walter  Crofton  was  unable  to  re- 
move, that  the  convict's  treatment  was  to  be  adapted  to  a  local 
necessity  of  thrice  transporting  him  from  one  place  to  another. 
Simple  reason  shows  the  expediency  of  having  progressive  treat- 
ment carried  out  within  one  locality,  and  under  the  supreme  man- 
agement of  the  same  persons,  instead  of  three  different  prisons, 
involving  a  change  of  prison  officers,  as  in  Ireland.  One  well- 
constructed  prison  would  be  sufficient  to  carry  out  the  convict's 
gradual  promotion  to  liberty.  The  Irish  principle  admits  of  many 
modifications  for  the  purpose  of  its  application  according  to  social, 
national,  and  territorial  distinctions.  In  Germany,  at  least,  no  one 
would  think  of  endorsing  all  the  details  of  the  Dublin  and  Spike 
Island  prisons,  which  form  the  national  part  in  Sir  Walter  Crof- 
ton's  work,  while  the  true  principles  of  moral  regeneration,  as  em- 
bodied and  applied  therein,  are  applicable  everywhere,  because 
they  belong  to  human  nature." 


PART  VIL]  IN  PRUSSIA.  411 


PART    SEVENTH. 

INDIVIDUAL  STATES   OF  THE   GERMAN  UNION. 

CHAPTER  LXXVII.  —  PRUSSIA. 

IN  Prussia,  largest  of  the  States  of  the  German  Empire,  though 
no  reforms  have  taken  place  since  the  London  Congress  that 
touch  the  fundamental  principles  of  the  penitentiary  question,  the 
interest  in  this  question  is  constantly  becoming  more  general. 
This  is  true  as  well  among  the  common  people  as  among  the 
governing  classes.  Public  opinion  has  shown  itself  highly  favor- 
able to  the  development  of  the  penitentiary  question.  There  are 
those  who  declaim  against  the  alleged  excessive  comforts  in  the 
prisons,  regarding  the  provision  made  for  the  prisoners  as  a  sort 
of  allurement  to  transgression,  but  the  public  in  general  appreci- 
ates more  and  more  the  importance  of  a  good  administration  ; 
and,  for  the  rest,  there  are  few  amateur  candidates  for  the  peni- 
tentiary. In  the  Prussian  parliament  there  are  found  members 
who  make  the  prison  question  the  object  of  a  profound  study  and 
a  sincere  devotion.  These  never  fail  to  appear  in  the  tribune, 
when  it  is  a  question  of  penitentiary  reform  ;  and  the  chamber  of 
deputies  rarely  refuses  the  sums  asked  by  the  Government  for 
this  object. 

The  Prussian  Government  long  since  adopted  the  system  of 
individual  imprisonment  for  criminals  sentenced  to  the  punish- 
ment of  hard  labor ;  and  its  efforts  have  been  directed  towards 
the  object  of  securing  the  application  of  that  system  to  all  prison- 
ers whose  condition  of  body  and  mind  was  such  as  to  warrant  it. 
The  number  of  prisoners  confined  in  establishments  within  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  ministry  of  the  interior,  the  greater  part  of 
whom  are  sentenced  to  hard  labor,  reached  in  1874  a  total  of 
twenty-two  thousand  two  hundred  and  eighty-nine,  while  the 
number  of  cells,  adapted  to  the  use  of  prisoners  day  and  night, 
amounted  to  only  five  thousand  four  hundred  and  twelve.  It  is, 
therefore,  evident  that  Prussia  is  still  far  from  the  goal  which  she 
has  proposed  to  herself ;  and  the  great  expense  involved  in  the 
construction  of  the  necessary  buildings  to  isolate  all  her  prisoners 
obliges  her  to  give  up  the  idea  of  introducing,  at  a  single  stroke, 
the  cellular  system  in  all  her  prisons. 


412  STATE   OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BooK  iv. 

At  the  same  time  the  Government  has  adopted  two  measures 
intended  to  lessen  the  inconveniences  of  the  present  state  of 
things,  and  to  prepare  for  its  reformation.  In  the  first  place,  the 
rule  has  been  adopted  that  the  cellular  prisons  shall  be  reserved, 
so  far  as  possible,  for  convicts  who  are  not  recidivists,  and  who  are 
under  twenty-five  years  of  age.  The  second  measure  relates  to  the 
construction  of  the  cellular  prisons,  where  the  great  question  is  one 
of  cost.  The  minister  of  the  interior,  a  few  years  ago,  created  a 
commission  composed  of  persons  versed  in  the  practical  knowledge 
of  prisons,  and  charged  it  with  the  duty  of  a  thorough  study  of 
this  question.  This  duty  has  been  discharged,  and  the  opinion  of 
the  commission,  as  given  in  its  report,  was  that  the  Government, 
by  confining  itself  to  what  is  absolutely  essential,  could,  without 
injury  to  the  health  of  the  prisoners  and  without  impairing  the 
security  of  the  prisons,  economize  at  the  rate  of  at  least  one-fourth 
on  the  sums  heretofore  expended  in  the  construction  of  such 
prisons.  The  execution  of  a  plan,  which  has  just  been  prepared 
in  conformity  with  the  recommendations  of  the  commission,  will 
very  soon  show  whether  or  no  the  commission  was  right  in  its 
conclusions. 

The  labor  in  the  Prussian  prisons  has  long  been  a  source  of 
trouble  to  the  Government,  from  the  demands,  often  diamet- 
rically opposite,  which  are  made  in  regard  to  its  organization. 
On  the  one  side,  complaint  is  made  that  the  labor  of  the  prisons 
produces  too  little  result,  and,  on  the  other,  the  Government  is 
reproached  with  interfering  with  the  interests  of  trades  and 
manufactures  by  the  competition  of  this  labor.  Some  persons 
have  gone  so  far  as  to  demand  that  no  goods  whatever  be  manu- 
factured in  the  prisons,  except  for  exportation.1 

To  regulate  definitively  this  branch  of  the  administration,  a 
decree  was  issued  in  December,  1872,  that  all  the  labor  "in  the 
prisons  should  be  put  up  at  auction  and  let  to  the  highest  bidder. 
The  discipline,  so  it  is  claimed,  remains  wholly  in  the  hands  of 
the  prison  authorities,  the  contractor  having  no  part  in  it ;  he  is 
not  even  permitted  to  accord  recompenses  or  rewards  to  the 
prisoners  who  work  for  him. 

One-sixth  part  of  what  the  contractors  pay  for  the  labor  is 
reserved  to  be  given  to  the  prisoners  in  the  shape  of  prizes  for 
diligence ;  and,  to  the  end  that  an  equitable  distribution  of  this 
fund  may  be  assured,  tasks  have  been  fixed  in  all  the  different 
branches  of  manufacture.  In  each  shop  is  found  the  list  of  tasks 
and  of  prizes  corresponding  thereto,  —  simple  prizes  for  those  who 
have  only  accomplished  the  assigned  tasks,  and  higher  prizes  (up 

1  But  how  would  that  mend  the  matter  ?  Even  if  the  prisoners  were  restricted  to 
manufacturing  for  exportation,  there  would  remain  so  much  less  for  free  laborers  to 
produce  for  foreign  markets.  So  that,  whether  the  commodities  produced  by  their 
labor  are  sold  at  home  or  abroad,  it  comes  in  the  end  to  the  same  thing. 


PART  vn.]  IN  PRUSSIA.  413 

to  the  maximum  of  five  cents  a  day)  for  those  who  have  done  two 
or  more  times  their  tasks.  A  part  of  the  premiums  is  at  the 
present  disposition  of  the  prisoners  to  purchase  books,  snuff,  and 
provisions,  but  not  liquors  ;  and  if  what  is  left  at  the  time  of 
their  liberation  does  not  exceed  the  sum  of  fifteen  marcs,  the 
expense  of  their  return  home  is  met  from  the  government- 
chest. 

The  prisons  of  Prussia  are  partly  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the 
ministry  of  the  interior  and  partly  under  that  of  the  ministry  of 
justice.  This  diversity  of  jurisdiction  in  the  administration  of 
the  prisons  has,  as  would  naturally  be  supposed,  led  to  many 
inconveniences,  and  has  further,  quite  as  naturally,  given  rise  to 
the  wish,  expressed  in  the  legislative  assembly,  that  the  direc- 
tion of  the  prisons  should  be  centralized  in  one  or  other  of  the 
two  ministries  that  now  have  a  divided  jurisdiction  over  them. 
To  which  ministry,  whether  of  the  interior  or  of  justice,  the 
administration  of  the  prisons  shall  be  confided  is  a  question  not 
yet  decided.  In  the  legislative  session  of  1868  a  representative 
moved  "  that  the  administration  of  all  the  prisons  be  united  into 
the  hands  of  the  ministry  of  justice."  The  Assembly  adopted 
the  resolution,  after  having  amended  it  by  striking  out  all  after 
the  word  "  united,"  thereby  showing  its  desire  for  unification, 
but  leaving  the  practical  part  of  the  question  open  for  the  time 
being. 

All  persons  conversant  with  the  administration  of  prisons  will 
agree  that  a  divided  jurisdiction  is  an  evil ;  but  which  department 
of  Government  is,  inherently  and  per  se,  best  suited  to  take  charge 
of  such  administration  is  not  perhaps  quite  so  clear.  In  European 
countries  the  most  common  practice  is  to  place  it  in  the  hands  of 
the  ministry  of  justice  ;  and  in  other  parts  of  the  world  the  same 
practice  is  still  more  general,  if  indeed  it  is  not  universal.  In 
Sweden  the  penitentiary  administration  constitutes  a  distinct  de- 
partment, and  consequently  is  subject  to  the  jurisdiction  of  neither 
the  minister  of  justice  nor  the  minister  of  the  interior.  This  is 
probably  the  best  organization  for  this  department  of  the  public 
service,  since  it  gives  the  undivided  energies  of  one  man  to  the 
work,  —  a  work  broad  enough  and  complicated  enough  to  demand 
such  devotion.  In  Russia  the  jurisdiction  of  the  prisons  is  di- 
vided, precisely  as  it  is  in  Prussia,  between  the  ministry  of  the 
interior  and  the  ministry  of  justice  ;  and  there,  also,  the  same 
inconveniences  are  felt  from  it.  In  France  and  Italy  the  admin- 
istration of  the  prisons  is  confided,  at  least  mainly,  to  the  ministry 
of  the  interior,  as  it  is  likewise  in  England,  where  that  ministry 
has  the  name  of  "  home  department."  An  exception  however  is 
to  be  noted  as  regards  France,  since  the  administration  of  the 
prisons  of  Paris  is  in  the  prefecture  of  police,  and  that  of  the 
penal  colonies  in  the  ministry  of  the  marine. 


414  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  iv. 

To  return  now  to  Prussia.  The  question  which  in  that  country 
seems  to  be,  if  not  agitating,  at  least  interesting,  the  public  mind 
is  one  of  those  which  cannot  be  definitively  settled  by  abstract 
reasoning,  but  demands  a  concrete  solution.  As  a  general  thing, 
it  is  best  to  let  well  enough,  or  even  fairly  well,  alone.  For  this 
reason,  if  it  were  permissible  to  speak  at  all,  I  would  say,  —  since 
the  main  control  of  the  prisons  has  long  been,  and  is  now,  in  the 
hands  of  the  minister  of  the  interior,  and  is,  to  say  the  least, 
working  fairly  well,  —  let  it  stay  there  ;  and,  for  the  sake  of  unity 
and  efficiency,  let  the  residue  be  transferred  to  the  same  hands. 
But  there  are  two  or  three  additional  thoughts  that  come  in  to 
strengthen  this  view,  to  which  brief  reference  may  be  made. 

The  first  is  that  the  education  of  judicial  officers  gives  them, 
chiefly,  a  knowledge  of  law  and  its  application  ;  and  their  experi- 
ence after  graduation  is  much  in  the  same  direction,  since  they 
have  little  or  nothing  to  do  with  executive  administration.  Con- 
sequently, if  intrusted  with  such  administration,  especially  the 
administration  of  prisons,  they  will  find  themselves  in  a  sphere  to 
which  they  are  comparative  strangers,  and  where  experience  can 
be  gained  only  at  the  expense  of  the  cause. 

The  second  point  relates  to  the  governing  boards  which,  under 
the  minister  of  the  interior,  have  charge  of  the  Prussian  prisons. 
These  boards,  in  Prussia,  have  also  charge  of  the  departments  of 
buildings  and  public  works,  of  health,  and  of  school  and  church 
matters.  Consequently,  whenever  questions  of  building,  of  health, 
or  of  the  establishment  of  schools  and  churches  in  prisons,  arise, 
they  are  able  to  summon  to  their  assistance  the  proper  persons 
without  loss  of  time,  and  at  once  to  make  the  necessary  arrange- 
ments ;  whereas  the  judicial  officers  have  no  such  power,  and 
could  arrive  at  the  same  end  only  by  a  longer  and  more  circuitous 
route. 

The  third  and  most  important  argument  is  that  the  adminis- 
tration of  the  prisons  is  intimately  connected  with  the  manage- 
ment of  the  police,  and  this  is  wholly  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the 
ministry  of  the  interior.  It  can  hardly  fail  to  work  to  the  detri- 
ment of  the  public  service  if  the  connection  between  the  manage- 
ment of  the  police  and  the  management  of  the  prisons  should  be 
broken  by  transferring  the  direction  of  the  latter  to  the  depart- 
ment of  justice. 

The  writer  personally  visited  several  of  the  prisons  of  Prussia, 
but  none  with  greater  interest  than  that  of  Moabit  near  Berlin, 
—  first  in  1871  and  again  in  1875.  This  is  the  model  prison 
of  Prussia,  and  holds  a  high  place  among  the  model  prisons 
of  the  world.  It  owes  its  present  organization  and  manage- 
ment to  Dr.  Wichern,  of  the  Rauhe  Haus,  who,  without  re- 
signing the  directorship  of  his  reformatory,  held  for  many 
years  the  position  of  director-general  of  the  prisons  of  Prussia. 


PART  VIL]  IN  PRUSSIA.  415 

It  is  a  cellular  prison,  on  the  radiating  plan,  with  four  wings  and 
five  hundred  and  eight  cells,  besides  workshops  in  the  basement 
sufficient  for  one  hundred  and  fifty  men,  and  a  farm,  at  some 
distance  from  the  prison,  to  give  employment  to  those  prisoners 
who  on  account  of  bad  health,  age,  or  length  of  sentence  cannot 
serve  out  their  entire  term  in  separation.  The  prison  is  managed 
by  a  Protestant  brotherhood,  called  the  Brethren  of  the  Rauhe 
Haus,  and  trained  therefore  by  Dr.  Wichern  for  the  work.  The 
average  of  relapses  is  about  thirteen  per  cent.  Though  having 
no  permit  from  an  official  source,  I  was  received  with  much  cour- 
tesy by  the  director,  a  gentleman  evidently  of  great  benevolence. 
He  conducted  me  through  the  establishment,  entering  at  least 
fifteen  to  twenty  cells,  where  I  had  an  opportunity  of  seeing  the 
prisoners  at  their  different  occupations.  These  were  quite  vari- 
ous, and  embraced  lithographing,  engraving,  carving  in  wood,  etc., 
as  well  as  the  more  ordinary  trades.  The  manner  of  his  inter- 
course with  the  prisoners  was  marked  by  a  gentle  and  kindly 
spirit,  with  nothing  of  official  stiffness.  The  visit  was  in  all 
cases  commenced  by  a  friendly  greeting,  and  on  leaving  the 
director  bade  each  one  adieu,  often  with  an  added  hand-shake. 
The  prison  was  kept  in  the  neatest  manner;  the  prisoners 
wore  a  cheerful  look  ;  every  cell  seemed  a  little  home  of  solitary 
industry;  material  wants  were  well  provided  for  ;  and  the  director 
was  evidently  a  favorite  with  the  inmates,  as  indeed  he  well  might 
be,  for  he  acted  not  simply  as  their  friend  but  their  father. 

There  is  a  "  Protestant  Brotherhood  "  of  the  Rauhe  Haus,  who 
are  regularly  trained  for  Christian  work  as  a  life-profession  un- 
der Dr.  Wichern,  mostly  at  the  Rauhe  Haus,  but  partly  also  at 
Johannes-Stift,  near  Berlin,  which  is  an  offshoot  of  the  parent 
institution.  There  had  been,  down  to  1876,  seven  hundred  and 
fifty  so  trained,  of  whom  all  but  fifty  had  already  gone  forth  to 
different  fields  of  labor. 

The  subaltern  officers  of  the  Moabit  prison,  as  well  as  the 
director,  are  Rauhe  Haus  "  brothers."  It  is  well  for  that  prison 
that  they  are  so ;  it  is  well  for  all  prisons  where  there  is  any 
considerable  number  of  them,  for  they  are  thoroughly  trained, 
thoroughly  devoted,  and,  as  a  rule,  thoroughly  unselfish  in  their 
devotion.  They  are  deeply  religious,  full  of  an  earnest  mission- 
ary zeal,  and  dedicated  to  Christian  work  as  to  a  life-service.  I 
confess  myself  to  be  in  full  sympathy  with  the  spirit,  and  in  full 
accord  with  the  opinion,  expressed  in  the  following  extract  from  a 
letter  received  from  a  foreign  correspondent  on  this  point :  — 

"  There  is  one  subject,  of  the  utmost  importance,  in  connection  with 
prisons,  which,  although  you  will  doubtless  not  overlook  it,  yet  I  feel  anx- 
ious to  impress  upon  your  attention  in  a  special  degree,  as  being  desirable 
to  give  prominence  to  in  your  book.  This  subject  is  the  importance  of 
selecting  religious  men,  as  officers  and  sub-officers,  in  all  prisons  and 


STATE   OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BooK  iv. 

kindred  institutions.  It  is  a  matter  of  vital  and  fundamental  importance. 
Unfortunately  there  is  so  general  a  resort  to  military  men  (old  soldiers)  as 
the  chief  source  of  prison  guardianship  in  Europe,  that  the  religious  ele- 
ment has,  in  a  great  degree,  been  neglected." 


CHAPTER  LXXVIII.  —  GRAND-DUCHY  OF  BADEN. 

THERE  are  in  Baden  houses  of  correction,  central  prisons, 
district  prisons,  and  fortress  prisons.  The  system  is  in 
part  cellular,  and  in  part  associate.  Both  plans  are  reported  as 
yielding  favorable  results. 

The  number  of  prisoners  confined  Jan.  I,  1871,  and  which  prob- 
ably represents  about  the  average,  was  :  Houses  of  correction,  303  ; 
central  prison  of  Bruchsal,  441  ;  district  prisons,  under  sentence, 
198,  —  awaiting  trial,  227.  Total,  1,169.  Of  these,  eighty-five  per 
cent  were  men  and  fifteen  per  cent  women. 

The  support  of  the  prisons  is  derived  from  three  sources, 
namely,  (i)  payments  by  prisoners  who  have  property,  which 
amount  to  very  little ;  (2)  the  labor  of  the  prisoners ;  (3)  subsi- 
dies by  the  State. 

The  gains  from  prison  labor  differ  materially,  according  to  the 
duration  of  the  punishment,  the  class  of  prison,  and  the  number 
in  each.  The  product  of  the  trades  carried  on  in  the  cellular 
prison  of  Bruchsal  has  sometimes  sufficed  to  pay  the  whole  ex- 
pense of  the  establishment,  with  the  exception  of  the  salaries  of 
officers  ;  and  for  twenty  years  it  has,  on  the  average,  paid  consid- 
erably more  than  two-thirds  of  the  current  expenses. 

To  superior  officers,  on  retirement  from  service,  there  is 
granted  an  annual  pension  equal  to  four-fifths  of  their  salary :  to 
the  inferior,  equal  to  one-half. 

All  the  prisons  are  in  the  control  of  the  minister  of  justice ; 
but  there  are  local  councils  of  inspection  for  all  the  larger  estab- 
lishments, which  exercise  sundry  powers  of  administration  under 
the  minister.  The  superior  officers  are  appointed  by  the  grand 
duke,  the  inferior  officers  by  the  minister.  Their  appointment  is 
during  good  behavior. 

Imprisonment  is  reduced  one-fourth  for  good  conduct,  but  this 
reduction  cannot  be  earned  unless  the  sentence  is  at  least  for  a 
full  year.  The  prisoner  is  liable,  on  misbehavior,  to  be  recalled 
after  discharge,  to  serve  out  his  full  term,  without  counting  the 
time  he  may  have  been  out. 

For  the  performance  by  the  prisoner  of  the  daily  task  required, 
which  is  equal  to  the  average  work  of  a  free  laborer,  the  sum  of 


PART  VIL]  IN  BADEN.  417 

three  kreutzers  is  placed  to  his  credit.  For  additional  work  this 
sum  may  be  increased  to  six  kreutzers.  To  this  reward  diligence 
and  the  result  of  efficient  work  alone  contribute,  good  conduct 
not  being  considered.  Other  rewards  are  special  gratuities,  the 
privilege  of  spending  a  part  of  their  peculium  in  procuring  in- 
creased comforts,  such  occupation  as  they  like,  and  school  prizes. 

The  offences  against  discipline  most  common  are  communica- 
tions with  their  fellow-prisoners. 

The  disciplinary  punishments  in  use  are  reprimands,  with- 
drawal of  privileges,  solitary  confinement  with  or  without  light, 
privation  of  bed,  diminution  of  food  and  drink,  and  coercive 
chair  (the  prisoner  being  bound  to  a  solid  chair).  A  full  record 
is  kept  of  all  punishments. 

The  highest  value  is  attached  in  Baden  to  religious  instruction 
in  prisons.  Chaplains  are  provided  for  all  prisons  and  for  all 
religions.  They  hold  religious  service,  give  religious  lessons, 
enter  into  religious  conversation  with  the  prisoners,  inspect  the 
prison  schools,  keep  an  eye  on  the  prisoners'  occupations  during 
their  relaxation,  and  correspond  with  the  ministers  of  their  abode  ; 
this  correspondence  gives  moral  protection  to  the  prisoners  after 
liberation.  It  is  their  duty  to  give  particular  attention  to  sick 
prisoners,  to  those  depressed  in  spirit,  or  showing  any  tendency 
to  insanity.  They  visit  the  sick  weekly,  and  the  other  prisoners 
at  least  every  fortnight.  It  is  their  duty  at  these  visits  to  awaken, 
so  far  as  possible,  moral  and  religious  feeling  in  the  prisoners  and 
to  further  their  reformation. 

No  volunteer  visitors  are  admitted  into  the  prisons  to  labor  for 
the  moral  benefit  of  the  inmates,  nor  are  there  in  them  Sunday- 
schools. 

In  Baden  only  four  per  cent  of  the  prisoners  are  unable  to  read 
when  received.  Schools  are  organized  in  all  the  prisons.  Male 
prisoners  under  thirty-five  are  required  to  attend,  women  till  they 
are  thirty ;  beyond  the  ages  named,  those  attend  who  choose. 
The  subjects  of  instruction  are  the  same  as  those  in  good  pri- 
mary schools.  With  few  exceptions,  the  prisoners  make  satisfac- 
tory progress.  Every  prison  has  a  good  library.  The  books  in  it 
are  religious,  instructive,  and  entertaining.  The  prisoners  for  the 
most  part  are  fond  of  reading.  Books  written  expressly  for  prison- 
ers are  in  little  request.  Educated  prisoners  prefer  voyages,  biog- 
raphies, and  technical  books  ;  those  less  educated,  tales.  Suitable 
reading  exercises  a  beneficial  influence  ;  it  instructs  and  invigo- 
rates the  prisoners'  minds,  and  thus  aids  their  reformation  ;  it 
favors  discipline  by  removing  the  feeling  of  ennui  and  the  ten- 
dency to  disorder. 

The  labor  of  the  prisoners  is  not  let  to  contractors,  but  is 
managed  by  the  administration  itself.  This  system  is  preferred 
because  it  enables  the  authorities  to  observe  the  state  of  each 

27 


41 8  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  iv. 

prisoner  and  to  exclude  all  outside  elements  prejudicial  to  disci- 
pline and  reformation.  It  is  sought  to  introduce  variety  of  trades, 
so  that  too  many  may  not  be  employed  on  any  one  to  the  injury 
of  private  industry.  An  extensive  market  and  the  highest  prices 
are  sought.  Forty  per  cent  of  the  prisoners  are  ignorant  of  a 
trade  on  entry.  To  impart  to  these  a  trade  and  the  power  of 
self-help,  if  they  have  the  requisite  ability  and  stay  long  enough 
in  the  prison,  is  the  principal  aim. 

Sanitary  conditions  are  in  general  good  as  to  site,  water-supply, 
sewerage,  ventilation,  cleanliness,  body  and  bed  linen,  light,  heat, 
etc.  The  cells  are  lighted  with  gas.  Each  prisoner  has  a  wooden 
or  iron  bedstead,  a  mattress  of  straw,  sedge,  or  varec,  a  bolster 
of  the  latter  substance,  two  sheets,  and  one  or  two  counter- 
panes. The  sick  have,  in  addition,  cushions,  etc.  The  general 
distribution  of  time,  without  minute  accuracy,  is  ten  hours  for 
work,  nine  and  one-half  for  sleep,  and  the  remaining  four  and  one- 
half  for  meals,  exercise,  religious  services,  and  school.  The  sick 
are  cared  for  in  special  cells,  or  in  common  hospitals  when  their 
complaints  are  serious  enough  to  require  it.  The  death-rate  is 
from  one  to  two  per  cent. 

Punishment  is  the  primary  aim  of  imprisonment  in  Baden,  but 
it  is  intended  to  be  so  inflicted  as  to  make  it  contribute  to  the 
reformation  of  the  imprisoned.  Prisoners  on  leaving  the  prison 
are  generally  better  than  when  they  entered  it.  The  proportion 
of  those  who  return  to  a  criminal  course  after  release  is  twenty 
per  cent. 

Imprisonment  for  debt  does  not  exist  in  Baden. 

There  are  twenty-one  prisoners'  aid  societies  in  the  grand- 
duchy.  The  directors  of  the  penitentiary  establishments  are  re- 
quired to  enter,  for  this  purpose,  into  correspondence  with  the 
authorities  of  the  political  administration  some  time  before  the 
liberation  of  each  prisoner  ;  it  is  made  the  duty  of  these  authori- 
ties to  unite  with  the  prisoners'  aid  societies  and  with  the  local 
authorities  in  providing  for  liberated  prisoners.  The  results  are 
satisfactory. 

The  cellular  prison  at  Bruchsal  it  has  been  my  privilege  to  visit 
more  than  once,  and  on  one  occasion  to  spend  a  week  there  as 
the  guest  of  the  director,  Mr.  Ekert.  Although  the  system  is  in- 
tended to  be  rigorously  cellular,  there  is  a  department  of  the  prison, 
called  the  "  auxiliary  establishment,"  where  association  is  per- 
mitted to  the  following  classes  of  prisoners  :  I.  Those  who  have 
been  in  cellular  separation  six  years,  unless  they  elect  to  remain  in 
isolation.  2.  Old  men  who  have  passed  the  age  of  seventy.  3. 
Prisoners  adjudged  not  fit  for  cellular  separation  on  account  of 
the  state  of  their  health,  bodily  or  mental.  There  were  about 
thirty  persons  in  the  auxiliary  establishment  out  of  a  total  of 
three  hundred  and  eighty-four.  Not  more  than  nine  per  cent  are 


PART  VIL]  IN  BAVARIA.  419 

detained  for  periods  exceeding  four  years.  Though  a  zealous  sup- 
porter of  the  separate  system,  Mr.  Ekert  states,  in  one  of  his  re- 
ports, that  after  three  years  of  cellular  confinement  the  muscular 
fibre  becomes  remarkably  weakened,  and  that,  to  require  hard 
work  after  that  would  be  tantamount  to  requiring  an  impossi- 
bility. 

The  different  occupations  of  the  prisoners  run  up  to  eighteen 
or  twenty.  Every  prisoner  learns  a  trade  who  was  not  master  of 
one  before  his  committal.  To  some  extent  the  prisoner's  own 
preference  is  consulted.  More  than  half  had  not  learned  a  trade 
prior  to  committal.  They  are  encouraged  and  incited  to  diligence 
by  being  allowed  to  share  in  the  product  of  their  toil.  Two  chap- 
lains are  employed,  one  for  the  Catholic,  the  other  for  the  Protes- 
tant prisoners,  who  severally  hold  service  twice  on  Sunday  and 
once  on  Wednesday,  besides  doing  abundant  pastoral  work  in  the 
cells.  Two  schoolmasters  also  devote  their  whole  time  to  the 
work  of  scholastic  instruction  in  the  cells.  An  annual  examina- 
tion of  the  prison  pupils  takes  place,  at  which  premiums  are  dis- 
tributed to  the  deserving,  consisting  of  books,  copies  for  drawing, 
tools,  etc. 

The  superior  officers  meet  daily  for  conference,  when  they 
make  report  of  their  respective  observations  for  the  last  twenty- 
four  hours,  and  take  counsel  together  for  the  future. 


CHAPTER  LXXIX.  —  BAVARIA. 

BAVARIA  has  four  cellular  prisons,  —  three  for  persons  wait- 
ing trial,  and  one  for  prisoners  under  sentence.  This  sys- 
tem has  existed  for  only  a  few  years,  but  is  said  to  gain  adherents 
daily. 

Not  more  than  one-sixth  of  the  current  expenses  of  the  prisons 
is  met  by  the  revenue  from  prison  labor,  about  two-sixths  from 
fines,  and  the  remaining  moiety  from  the  public  fisc. 

The  pension  on  retirement  is  regulated  by  the  length  of  ser- 
vice. If  retirement  becomes  necessary  within  the  first  ten  years, 
it  is  seven-tenths  of  the  salary  ;  if  within  the  second  ten,  eight- 
tenths  ;  if  within  the  third  ten,  nine-tenths  ;  and  after  forty  years 
of  service,  or  after  the  officer  has  reached  the  age  of  seventy,  the 
pension  is  the  entire  salary. 

The  administration  of  the  prisons  is  in  the  jurisdiction  of  the 
minister  of  justice.  The  inspection  varies  according  to  the  class 
of  the  prison.  For  the  cellular  prison  at  Nuremberg  there  is  a 
special  council  of  inspection.  The  directors  are  appointed  by  the 


42O  STATE   OF  PRISONS,   ETC.  [BOOK  iv. 

king ;  the  chaplains,  surgeons,  schoolmasters,  and  trade-instruc- 
tors, by  the  minister  ;  the  keepers  and  clerks,  by  the  director. 
The  director  alone  is  appointed  for  life  ;  but  the  service,  so  far  as 
the  others  are  concerned,  though  not  eo  nomine,  is  yet  in  reality 
during  good  behavior. 

Prisoners  may  shorten  their  terms  of  sentence  by  good  conduct 
one-fourth. 

The  proportion  of  their  earnings  allotted  to  prisoners  varies 
from  two  to  four  kreutzers  a  day.  In  this  award  regard  is  had  to 
good  behavior  as  well  as  to  industry  and  capability.  Other  re- 
wards given  to  act  as  an  incentive  to  good  are  permission  to 
buy  or  receive  extra  articles  of  consumption  ;  permission  to  receive 
more  frequent  visits  and  conduct  a  more  extensive  correspond- 
ence ;  formal  praise  or  recognition  ;  receiving  better  and  more  lu- 
crative work,  school  prizes  (presents  of  books),  and  rewards  for 
work  (presents  of  money  up  to  four  florins). 

The  disciplinary  punishments  are  reproof,  non-payment  for 
labor  up  to  four  weeks,  reduction  of  rations  for  a  term  of  from 
eight  to  fourteen  days,  arrest  with  or  without  work  to  a  period 
not  exceeding  four  weeks,  imprisonment  in  a  dark  cell  for  a  term 
not  exceeding  ten  days,  and  wearing  of  irons,  but  in  such  a  man- 
ner as  not  to  prevent  the  prisoner  from  walking.  Corporal  pun- 
ishment is  forbidden  by  law.  Every  punishment  is  entered  in  a 
book  kept  for  the  purpose,  an  extract  from  which  is  added  to  the 
documents  furnished  to  each  prisoner. 

All  the  larger  prisons  have  chaplains  wholly  devoted  to  the 
duties  of  their  office  ;  in  the  district  and  police  prisons  the  cler- 
gyman of  the  locality  officiates.  The  regular  chaplain  is  bound  to 
hold  divine  service  in  the  forenoon  of  every  Sunday  and  holiday 
and  on  the  king's  birthday,  and  in  the  afternoon  of  Sunday  to 
give  one  hour's  reading  or  exhortation,  and  to  hold  a  religious 
service  on  one  week-day ;  to  administer  the  sacrament  to  sick 
prisoners  when  they  demand  it,  and  to  those  in  health  once  every 
three  months  ;  to  give  religious  instruction  twice  a  week  for  one 
hour ;  to  visit  the  prisoners  confined  in  cells  at  least  every  fort- 
night ;  to  correspond  with  the  clergymen  of  the  places  to  which 
the  prisoners  belong  ;  and  to  act  as  librarian. 
^  Volunteer  religious  workers  are  not  admitted.  There  are  no 
Sunday-schools  in  the  prisons,  but  on  that  day  instruction  in 
drawing  is  given  to  the  prisoners. 

Twelve  per  cent  of  the  prisoners  on  commitment  are  illiterate. 
Schools  are  established  only  in  houses  of  correction  and  the  gen- 
eral prisons.  Attendance  is  obligatory  till  thirty-six ;  after  that 
it  is  optional.  But  prisoners  under  thirty-six  who  are  already 
sufficiently  educated  are  excused  if  they  desire  it.  School  instruc- 
tion comprises  reading,  writing,  arithmetic,  geography,  and  Ger- 
man. Choral  singing  and  drawing  are  also  taught,  the  two  latter 


PART  vn.J  IN  BA  VARIA.  42 1 

subjects  being  optional.  Prisoners  who  attend  school  for  less 
than  four  months  make  no  great  progress  ;  those  who  have  a 
longer  term  make  very  considerable  advance.  The  libraries  con- 
sist principally  of  treatises  of  a  religious  and  moral  character,  of 
books  which  are  generally  useful,  of  popularly-written  works  on 
natural  and  general  history,  and  of  popular  editions  of  German 
classics.  Almost  all  prisoners  in  cells  read  a  great  deal  and  en- 
joy it,  but  those  undergoing  collective  imprisonment  prefer  con- 
versation. Reading  exercises  a  good  influence  by  doing  away  in 
great  measure  with  the  evil  consequences  arising  from  idleness, 
and  promotes  the  prisoner's  improvement  by  the  cultivation  of 
his  mind.  Simple  tales  and  entertaining  books  are  preferred,  — 
religious  books  least  of  all. 

The  several  industries  in  the  Bavarian  prisons  are  conducted 
by  their  respective  administrations.  It  is  held  that  when  prison 
labor  is  given  to  contractors,  another  authority  is  placed  between 
the  administration  and  the  prisoner,  which  cares  only  for  making 
the  greatest  profit  out  of  the  prisoner's  work.  Not  only 'is  disci- 
pline thereby  interfered  with,  but  the  character  of  the  punishment 
is  changed  and  its  purpose  is  placed  in  jeopardy.  From  the  dis- 
ciplinary and  penitentiary  point  of  view  the  giving  of  prison 
labor  to  contractors  is  condemned,  even  though  the  profit  derived 
therefrom  may  be  greater  than  if  the  administration  carried  it 
on.  The  proportion  of  prisoners  who  on  entering  prison  are 
ignorant  of  a  trade  is  twenty-nine  per  cent.  It  is  made  a  special 
object  to  impart  a  trade,  and  so  to  teach  the  art  of  self-help  to  all 
prisoners  who  have  the  necessary  capabilities  and  whose  terms  of 
sentence  are  long  enough  to  permit  it. 

The  sanitary  condition  of  the  prisons  varies,  —  in  some  it 
is  all  that  can  be  desired ;  in  others  it  is  far  from  having 
reached  such  a  condition.  Different  kinds  of  water-closets  are 
used.  In  the  cellular  prison  at  Nuremberg  there  are  fixed  closets 
made  of  cast-iron,  which  by  means  of  water-pipes  are  cleaned 
three  times  every  day.  The  bend  or  neck  which  connects  the 
closet  with  the  refuse-pipe  remains  always  full  of  water,  and 
thereby  shuts  off  all  sewer-gas.  By  means  of  the  water  all  the 
matter  is  carried  off  and  falls  into  a  reservoir  at  some  distance, 
whence  again  the  liquid  part  is  drained  off  into  a  stream.  This 
arrangement  works  well.  Four  per  cent  represents  the  average 
of  the  sick,  and  two  per  cent  the  average  death-rate. 

Although  reformation  is  looked  upon  as  one  great  object  of  the 
prison  system,  the  favorable  results  desired  are  not  upon  the 
whole  obtained.  The  proportion  of  reconvictions  is  about  thirty 
per  cent. 

To  be  eligible  to  the  directorship  of  a  prison,  the  candidates 
must  have  studied  the  prescribed  subjects  in  philosophy  and  juris- 
prudence, and  passed  the  examination  admitting  them  to  act  as 


422  STATE   OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  iv. 

judges.  Candidates  for  the  position  of  physician,  chaplain,  or 
teacher  must  have  completed  the  studies  connected  with  their 
several  professions,  and  undergone  satisfactory  examinations. 
Special  schools  do  not  exist  for  the  education  and  training  of 
prison  officers.  Such  schools,  it  is  held,  would  be  desirable,  since 
much  harm  is  done  by  ignorance  in  the  treatment  of  prisoners. 

Repeated  short  punishments  for  minor  offences  are  not  found 
to  produce  any  good  effect ;  either  the  prisoners  become  em- 
bittered, or  the  punishments  on  account  of  their  frequency  lose 
their  effect.  More,  it  is  believed,  can  be  done  in  such  cases  by 
reproof  and  teaching  than  by  punishment.  Reconviction,  es- 
pecially for  robbery,  theft,  and  the  concealment  of  stolen  goods,  is 
very  heavily  punished. 

As  principal  causes  of  crime  are  mentioned :  I.  Want  of 
religious  teaching.  2.  Abnormal  family  relations.  According 
to  a  law  that  existed  up  to  the  year  1868,  marriage  between 
persons  who  possessed  no  landed  property  was  exceedingly 
difficult,  and  in  consequence  illegitimate  births  were  very 
numerous.  As  a  result  of  the  want  of  the  beneficial  influence 
which  family  life  exercises,  illegitimate-born  form  a  considerable 
proportion  of  all  prisoners.  3.  Neglected  education,  especially  in 
those  parts  where  children  are  employed  in  the  guarding  of  cattle 
or  in  working  in  manufactories.  4.  Rough  manners  and  cus- 
toms. In  some  parts  of  Bavaria  it  is  still  a  custom  of  the  peas- 
ants to  carry  long  stiletto-like  knives  when  visiting  public  houses 
and  dancing-places  ;  and  thus,  on  Sundays  and  holidays,  the 
slightest  cause  leads  them  to  inflict  on  each  other  severe  in- 
juries. 

I  enjoyed  the  much  desired  privilege  of  personally  inspecting 
the  convict  or  central  prison  at  Munich,  so  well  known  and  so 
celebrated  as  the  scene  of  the  labors  of  Councillor  von  Ober- 
maier,  one  of  the  most  illustrious  of  prison  reformers.  It  is  an 
old  monastery  of  great  extent  but  extremely  irregular.  Under 
Obermaier,  sentences  were  from  five  years  to  life  ;  now  they  are 
from  one  year  to  life.  In  Obermaier's  time  it  was  wholly  con- 
gregate ;  now  it  is  partly  cellular.  There  were  five  hundred 
prisoners  at  the  date  of  my  visit,  of  whom  fifty-five  were  in  sepa- 
ration. The  prisoners  dine  at  eleven  o'clock,  and  after  that  are 
permitted  to  amuse  themselves  in  the  large  courtyards  of  the 
prison  till  one  P.M.  I  arrived  just  in  time  to  see  them  during 
this  season  of  relaxation.  The  keepers  maintain  a  general  super- 
vision, but  otherwise  they  are  quite  unrestrained.  Passing  through 
the  different  courts,  I  observed  that  all  were  perfectly  well- 
behaved.  They  conversed  freely  together  and  engaged  in  a 
variety  of  amusements,  but  without  tumult,  disorder,  or  any  ap- 
proach to  unseemly  noise.  I  made  special  inquiry  as  to  the  in- 
fluence of  so  unusual  an  indulgence,  and  the  answer  received  was 


PART  vii.]  IN  BAVARIA.  423 

substantially  as  follows :  At  their  promenade  in  the  courts  the 
prisoners  are  allowed  entire  freedom.  They  choose  their  com- 
pany and  their  subjects  of  conversation  as  they  see  fit.  This 
system,  far  from  being  attended  with  evil  consequences,  is  found 
preferable  to  that  which  forbids  all  converse.  Nevertheless,  to 
guard  against  the  evil  which  might  be  done  by  the  worse  to  the 
better  prisoners,  the  former  are  excluded  from  these  collective 
recreations,  and  are  required  to  take  their  exercise  in  separate 
yards,  which  is  a  quiet  but  powerful  means  of  maintaining  order 
and  preventing  excesses  in  the  associated  courts. 

Contraband  traffic,  especially  in  tobacco,  is  the  offence  against 
discipline  oftenest  committed.  The  punishments  are  reprimands, 
diminution  of  rations,  privation  of  peculium,  confinement  in  a 
cell,  the  dungeon,  and,  in  bad  cases,  irons.  Corporal  punishment 
has  been  abolished  since  1861.  Since  its  abolishment  the  num- 
ber of  offences  has  greatly  diminished.  Prior  to  its  prohibition 
the  prisoners  were  in  a  constant  state  of  irritation,  and  open 
revolt  was  not  infrequent.  Since  then  nothing  of  the  kind  has 
occurred.  The  prisoners  are  tranquil  and  docile.  School  is  held 
daily  for  two  hours  ;  there  are  six  classes,  and  each  class  receives 
two  hours'  schooling  per  week.  Better  would  it  be  to  double  the 
quantity.  The  branches  taught  are  those  common  in  primary 
schools,  with  a  little  chemistry  and  natural  science  superadded. 
The  progress  made  is  fair. 

As  in  Baden,  the  prisoners  nearly  all  know  how  to  read  when 
committed  ;  but  the  greater  part  have  not  learned  a  trade.  The 
industries  pursued  in  the  prison  are  many,  including  lithography, 
book-binding,  shoemaking,  spinning,  weaving,  painting,  carpen- 
try, etc.,  besides  domestic  labors  and  other  work  for  the  establish- 
ment, in  which  latter  thirty-eight  prisoners  find  employment.  The 
net  earnings  in  1871  amounted  to  $11,977,  which  was  considerably 
more  than  sufficient  to  meet  a  fourth  of  the  expenses. 

The  prisoners  sleep  as  well  as  work  in  association.  Obermaier 
had  a  strange  liking  for  this  system,  and  no  doubt  his  extraordi- 
nary genius  for  controlling  bad  men  and  moulding  them  to  his 
will  enabled  him  to  overcome  many  of  the  evils  inseparable  from 
it.  It  is,  however,  inherently  and  ineradicably  vicious,  and  is  now 
condemned  by  the  common  judgment  of  the  world. 

I  visited  with  much  interest  the  detention  prison  at  Munich. 
It  is  upon  the  cellular  plan,  as  all  prisons  of  this  kind  ought  to 
be,  with  accommodations  for  fifty  men  and  twenty  women.  A 
very  few  receive  short  sentences  to  this  prison,  but  they  are  quite 
exceptional  cases.  It  is  not  intended  as  a  punishing  prison,  but 
simply  for  safe  custody.  Labor  is  not  exacted ;  but  such  pris- 
oners as  have  a  trade  are  permitted  to  work  at  it  so  far  as  there 
is  opportunity,  and  are  entitled  to  whatever  they  earn.  It  may 
be  pronounced  a  model  prison  of  its  class. 


424  STATE   OF  PRISONS,   ETC.  [BOOK  iv. 


CHAPTER  LXXX.  —  SAXONY. 

THE  prisons  of  Saxony  are  divided  into  the  following  classes  : 
I.  Prisons  for  severe  punishment.  2.  Prisons  for  less  severe 
punishment.  3.  Fortress  prisons.  4.  Prisons  belonging  to  courts 
of  justice.  5.  Prisons  belonging  to  police  courts.  The  average 
number  in  confinement  in  the  prisons  of  all  classes  is  between 
four  and  five  thousand. 

In  its  penitentiary  system  the  Government  has  two  principal 
objects  in  view, — the  satisfaction  of  justice  and  the  reformation  of 
the  criminal. 

Since  1850  the  penitentiary  of  Zuickau  has  been  especially 
distinguished  by  a  successful  application  of  the  principle  of  indi- 
vidual treatment,  partially  but  not  mainly  by  cellular  separation, 
yet  in  such  manner  as  the  special  character  of  each  prisoner  might 
require.  The  Saxon  Government  was  in  consequence  induced  to 
extend  the  same  system  to  all  its  prisons.  The  Government  more 
readily  placed  confidence  in  the  new  method,  because  it  works  by 
no  complicated  apparatus,  complies  with  existing  circumstances, 
is  based  upon  the  principle  of  individual  treatment,  and  so  com- 
bines different  modes  of  imprisonment  as  to  gain  the  best  results. 
Thus  the  common  modes  of  imprisonment  and  treatment  are  ex- 
cluded ;  and,  just  as  a  physician  prescribes  suitable  medicine  and 
diet  for  his  patients,  so  the  administration  provides  fit  education, 
work,  and  food  for  its  prisoners.  The  penitentiary  of  Zuickau 
gave  proofs  that  this  idea  was  not  only  theoretically  right,  but 
also  practicable.  The  Government,  therefore,  in  1854,  resolved 
that  all  the  Saxon  prisons  should  adopt  the  new  regulations  for 
internal  management  and  the  treatment  of  prisoners.  Accord- 
ingly there  is  in  Saxony  no  penitentiary  where  either  solitary  or 
collective  imprisonment  is  exclusively  employed  ;  both  modes  are 
used,  according  to  the  prisoner's  individual  wants.  Saxony  has 
eleven  prisons  where,  especially  during  the  last  ten  years,  the 
reforms  mentioned  above  have  been  carried  into  effect. 

There  exists  no  one  central  authority  for  the  administration  of 
the  penitentiary  system.  The  administrative  authority  rests,  ex- 
cept in  prisons  belonging  to  courts  of  justice  and  police,  in  the 
hands  of  the  ministry  of  the  interior.  The  ministry  of  justice 
takes  cognizance  by  commissioners  of  the  manner  in  which  the 
sentence  is  carried  out,  and  also  controls  the  domestic  arrange- 
ments. The  prisons  belonging  to  courts  of  justice,  in  which 
imprisonment  not  exceeding  four  months  can  be  undergone,  are 
superintended  by  the  ministry  of  justice. 

Effort  is  made  to  revive  and  cherish  hope  in  the  heart  of  the 
criminal,  —  the  hope  of  improving  his  condition  in  prison,  the 


PART  vn.]  IN  SAXONY.  42$ 

hope  of  shortening  his  term  of  imprisonment,  the  hope  of  a  com- 
plete moral  amendment,  and  the  hope  of  regaining  a  respectable 
place  in  society.  The  church,  the  school,  and  the  workshop  are 
regarded  as  the  best  means,  in  the  hands  of  a  sensible  officer,  for 
effecting  moral  reformation.  The  administration  aims  at  making 
the  prisoner  understand  that  he  can  make  progress  neither  in 
prison  nor  in  civil  life  without  radical  and  real  amendment. 

The  religious  wants  of  the  prisoners  are  equally  cared  for, 
whatever  their  creed.  As  in  every  truly  religious  household  all 
the  members  must  lend  to  each  other  a  mutual  help,  so  in  the 
Saxon  prisons  all  is  arranged  to  promote  moral  education  by  a 
common  worship  of  God  and  individual  care  of  the  soul.  But 
the  use  of  extraordinary  moral  agencies  is  not  allowed.  Hence 
visitors  from  outside  are  not  admitted. 

The  prisoners  are  generally  sufficiently  instructed  in  the  ele- 
mentary branches  on  their  committal,  but  not  many  of  them  have 
gone  much  beyond  that  degree  of  education.  The  penitentiary 
takes  especial  care  to  supply  the  defect  of  the  elementary  educa- 
tion by  obligatory  weekly  instruction.  The  general  and  special 
preparation  for  their  calling  is  supplied  to  the  prisoners  by  free 
instruction  on  Sundays.  Such  instruction  is  not  obligatory,  but 
the  prisoner  has  a  claim  to  it  arising  from  good  behavior.  It  is 
voluntarily  given  by  the  officers  and  not  by  the  clergymen  and 
teachers  alone.  The  library  in  the  penitentiary  of  Zuickau  con- 
tains five  thousand  volumes  of  religious,  instructive,  and  enter- 
taining books,  thus  providing  for  all  the  mental  wants  of  the 
prisoners,  who,  under  the  careful  guidance  of  the  teachers,  are 
diligent  readers. 

Saxony,  one  of  the  most  industrial  of  countries,  produces  in  her 
prisons  almost  all  the  different  articles  of  industry  and  trade. 
The  work  is  partly  given  to  contractors,  who  are  entirely  subject 
to  the  administration  of  the  penitentiary,  and  is  partly  managed  by 
the  latter  itself  on  its  own  account.  The  system  of  giving  the  work 
to  contractors  who  are  in  entire  subjection  to  the  administration 
has  the  preference,  because,  as  is  thought,  the  officers  cannot  be 
at  the  same  time  good  artisans  and  good  officers,  and  because  the 
interests  of  the  two  would  conflict.  I  feel  constrained  to  enter  a 
dissent  to  this  view.  The  profits  of  the  labor  cover  from  one- 
third  to  one-half  of  all  the  current  prison  expenses. 

From  the  combined  results  of  science  and  experience  prisoners 
have  received  since  1851,  conformably  to  a  regulation  regarding 
meals,  sufficient  and  nourishing  food.  This  regulation  provides 
for  a  daily  variety  suited  to  the  season  and  the  promotion  of 
health.  For  dinners  there  are  ninety,  for  breakfasts  and  sup- 
pers twenty-eight,  varieties  of  dishes.  On  principle  such  food  is 
given  to  the  prisoner  as  is  required  for  the  preservation  of  his 
life,  health,  and  strength  for  work.  Requisite  medical  attention 


426  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  IV. 

in  every  respect  is  supplied.  The  ventilation  is  arranged  in  a 
simple  but  effective  manner.  Drainage  (in  a  technical  sense)  does 
not  exist,  but  a  system  of  sluices  removes  all  the  underground 
water.  To  cleanliness  the  most  strict  attention  is  paid,  and  it  is 
rigorously  insisted  on  in  workshops,  dormitories,  water-closets, 
and  clothing ;  there  is  also  a  regular  use  of  baths.  The  daily 
average  of  cases  of  illness  is  from  one  to  two  per  cent;  the  annual 
average  of  cases  of  death  is  one  to  three  per  cent. 

In  Saxony  reformation  is  made  one  of  the  chief  objects  of  im- 
prisonment. The  prisoners  are  in  general  morally  better  on  leav- 
ing the  prison  than  when  they  entered  it.  Their  promises  that 
they  will  live  honestly  are  in  most  cases  not  mere  empty  phrases ; 
and  when  some  have  failed  in  their  purpose  of  amendment,  the 
fault  is  mostly  to  be  traced  to  existing  general  social  evils.  For 
successful  warfare  against  these  evils  liberated  prisoners  are  want- 
ing in  energy,  and  often  lack  the  succors  that  society  might  easily 
extend  to  them,  and  thus  help  them  to  stand. 

The  officers  are  appointed  by  the  ministry  of  the  interior. 
They  are  at  first  employed  on  trial,  and  are  dismissed  if  found  in- 
competent. Political  influence  does  not  enter  into  consideration. 
The  qualification  of  the  officers  is  on  the  average  good.  Separate 
schools  for  training  officers  do  not  exist.  Most  of  the  superior 
officers  undergo,  before  their  definitive  appointment,  a  practical 
training  in  one  of  the  penitentiaries.  The  higher  the  duties  to 
be  fulfilled  become,  and  the  more  carefully  the  system  of  individ- 
ual treatment  is  carried  out,  the  more  a  knowledge  of  these  du- 
ties approaches  to  a  science,  the  more  necessary  are  the  studies 
of  pedagogy  and  psychology,  and  the  more  it  becomes  absolutely 
requisite  to  make  special  studies  in  order  to  assist  in  attaining 
the  highest  efficiency  in  the  administration.  Just  as  no  teacher 
can  now  be  chosen,  contrary  to  what  was  the  case  in  times  past, 
from  men  of  another  calling,  but  must  be  a  man  who  has  received 
a  thorough  education  in  his  special  branch,  so  the  officers  of 
prisons  will  be  required  to  have  special  training,  and  therefore  in 
future  special  schools  will  become  a  necessity. 

Saxony  has  had  for  above  a  generation  two  reformatories  for 
the  education  and  reformation  of  children  of  both  sexes,  besides 
a  house  of  correction  for  young  persons  aged  from  sixteen  to 
twenty  years.  The  industrial  occupation  in  these  houses  is  agri- 
culture, but  mechanical  occupation  for  the  wants  of  the  reforma- 
tory itself  is  not  excluded.  The  admission  of  children  takes 
place  mostly  at  the  request  of  their  relations,  of  societies,  or  of 
police  authorities,  who  are  asked  to  contribute  a  small  sum  of 
money.  Children  up  to  twelve  years  and  young  persons  up  to 
eighteen  years  of  age  are  placed  under  this  reformatory  treat- 
ment. According  to  age,  school  instruction,  occupation  in  the 
field  and  garden,  and  domestic  work  are  the  means  of  education. 


PART  VIL]  IN  WURTEMBERG.  427 

At  the  proper  time  those  promoted  for  good  conduct  are  first 
sent  into  agricultural  or  domestic  service,  or  apprenticed  to 
tradesmen  under  proper  supervision  by  the  authorities  of  the 
reformatory.  Conditional  liberation  must  as  a  rule  precede  com- 
plete freedom.  Well-disposed  inmates  of  the  reformatories,  of 
the  age  of  less  than  twelve  years,  are  sent  to  board  in  carefully- 
chosen  families,  the  reformatory  paying  for  the  board.  Even 
these  have  to  undergo  a  period  of  conditional  liberation  before 
attaining  full  freedom.  The  term  of  probation  for  children  is  at 
least  two  years  ;  that  of  young  people,  one  year.  The  results 
obtained  in  these  reformatories  since  1856  have  shown  that  such 
as  were  liberated  after  a  probationary  period,  and  who  on  account 
of  relapse  were  sent  again  into  the  penitentiary,  amounted  to  only 
seven  per  cent. 

Reformatories  and  asylums  established  and  supported  by  so- 
cieties endeavor  to  reform  neglected  children  by  giving  them 
domestic  discipline  and  separate  or  public  schooling.  They 
mostly  keep  the  children  till  they  are  fourteen  years  of  age. 
Unmanageable  children  are  sent  for  further  education  to  the 
above-mentioned  State  reformatories.  The  number  of  children 
annually  admitted  to  the  State  reformatories  will  average  about 
three  hundred  and  fifty ;  the  number  received  into  the  asylums 
is  somewhat  less. 


CHAPTER  LXXXI. — WURTEMBERG. 

THE  prisons  of  this  little  kingdom  are:  i.  Reclusion  and  hard 
labor,  four ;  of  which  two  are  exclusively  for  men,  one  ex- 
clusively for  women,  and  one  for  prisoners  of  both  sexes.  2. 
Country  prisons,  three,  —  intended  for  misdemeanants.  3.  For- 
tress prison,  one,  —  for  political  prisoners.  4.  Prison  for  minors, 
one.  5.  District  prisons  (common  jails),  chiefly  for  persons  un- 
der arrest ;  but  petty  offenders  are  also  punished  in  them  for 
periods  not  exceeding  four  weeks. 

The  congregate  system  of  imprisonment,  with  common  dor- 
mitories, still  prevails  ;  but  recently  a  cellular  prison  has  been 
opened  at  Heilbronn. 

The  economic  and  correctional  administration  of  all  the  prisons 
of  Wiirtemberg  is  controlled  by  a  central  authority,  which  also 
exercises  supervision  over  district  prisons  for  preliminary  deten- 
tion and  minor  punishments.  The  central  authority,  which  is 
subordinate  to  the  minister  of  justice,  is  composed  of  members 
of  the  ministries  of  justice,  the  interior,  and  finance  ;  it  has  also 
attached  to  it  some  eminent  ecclesiastics,  a  physician,  an  ar- 
chitect, and  a  merchant. 


428  STATE   OF  PRISONS,   ETC.  [BooK  IV. 

The  directors  and  other  chief  officers  are  appointed  by  the 
king,  on  the  nomination  of  the  minister  of  justice,  who  first  con- 
sults the  board  of  commissioners.  These  appointments  are  for 
life.  The  subordinate  officers  are  appointed  by  the  commission. 

Conditional  liberation  has  been  introduced  as  an  agent  in  the 
discipline.  Industrious  prisoners  receive  for  their  application  and 
good  conduct  a  part  of  their  earnings,  this  part  is  fixed  by  the 
administration  at  one-fourth ;  but  if  their  earnings  exceed  eight 
kreutzers  per  day,  they  can  receive  only  two  kreutzers.  Prisoners 
who  are  distinguished  for  good  conduct  are  encouraged  by  being 
placed  in  a  higher  class,  by  receiving  more  agreeable  and  more 
profitable  employment,  by  being  allowed  more  frequent  communi- 
cations with  their  friends  and  more  liberty  to  make  purchases  out 
of  their  earnings,  and  by  being  recommended  for  pardon. 

The  chief  disciplinary  punishments  are  restricted  communica- 
tion with  friends,  withdrawal  of  the  prisoners'  share  of  their 
earnings,  diminution  of  food,  solitary  cell,  and  darkened  cell.  In 
reclusion  prisons  irons  are  sometimes  applied.  Corporal  pun- 
ishment is  not  authorized.  An  exact  register  of  punishments 
is  kept. 

In  all  the  prisons  there  are  Protestant  and  Catholic  chaplains. 
Their  duties  are  to  hold  divine  service  on  Sundays  and  festival 
days,  and  to  give  once  a  week  religious  instruction  to  the  prison- 
ers of  their  respective  creeds,  and  general  pastoral  counsel  ofi  all 
suitable  occasions.  For  prisoners  of  the  Jewish  faith  there  is 
similar  provision  for  religious  instruction.  The  labors  of  the 
chaplains  are  reported  as  most  beneficial  in  their  results.  Per- 
mission is  not  given  to  volunteer  laborers  to  enter  the  prisons  on 
missions  of  benevolence  to  the  prisoners. 

Prisoners  unable  to  read  and  write  on  admission  form  a  rare 
exception.  Nevertheless,  all  prisons  have  schools,  and  all  prison- 
ers must  attend  till  thirty  ;  after  that  age,  attendance  is  optional. 
The  prison  schools  teach  the  primary  branches,  and  are  as 
efficient  as  the  ordinary  public  schools.  Attentive  and  diligent 
prisoners  are  much  pleased  to  be  called  to  take  part  in  the  instruc- 
tion. In  all  prisons  there  are  libraries ;  the  books  are  religious, 
instructive,  and  entertaining. 

Besides  the  work  done  for  the  prison  itself,  there  are  carried  on 
in  the  prisons  of  Wiirtemberg  fifteen  to  twenty  different  trades  by 
the  men,  and  eight  or  ten  by  the  women.  Both  industrial  sys-  ' 
terns  find  place,  —  that  of  letting  the  labor  to  contractors  and  that 
of  directing  it  by  the  administration.  It  is  held  that  preference 
should  be  given  to  the  one  or  the  other  according  to  the  nature  of 
the  work.  More  than  half  the  prisoners,  when  received,  have  a 
knowledge  of  some  trade.  So  far  as  possible,  the  prisoner  is  put 
at  the  same  trade  in  prison  at  which  he  worked  before,  or  he  is 
taught  some  other,  selected  by  himself,  of  those  carried  on  in  the 


PART  vn.]  IN  FRANKFORT-ON-THE-MAINE.  429 

prison.  Liberty  of  choice  is  also  given  to  those  who  had  not 
learned  a  trade  before  their  imprisonment. 

The  sanitary  state  of  the  prisons  is  satisfactory  as  regards 
sewerage,  water  supply,  food,  cleanliness,  water-closets,  ventila- 
tion, beds,  bedding,  etc.  Frequent  bathing  of  the  entire  person  is 
exacted.  Most  of  the  prisons  are  lighted  with  gas. 

All  the  prisons  have  hospitals,  which  are  supplied  with  every 
thing  necessary  for  the  sick  ;  but  prisoners  who  are  only  slightly 
indisposed  are  treated  elsewhere.  The  diseased  in  mind  are  re- 
moved to  an  insane  asylum.  The  average  proportion  of  sick  in 
the  infirmaries  for  the  last  ten  years  has  been  four  per  cent, 
and  the  death-rate  two  per  cent. 

The  primary  object  of  imprisonment  is  held  to  be  punishment, 
which  is  yet  intended  to  be  so  administered  as  to  effect  a  refor- 
mation in  the  prisoner.  This  intent,  however,  often  fails.  Of  the 
inmates  of  the  prisons  about  thirty-six  per  cent  are  there  on  re- 
conviction. 

There  are  no  special  schools  for  the  education  of  prison  officers. 
The  directors  are  usually  men  who  have  acted  as  magistrates,  and 
have  been  formerly  engaged  in  judicial  duties,  although  ability  to 
act  as  a  judge  is  .not  indispensable  for  gaining  the  office  of  a  di- 
rector. The  keepers  are  mostly  non-commissioned  officers  who 
have  left  the  army. 

There  is  no  imprisonment  for  debt. 

There  is  a  central  patronage  society  for  extending  succor  to 
liberated  prisoners,  with  branches  in  the  different  districts  of  the 
kingdom.  It  has  a  membership  of  three  thousand.  It  seeks  to 
aid  its  wards  by  obtaining  work  for  them,  and  by  supplying  them 
with  tools,  raw  material,  clothes,  bedding,  etc. 

With  regard  to  youthful  prisoners  special  care  is  taken  to  ap- 
prentice them,  or  to  place  them  in  asylums  which  exist  in  the 
kingdom  for  the  reception  of  youths  who  have  fallen  into  crime 
or  have  been  neglected.  An  asylum  has  been  more  recently 
founded  for  girls  of  a  more  advanced  age.  It  also  receives  liber- 
ated young  women.  In  accordance  with  established  regulations, 
it  is  the  duty  of  commercial  and  State  authorities  to  counsel  and 
aid  liberated  prisoners. 


CHAPTER  LXXXII.  —  FRANKFORT-ON-THE-MAINE. 

I  HAVE  been  furnished  by  Dr.  Varentrapp  with  the  following 
short  memorandum  concerning  the  actual  state  of  the  prisons 
in  this  once  illustrious  free  city,  now  no  less  illustrious,  but  ab- 
sorbed (nolens  volens)  into  the  Kingdom  of  Prussia. 


430  STATE   OF  PRISONS,   ETC.  [BOOK  iv. 

In  Frankfort,  a  small  independent  republic  till  1866,  the  first 
steps  toward  prison  reform  were  taken  in  1840.  On  the  3Oth 
March  of  that  year,  a  prison  commission,  previously  created  by 
the  senate,  proposed  to  that  body  the  introduction  of  the  cellular 
system  and  the  construction  of  a  penitentiary  in  close  imitation  of 
that  of  Pentonville,  London.  The  senate  approved  these  plans,  but 
they  failed  to  receive  the  concurrent  approval  of  the  legislative 
assembly.  No  conclusion  was  reached,  and  the  matter  slept  for 
ten  years.  The  senate  then  submitted  to  the  lower  house  a  new 
proposition  similar  to  the  one  previously  presented.  A  committee, 
appointed  by  that  body  brought  in  a  detailed  report  giving  a  crit- 
ical review  of  the  penitentiary  question  in  all  countries,  and  pro- 
posing separate  confinement  as  the  basis  for  both  preliminary  and 
penal  imprisonment,  and  asking  by  way  of  a  commencement  for 
the  erection  of  a  cellular  penitentiary  for  two  hundred  men  and 
sixty-four  women.  This  was  on  the  2/th  September,  1856.  The 
propositions  of  this  report  were  adopted  nearly  unanimously  by 
the  legislative  body.  In  1860,  a  competition  for  the  plan  of  such 
a  penitentiary  was  opened,  and  eleven  different  plans  were  re- 
ceived from  as  many  different  architects.  In  November  of  that 
year  a  jury,  composed  of  Ducpetiaux,  Fuesselin,  Henreich,  Hoch- 
statter,  and  Varentrapp,  declared  three  of  these  plans  equally  meri- 
torious, and  proposed  to  form  an  eclectic  plan  out  of  the  three. 
Every  thing  seemed  ready  for  execution.  But,  meanwhile,  many 
new  members  had  entered  the  senate,  and  a  long  contest  ensued  as 
to  where  the  new  prison  should  be  erected.  Then  came  the  year 
1866  when  Frankfort  became  a  part  of  the  Prussian  monarchy. 
Since  that  time  the  municipality  of  Frankfort  has  looked  upon 
the  construction  of  prisons  in  that  city  as  a  duty  incumbent  on 
the  State.  Probably  a  prison  for  preliminary  detention  will  be 
erected  within  the  next  few  years.  When  the  penitentiary  will 
come  is  quite  uncertain.  Owing  to  the  circumstances  narrated 
above,  the  existing  prisons  of  Frankfort  are  in  a  condition  that 
leaves  much  to  be  desired. 


CHAPTER  LXXXIII.  —  GRAND-DUCHY  OF  BRUNSWICK. 

POLITICAL  considerations  have  no  influence  whatever  in  the 
appointment  of  either  the  higher  or  the  subordinate  officers 
in  the  prisons  of  Brunswick.  Merit  is  the  sole  criterion.  The 
first  qualification  sought  in  the  director  of  a  prison  is  a  thorough 
knowledge  of  the  duties  of  his  post.  He  should  be  conscious  of 
an  inward  calling  to  his  work ;  should  know  how  to  unite  rigor 


PART  vn.]  IN  BRUNSWICK.  431 

with  gentleness  ;  should  be  able  to  judge  quickly  and  accurately 
of  men  and  things  ;  and  should  be  well  instructed  in  all  the 
branches  of  penitentiary  science.  He  need  not  belong  to  any 
special  liberal  or  learned  profession,  not  even  to  that  of  law  and 
jurisprudence.  Nevertheless,  an  acquaintance  with  the  principles 
of  law,  particularly  of  criminal  law,  it  is  held,  will  be  of  great  ad- 
vantage to  him,  and  that  for  two  reasons  ;  namely,  (i)  he  will  be 
better  able  to  resolve  questions  relating  to  prisons  than  one  who 
has  given  no  attention  to  studies  of  that  nature ;  and  (2)  it  often 
happens  that  the  prisoners  need  to  consult  him  on  points  of  law. 
In  the  under-officers  are  required  good  morals,  order,  self-control, 
knowledge  of  men,  a  certain  degree  of  literary  education,  and 
a  firm  and  controlling  sentiment  of  duty.  It  is  indispensable 
that  each  have  a  complete  mastery  of  some  one  of  the  trades 
carried  on  in  the  establishment  with  which  he  is  connected. 

The  prison  is  considered  a  just  penalty  inflicted  on  the  crimi- 
nal, and  should  have  an  intimidating  effect ;  but  at  the  same  time 
the  punishment  should  be  so  applied  as  to  accomplish  his  moral 
regeneration.  Hence  the  criminal  is  treated  severely,  but  justly 
and  with  humanity.  His  will  is  subdued,  or  rather  gained  ;  and 
by  a  benevolent  rigor,  by  a  treatment  adapted  to  his  special  char- 
acter, by  enlisting  him  in  the  work  of  self-improvement,  and  by 
an  instruction  which  lifts  him  to  a  higher  moral  plane  he  is  drawn 
on  to  the  formation  of  habits  of  obedience,  order,  industry,  and 
cleanliness. 

It  is  sought  to  awaken  hope  —  a  force  essential  to  virtue  —  in 
the  heart  of  the  criminal,  with  a  view  to  his  amendment  ;  not 
simply  the  hope  of  recompense  during  his  detention,  but  that  of 
being  able  to  again  create  a  happy  life,  to  regain  lost  esteem,  to 
become  master  of  his  evil  inclinations,  to  lead  a  regular  life,  and 
to  become  the  subject  of  a  genuine  conversion,  —  sole  means  of 
absolute  safety.  The  strictest  watch  of  the  criminal  is  maintained  ; 
the  smallest  infractions  of  the  order  of  the  prison  are  punished  ; 
but  the  disciplinary  punishments  are  of  a  mild  character,.  Expe- 
rience has  shown  that  in  the  greater  number  of  cases  rigorous 
punishments  produce  no  effect,  while,  on  the  contrary,  deprivation 
of  privileges  is  far  more  efficacious,  and  does  not  interfere  with  the 
labor. 

The  only  recompense  accorded  during  imprisonment  is  the 
privilege  of  being  able,  by  good  conduct  and  industry,  to  obtain  a 
conditional  liberation,  —  that  is,  an  abbreviation  of  sentence. 
But  the  penitentiary  administration  is  admonished  to  be  on  its 
guard  against  the  hypocrisy  which  may  be  engendered  by  this 
diminution  of  punishment. 

To  awaken  the  moral  and  religious  sentiments  of  the  prisoners, 
reliance  is  placed,  above  all  things  else,  on  divine  service,  —  on  the 
lessons  of  religion  and  the  cure  of  souls.  It  is  thus  sought  to 


432  STATE   OF  PRISONS,   ETC.  [BOOK  iv. 

fortify  them  in  whatever  may  be  useful  on  their  re-entrance  into 
society. 

The  voluntary  visits  of  philanthropists,  made  to  the  prisoners 
with  a  view  to  their  reformation,  may  be  authorized  ;  but  this  is 
to  be  done  with  caution,  because  with  many  philanthropists  the 
ardor  of  their  zeal  is  apt  soon  to  grow  cool  ;  and  this  abatement 
of  interest  may  have  an  injurious  effect  upon  the  mind  and  heart 
of  the  prisoners. 

Prisoners  are  permitted  to  correspond  with  and  receive  visits 
from  their  family  friends.  Both  visits  and  correspondence  are 
often  attended  with  happy  effects. 

The  majority  of  the  prisoners  on  their  entrance  are  more  or 
less  ignorant.  The  greater  part  belong  to  the  working  class,  in 
which  what  is  learned  in  youth  is  generally  quickly  forgotten. 
In  the  cellular  prisons  all  are  obliged  to  attend  school  to  the  age 
of  forty  ;  in  the  associated  prisons  only  to  the  age  of  eighteen,  — 
certainly  a  very  extraordinary  distinction,  and,  so  far  as  I  can  see, 
without  any  ground  of  reason.  The  instruction  includes  read- 
ing, writing,  calculation,  composition,  natural  history,  and  other 
branches  of  general  utility.  In  the  cellular  prison  the  results  of 
the  lessons  are  considerable  ;  in  the  associated  prisons  they  are 
less  satisfactory.  It  goes  without  saying  that  such  must  inevita- 
bly be  the  case  when  the  lessons  are  continued  to  all  till  forty  in 
the  former,  and  stopped  to  all  at  eighteen  in  the  latter. 

The  library  in  the  central  or  convict  prison  contains  instructive, 
scientific,  technical,  and  entertaining  books.  Every  prisoner  re- 
ceives one  book  a  week,  selected  according  to  his  instruction,  his 
taste,  and  his  character.  Those  who  ask  it  are  furnished  with 
models  for  drawing,  and  may  even  receive  lessons  in  that  art  if 
they  so  desire. 

The  proportion  of  male  to  female  prisoners  in  the  central  prison 
is  as  five  men  to  one  woman. 

In  fixing  upon  the  trades  to  occupy  the  prisoners  during  their 
incarceration  it  is  sought  to  introduce  such  as  will  contribute  to 
their  amendment  and  moral  education  ;  such  as  will  not  be  preju- 
dicial to  their  health,  and  such  as  will  enable  them  to  pursue  their 
trade  as  a  calling  after  their  liberation.  The  trades  actually  in 
use  are  those  of  carpentry,  carving  in  wood,  engraving,  brush- 
making,  shoemaking,  tailoring,  book-binding  ;  the  weaving  of  wool, 
cotton,  linen,  and  hemp  ;  the  manufacture  of  paper-boxes,  of  tin- 
ware, and  of  carpets  ;  gilding ;  the  coloring  of  maps  and  figures 
in  lead  ;  the  cutting  of  corks  ;  coopering,  cigar-making,  and  the 
manufacture  of  cigar-boxes.  The  women  are  employed  in  making 
gloves  and  linen-bags. 

The  question  whether  the  labor  shall  be  managed  by  the  admin- 
istration or  by  contractors,  and  which  is  the  best  plan,  has  been 
resolved  in  favor  of  the  latter.  Its  management  by  the  institu- 


PART  VIL]  IN  BRUNSWICK.  433 

tion  might  produce  better  financial  results,  but  it  would  be  likely 
to  interfere  with  and  obstruct  a  due  application  of  the  punish- 
ment. Such  is  the  view  held  in  the  Grand-Duchy  of  Brunswick  ; 
and  it  is  claimed  that  there  results  from  this  mode  of  utilizing  the 
labor  no  inconvenience  as  regards  the  order  and  discipline  of  the 
prison.  But  the  minister  of  state,  Mr.  Schultz,  adds  that  this 
result  in  Brunswick  may  be  due  to  the  fact  that  there  all  the  under- 
officers  are  masters  of  some  trade,  and  that  they  take  charge  of, 
or  at  least  greatly  aid  in,  the  industrial  apprenticeship  of  the 
prisoners. 

The  keep  of  each  prisoner  amounts  to  about  two  hundred  and 
ten  marks  (equal  to  fifty-two  dollars)  per  annum  ;  and  the  product 
of  the  industrial  labor  to  each  man  so  employed  is  about  two  hun- 
dred and  seventy  marks.  The  profits  of  the  labor  nearly  cover 
the  current  cost  of  the  central  prison. 

The  death-penalty  is  applied  only  in  case  of  murder,  proved  by 
incontestable  evidence.  Public  opinion  is  decidedly  in  favor  of 
its  retention  in  such  cases. 

Imprisonment  for  debt  no  longer  exists  in  the  German  empire, 
and  of  course  not  in  Brunswick. 

Since  the  year  1873,  —  that  is,  since  the  introduction  of  a  se- 
rious penitentiary  reform,  —  it  is  certainly  very  rare  that  a  crimi- 
nal leaves  the  prison  worse  than  he  entered  it ;  but  the  improve- 
ment of  the  prisoners  who  leave  the  associated  prisons  is  reported 
as  less  satisfactory  than  that  of  those  who  have  been  subjected  to 
the  cellular  regime. 

No  statistics  of  relapse  can  be  given  with  regard  to  prisoners 
who  have  undergone  their  imprisonment  in  association.  Such 
persons  have  been  sentenced  for  terms  not  exceeding  a  year  ;  and 
the  directors  of  German  penitentiaries  report  only  prisoners  who 
have  undergone  a  longer  detention  and  have  been  again  convicted. 
In  the  years  1874,  1875,  and  1876,  one  hundred  and  eighty-nine 
prisoners  were  discharged  from  cellular  prisons.  Of  these  there 
have  been  again  imprisoned,  so  far  as  known,  nineteen,  —  that  is 
to  say,  ten  per  cent. 

The  penitentiary  administration  asks  the  prisoner  prior  to  his 
liberation  if  he  desires  assistance  to  procure  the  means  of  exist- 
ence, and  if  so,  it  provides  for  his  necessities,  either  directly  or 
through  persons  who  find  work  for  him,  or,  in  case  of  need,  tem- 
porary board.  The  administration  gives  to  whomever  it  addresses 
exact  information  concerning  the  character  of  the  prisoner  for 
whom  it  seeks  employment,  and  even,  if  need  be,  pays  a  part  of 
his  expenses  to  the  employer  who  gives  him  work.  The  admin- 
istration further  takes  care,  at  the  cost  of  the  State,  that  the 
prisoner  leave  the  penitentiary  with  clothes  suited  to  the  position 
he  occupied  before  his  condemnation.  So  far  it  has  been  possible, 
with  few  exceptions,  to  find  suitable  places  for  discharged  prison- 

28 


434  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  iv. 

ers.  This  solicitude  on  the  part  of  the  administration  is  of  great 
importance  in  keeping  the  prisoners  in  the  right  way,  and  prevent- 
ing a  return  to  crime.  A  prisoners'  aid  society  has  recently 
been  organized,  which  will  be  in  direct  relation  with  the  prison 
administration.  The  public  has  shown  itself  favorable  to  this 
movement. 

Witnesses  who  cannot  be  present  at  the  trial  are  heard  under 
oath  during  the  preliminary  proceedings,  and  their  deposition  is 
read  when  the  case  is  tried.  There  is  no  legal  authority  for  their 
imprisonment,  nor  is  there  any  other  precaution  taken  to  secure 
their  testimony  at  the  trial. 

Of  the  criminals  incarcerated  in  the  central  prison  in  1873-75, 
nearly  sixty  per  cent  were  thieves.  Next  to  theft,  the  most  com- 
mon offences  are  assaults,  resistance  against  authority,  fraud, 
and  attempts  on  chastity.  Among  the  principal  causes  of  crime 
are  a  bad  moral  education,  and  especially  the  materialism  of  the 
day. 

As  regards  reforms,  the  system  of  isolation  is  to  be  more  fully 
introduced.  In  the  mind  of  the  Government  the  ideal  would  be 
to  organize  the  cellular  system  in  all  prisons,  but  it  recoils  before 
the  enormous  expense  which  this  reform  would  involve. 


CHAPTER  LXXXIV.  —  BREMEN. 

BREMEN,  formerly  a  free  city,  now  forms  an  integral  part  of 
the  Kingdom  of  Prussia.  Being  a  commercial  city  in  active 
relations  with  the  neighboring  States,  not  more  than  one  half  of 
its  prisoners  are  natives.  Prior  to  1874  it  had  only  criminal  and 
correctional  prisons  on  the  associated  plan.  Since  that  date  a 
new  radiating  cellular  penitentiary  has  been  constructed  at  Osleb- 
shausen,  a  German  mile  distant  from  the  city  of  Bremen.  The 
prisoners  occupy  separate  cells  day  and  night,  and  separate  stalls 
in  school  and  church, — while  their  reformation  is  sought  through 
the  influence  exerted  on  them  by  the  functionaries  of  the  estab- 
lishment, especially  the  director,  the  chaplains,  and  the  school- 
masters ;  by  the  religious  instructions  of  the  chapel  and  the 
literary  lessons  of  the  school ;  and  by  imparting  to  them  a  trade 
whereby  on  their  discharge  they  may  earn  an  honest  living.  The 
mask  is  not  used.  It  is  believed  to  be  but  a  fictitious  means  of 
preventing  communications  ;  it  wounds  the  self-respect  of  the 
prisoners,  without  preventing  them  from  entering  into  relations 
with  each  other.  , 

Persons  arrested  for  a  violation  of  police  regulations  and  for 


PART  VIL]  IN  BREMEN.  435 

other  petty  offences  are  confined  in  smaller  prisons  at  Bremen, 
Wegesack,  and  Bremerhaven,  —  places  in  which  are  also  detained 
prisoners  awaiting  trial. 

The  superior  authority  of  the  prisons  is  represented  by  a  com- 
mission composed  of  delegates  of  the  senate  and  of  the  municipal 
council.  The  members  of  the  senate  forming  part  of  this  com- 
mission exercise  the  executive  power  in  the  prisons,  and  one  of 
them  is  specially  charged  with  their  inspection  and  with  the 
supervision  of  the  officers  and  employes  ;  and  it  is  to  him  also 
that  the  prisoners,  when  the  occasion  arises,  must  address  com- 
plaints against  the  prison  authorities  and  appeals  from  punish- 
ments pronounced  against  them  in  grave  cases.  The  houses  of 
arrest  are  directed  by  an  inferior  functionary  under  the  control  of 
the  authorities  of  the  State.  The  penitentiary  is  administered  by 
a  director  subject  to  the  same  control.  A  pastor  and  physician 
of  Bremen  are  charged  with  ministering  to  the  religious  and  sani- 
tary wants  of  the  prison.  There  are,  in  addition,  a  steward 
charged  with  the  management  of  the  labor  and  the  keeping  of  the 
accounts,  a  schoolmaster,  a  deputy-director,  with  fourteen  male 
and  three  female  keepers.  The  greater  part  of  these  under- 
officers,  being  charged  with  the  oversight  of  the  prisoners'  work, 
must  be  complete  masters  each  of  one  at  least  of  the  trades 
carried  on  in  the  house. 

Political  influence  counts  for  nothing  in  the  appointment  of  the 
employes. 

The  discipline  of  the  penitentiary  has  for  its  aim  at  once  intimi- 
dation and  moral  amendment.  Violent  prisoners  may  be  sub- 
jected to  irons  or  the  strait- jacket.  Rewards  are  intended  to 
encourage  the  prisoners,  to  inspire  them  with  hope,  and  to  exer- 
cise a  reformatory  influence.  Prizes  for  labor  are  every  month 
distributed  to  such  prisoners  as  have  been  adjudged  by  the  prison 
staff  to  have  merited  them.  The  highest  monthly  prize  that  can 
be  awarded  is  three  and  a  half  marks,  equal  to  eighty-eight  cents 
of  our  money.  As  regards  the  moral  amelioration  of  the  prisoners, 
that  is  sought  to  be  effected  by  religion,  education,  and  work  ;  by 
giving  them  a  share  of  the  product  of  their  labor ;  by  correspond- 
ence with  and  visits  from  relatives  and  friends  ;  and,  finally,  in 
the  case  of  prisoners  whose  conduct  is  irreproachable,  by  the 
hope  of  receiving  a  conditional  discharge  or  a  free  pardon.  Par- 
dons and  provisional  liberations  are  accorded  by  the  senate. 

The  want  of  early  education  and  idleness  are  believed  to  be  the 
causes  which  led  the  major  part  of  the  prisoners  into  crime.  The 
lessons  given  in  the  penitentiary  school  have  in  view  to  improve 
and  cultivate  the  intelligence  of  the  prison  pupils,  and  thus  to 
expel  from  the  imagination  that  morbid  castle-building  and  to 
overcome  that  relaxation  of  body  and  mind  which  the  habitual 
labor  of  the  cell  is  not  of  itself  sufficient  to  conquer.  Special 


436  STATE   OF  PRISONS,   ETC.  [BooK  IV. 

regulations  fix  the  time  of  attendance  on  school  according  to  the 
age  and  sentence  of  the  prisoners.  Prisoners  over  thirty-five 
years  of  age,  and  those  sentenced  for  less  than  three  months,  are 
not  obliged  to  attend  school  ;  to  all  others  attendance  is  obli- 
gatory. The  subjects  taught  are  the  German  language,  writing, 
arithmetic,  geography,  history  sacred  and  profane,  and  exercises 
in  composition  on  assigned  topics.  The  library  found  in  the 
prison  affords  good  and  wholesome  reading,  both  instructive  and 
entertaining,  and  is  a  well-recognized  agency  in  reforming  crimi- 
nals and  preserving  them  from  intellectual  lethargy  and  inaction. 

The  proportion  of  men  to  women  prisoners  is  that  of  four 
to  one. 

The  work  done  at  the  penitentiary  has  chiefly  in  view  the  edu- 
cation and  reform  of  the  prisoners ;  profit  is  a  minor  considera- 
tion. The  work  is  done  on  account  of  the  institution,  either 
through  orders  or  in  advance  of  them.  It  is  under  the  sole  direc- 
tion of  the  employes  of  the  prison  ;  contractors  are  not  admitted. 
It  is  believed  that  outside  parties  would  indubitably  compromise 
the  results  desired  and  expected  from  the  imprisonment,  whose 
end  is  the  moral  reformation  of  the  prisoners.  Unproductive 
labor  —  such  is  the  opinion  held  at  Bremen  —  brutalizes  the  pris- 
oner ;  while  the  admission  of  contractors  compromises  the  disci- 
pline, exerts  a  pernicious  influence,  and  obstructs  the  individual 
treatment  of  the  prisoner. 

The  industrial  branches  introduced  into  the  penitentiary  are 
carpentry,  lock-making,  shoe-making,  tailoring,  varnishing,  straw- 
braiding  ;  and  for  the  women,  knitting  and  sewing.  A  few  quali- 
fied prisoners  are  employed  as  foremen  in  the  workshops  and  as 
clerks  in  the  bureaus.  All  the  domestic  work  of  the  house,  and 
the  cultivation  of  two  acres  of  land  planted  with  vegetables  which 
surround  the  penitentiary,  are  executed  by  the  prisoners  under 
the  supervision  of  the  keepers. 

The  annual  product  of  the  labor  is  twenty-five  thousand  marks, 
while  the  current  expenses,  including  salaries  of  officials,  are 
ninety-eight  thousand  marks. 

The  sanitary  state  of  the  prison  is  remarkably  good ;  not  a 
death  has  occurred  since  the  erection  of  the  penitentiary,  and  the 
cases  of  sickness  have  been  few  and  slight,  all  being  treated  in 
the  cell. 

The  penitentiary  is  warmed  by  means  of  hot-air  tubes,  each 
cell  receiving  the  necessary  amount  of  heat.  The  ventilation  is 
good.  The  system  of  latrines  in  the  cells  works  in  a  satisfactory 
manner ;  the  utmost  cleanliness  is  required  and  obtained.  The 
penitentiary,  being  too  far  distant  from  the  city  gasworks  to 
allow  of  gas  being  conveyed  to  it,  is  lighted  by  kerosene  lamps, 
each  cell  having  its  own  lamp  fastened  to  the  wall. 

An  aid  society  composed  of  private  citizens  has  been  organized, 
and  is  doing  a  good  and  useful  work. 


PART  VH.]  IN  HAMBURG.  437 

Besides  its  prisons,  Bremen  has  the  following  preventive  insti- 
tutions :  — 

1.  The  workhouse,  a  State  institution,  which  receives  persons 
who  have  been  condemned  by  the  tribunals  for  mendicity,  de- 
bauchery, vagrancy,  drunkenness,  gaming,  and  idleness,  instead 
of  providing  for  the  support  of  their  families.      There  are  also 
admitted  into  this  establishment  persons  temporarily  without  em- 
ployment, but  of  which  they  are  in  search.     They  are  placed  in 
a  special  division,  and  are  occupied  in  labors  which  any  able- 
bodied  man  is  capable  of  executing  or  of  learning  in  a  short  time. 
They  receive  wages  proportioned  to  their  work. 

2.  The  "Ellener  Hof,"  a  child-saving  institution  for  deserted 
boys. 

3.  The    "  Hartman's    Hof,"    a    child-saving    institution    for 
deserted    young   girls,    not   yet   vicious,    but   already   somewhat 
advanced  in  years. 

These  two  establishments   are   organized   in   the  same  man- 
ner as  those  which  exist  in  the  rest  of  Germany. 


CHAPTER  LXXXV.  —  HAMBURG. 

IT  is  some  years  since  the  senate  of  Hamburg  perceived  the 
insufficiency  of  the  penal  establishments  of  the  State  as  re- 
gards space,  construction,  and  internal  arrangements  ;  conse- 
quently it  was  determined  to  erect  a  larger  central  (convict) 
prison  in  one  of  the  suburbs  of  the  city,  as  well  as  a  new  deten- 
tion prison  in  connection  with  the  criminal  courts.  The  reorgan- 
ization of  the  whole  penitentiary  system  was  resolved  upon  at  the 
same  time. 

The  central  prison,  now  (1877)  in  process  of  construction,  will 
be  completed  in  1879.  ^  *s  organized  in  view  of  the  introduction 
of  a  mixed  system,  —  two-thirds  associated  and  one-third  cellular. 
The  plans  of  the  new  detention  prison,  of  which  four-fifths  will 
be  cellular  and  one-fifth  associated,  are  before  the  senate  for 
acceptance.  Two  years  will  be  required  for  its  construction. 

The  mixed  system  prevails  at  present,  and  is  likely  to  be  con- 
tinued in  the  future.  Hereafter,  in  place  of  the  present  restricted 
number  of  cells,  it  will  be  possible  to  subject  to  cellular  imprison- 
ment one-third  of  the  sentenced  and  four-fifths  of  those  awaiting 
trial. 

The  penitentiary  administration  is  confided  to  a  commission 
composed  of  two  members  of  the  senate  and  nine  members  of  the 
municipal  council.  Under  this  commission  is  the  director  of 


438  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  iv. 

prisons,  who  is  held  responsible  for  the  discipline  and  order  of 
these  establishments,  for  the  supervision  of  the  labor  and  finan- 
ces, and  for  the  enforcement  of  their  rules  and  regulations.  The 
several  prison  staffs  are  under  his  direction  and  orders.  The 
prison  commission  inspects  all  the  establishments  as  often  at 
least  as  once  in  every  three  months ;  it  hears  the  complaints  of 
the  prisoners,  and  decides  upon  the  different  cases  and  questions 
which  offer  themselves  to  its  examination  and  judgment. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  higher  officers  possess  all  the  necessary 
aptitudes  and  qualifications  for  their  positions,  but  the  education 
of  the  inferior  employes  leaves  much  still  to  be  desired.  The 
proposed  reorganization  of  the  whole  penitentiary  system,  includ- 
ing the  increase  of  salaries  and  the  erection  of  houses  for  the 
families  of  the  employes,  will  open  the  way  to  the  introduction  of 
better  elements  into  the  prison  service,  especially  by  retaining 
therein  officers  who  show  themselves  competent. 

There  are  as  yet  no  special  professional  schools  for  prison  offi- 
cers ;  such  schools,  it  is  thought,  could  not  fail  to  exercise  a 
happy  influence  on  the  prison  work,  whenever  there  should  be 
found  persons  qualified  to  take  charge  of  them. 

The  discipline  ought  to  be,  and  is  intended  to  be,  at  once  intim- 
idating and  reformatory,  —  intimidating,  by  the  disciplinary  pun- 
ishments applied  to  prisoners  who,  despite  exhortations  and 
benevolent  reproaches,  obstinately  refuse  to  bend  to  the  regula- 
tions of  the  prison ;  reformatory,  by  the  little  rewards  accorded 
to  the  prisoners  for  their  diligence,  their  docility,  and  their  pro- 
gress in  learning,  as  well  as  by  the  kindness  of  which  they  are 
made  the  object  in  the  manner  of  treating  them.  Attendance 
upon  school,  religious  instruction,  industrial  labor,  correspon- 
dence with  their  family  and  effective  succors  extended  to  it,  the 
prospect  of  pardon  or  conditional  liberation  as  a  recompense 
to  good  conduct,  after  they  have  served  three-fourths  of  their 
sentence  (only  however  in  case  the  punishment  exceeds  a 
year),  and  the  aid  of  the  prison  administration  after  their  liber- 
ation in  finding  work  for  them  and  succoring  them  till  it  is  found, 
—  such  are  the  means  by  which  it  is  sought  to  plant  and  to  main- 
tain hope  in  the  heart  of  the  prisoner,  with  a  view  to  conserve 
his  forces,  to  induce  in  him  good  resolutions,  and  to  incline  him 
to  labor  for  his  own  moral  improvement.  Experience  has  shown 
that,  according  to  the  individual  character  of  prisoners,  it  is  nec- 
essary to  employ  sometimes  fear,  sometimes  hope,  to  secure  a 
good  and  effective  discipline. 

The  disciplinary  punishments  authorized  by  the  rules  are 
admonition  ;  withdrawal  of  the  privilege  of  procuring  additional 
supplies  of  food  ;  retention  of  a  part  of  the  product  of  the 
prisoner's  labor  ;  denial  of  warm  food  to  a  maximum  of  seven 
days  ;  the  same,  with  restriction  to  a  bread-and-water  diet,  and 


PART  VIL]  TN  HAMBURG. 


439 


without  other  bed  than  a  sack  of  straw  and  one  coverlet ;  put- 
ting in  irons  for  twenty-four  hours ;  and  in  extreme  cases 
corporal  punishment,  but  only  for  men.  For  the  last  two  punish- 
ments there  is  needed  the  authorization  of  the  prison  commission 
through  its  president  and  an  assurance  from  the  prison  doctor 
that  they  may  be  applied  without  injury  to  health. 

The  rewards  granted  are  prizes  for  industry,  the  privilege  of 
more  frequent  correspondence  and  visits,  employment  in  the 
bureaus  of  the  officers,  permission  to  have  a  bird  or  flowers  in 
the  cell,  etc.  All  these  recompenses  are  found  to  be  active 
means  of  encouraging  the  better  prisoners  to  try  to  be  content 
with  their  lot  and  to  co-operate  in  their  own  reformation,  at  the 
same  time  that  they  gain  the  respect  of  their  officers  and  promote 
the  good  order  of  the  prison. 

The  religious  education  of  the  prisoners  is  accomplished 
through  divine  service,  religious  lessons,  and  the  personal  inter- 
course ancf  influence  of  the  chaplain.  Their  moral  education  is 
further  effected  by  the  school  lessons  given  to  all  prisoners  whose 
age  and  intelligence  offer  ground  of  belief  that  they  will  profit 
by  such  lessons.  The  employes  also,  particularly  the  higher  offi- 
cers, are  called  to  use  their  best  efforts  to  reform  the  prisoners 
and  to  gain  their  own  hearty  co-operation  in  this  work. 

The  number  of  criminals  who  do  not  know  how  to  read  and 
write  on  their  committal  is  extremely  small,  and  is  diminishing 
year  by  year.  But  that  moral  education,  which  can  be  effected 
only  in  the  family,  is  often  completely  wanting,  especially  in  the 
case  of  prisoners  of  illegitimate  birth.  The  branches  taught  in 
prison  are  reading,  writing,  calculation,  geography,  history,  draw- 
ing, and  singing. 

The  prison  libraries  contain  books  of  every  description, — in- 
structive, scientific,  religious,  entertaining.  Newspapers  are  al- 
lowed, but  within  restricted  limits,  and  only  to  prisoners  who 
belong  to  the  higher  classes.  The  proportion  of  men  to  women 
is  as  five  to  one. 

Productive  labor  alone  is  admitted  into  the  prisons  of  Ham- 
burg. All  the  prisoners  work,  even  those  whose  sentences  do  not 
make  it  obligatory.  Most  of  them  do  not  regard  labor  as  a  pun- 
ishment, but  as  a  favor.  Besides  domestic  labors,  the  prisoners 
are  occupied  in  making  boots,  shoes,  cigars,  baskets,  corsets,  bags, 
mattresses,  coach-whips,  and  garments  to  order  ;  also  in  plaiting 
rushes,  sorting  coffee,  splicing  sheet-ropes,  and  book-binding.  A 
few  work  on  the  roads,  gardens,  and  dependencies  of  the  prisons. 
The  only  labor  done  on  account  of  the  administration  is  the 
splicing  of  sheet-ropes,  and  that  only  when  other  labor  fails. 
The  letting  of  the  convict  labor  to  contractors  for  one  or  two 
years,  it  is  claimed,  permits  greater  account  to  be  made  of  the 
individual  aptitudes  of  the  prisoners,  and  produces  better  finan- 


440  STATE   OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  iv. 

cial  results,  at  the  same  time  that  the  contractors  cannot  exert 
any  influence  whatever  on  the  lot  of  the  prisoners.1  This  system 
is  preferred  to  that  of  working  the  convicts  on  account  of  the 
State. 

The  product  of  convict  labor  covers  about  one  half  of  the  cur- 
rent expenses  of  the  prisons. 

The  sanitary  condition  of  the  prisons  as  regards  diet  whether 
of  the  healthy  or  the  sick,  clothing,  ventilation,  sewerage,  water- 
supply,  etc.,  is  reported  satisfactory.  Each  prisoner  has  a  warm 
bath  once  a  fortnight  in  summer  and  once  a  month  in  winter ;  if 
sick,  oftener.  Care  is  taken  that  every  prisoner  thoroughly  wash 
hands  and  face  every  morning.  The  interiors  of  the  prisons  are 
carefully  attended  to  every  day,  and  all  the  paint  is  renewed 
yearly,  so  that  the  cleanliness  of  the  buildings  leaves  nothing  to 
be  desired.  The  new  prisons  are  heated  by  hot-water  pipes,  and 
all  are  lighted  with  gas.  The  average  of  the  sick  is  about  five 
per  cent  ;  of  deaths,  two  per  cent. 

As  regards  sentences,  —  the  sentence  to  "  hard  labor  "  is  for 
life  or  a  time.  The  maximum  sentence  for  a  time  is  fifteen 
years  ;  the  minimum,  one  year.  The  maximum  of  simple  impris- 
onment is  fixed  at  five  years  ;  the  minimum,  at  one  day. 

The  practice  of  repeated  short  sentences  is  thought  to  be 
unwise,  and  to  tend  rather  to  the  increase  than  the  decrease  of 
criminality.  It  works  badly  in  two  directions.  On  the  one  side, 
habitual  criminals  can  at  once  begin  to  commit  fresh  crimes  as 
soon  as  they  are  released  from  a  short  detention  ;  whereas,  on  the 
other,  the  penitentiary  administration  is  quite  powerless  to  under- 
take the  work  of  reforming  the  prisoner,  since  there  is  not  suffi- 
cient time  for  such  a  labor. 

The  death-penalty  is  pronounced  only  in  the  case  of  murder  or 
an  attempt  at  murder  on  the  person  of  the  sovereign. 

Imprisonment  for  debt  no  longer  exists  in  Germany,  and  there 
appears  to  be  no  disposition  to  see  it  revived. 

The  fundamental  principle  of  the  application  of  punishment 
is,  in  Germany,  held  to  be  the  expiation  of  the  crime  committed  ; 
that  is  to  say,  of  the  violation  of  the  law.  It  is  however  further 
held,  that,  in  seeking  the  end  indicated,  every  rational  penitentiary 
system  ought  equally  to  have  in  view  the  moral  reform  of  the 
criminal.  To  what  extent  such  reformation  is  actually  accom- 
plished, it  is  declared  difficult  to  say. 

There  has  existed  at  Hamburg  a  prisoners'  aid  society  since 
1839.  The  president  of  this  society  is  the  director  of  the  police, 
who  is  also  president  of  the  prison  commission  ;  the  director  and 
chaplain  of  the  prison  are  members  as  well.  Its  resources  consist 

1  It  is  difficult  to  see  how  this  can  be  prevented.     Certainly  such  a  case  has  never 
fallen  under  my  observation. 


PART  VIL]  IN  HAMBURG.  441 

in  voluntary  contributions  and  in  revenues  derived  from  moneys 
which  have  been  bequeathed  to  it.  With  these  funds  it  makes 
grants  to  discharged  prisoners,  or  otherwise  comes  to  their  assist- 
ance. The  State  has  ceded,  at  a  very  low  price,  land  whereon  to 
construct  an  establishment  in  which  liberated  prisoners  who  desire 
it  find  work,  food,  and  lodging  so  long  as  they  may  be  unable  to 
procure  other  means  of  gaining  a  livelihood.  The  work  which  is 
found  most  profitable  to  the  establishment  is  cutting  fire-wood, 
because  it  is  an  occupation  which  rarely  fails.  This  establishment 
is  nearly  self-supporting.  Hamburg  in  its  actual  circumstances, 
it  is  said,  could  hardly  do  without  it.  It  offers  an  asylum  on  their 
liberation  to  all  those  natives  who  are  willing  to  submit  to  the 
regulations  of  the  house,  and  it  thus  preserves  from  relapse  liber- 
ated prisoners  by  withdrawing  them  from  the  temptations  to  theft, 
which  beset  those  to  whom  no  asylum  opens  its  doors,  and  who 
have  no  means  of  earning  honest  bread.  Unfortunately  the  lot  of 
liberated  prisoners  does  not  greatly  interest  the  public ;  neverthe- 
less, that  interest  in  Hamburg  is  reported  as  on  the  increase. 

The  larger  part  of  the  crimes  committed  are  crimes  against 
property,  especially  in  the  form  of  thefts.  The  principal  causes 
are  dislike  of  work,  excessive  devotion  to  sensual  gratifications, 
and  the  demoralization  produced  by  intemperance.  Recently,  as- 
saults represent  a  large  proportion  of  the  crimes  committed  ;  and 
this  is  attributed  to  the  socialistic  movement  in  the  lower  classes 
of  working-men,  to  improvidence  despite  the'  increase  of  wages, 
and  to  the  dissipation  thence  resulting. 

There  is  at  Hamburg  an  establishment  which  may  be  consid- 
ered as  preventive  of  crime  ;  it  is  the  Asylum  Pestalozzi,  into 
which  may  be  received  one  hundred  children,  if  the  resources  of 
the  institution  permit.  At  present  it  contains  about  seventy  chil- 
dren, not  yet  vicious,  but  who  would  certainly  be  morally  ruined 
if  they  were  not  thus  gathered  and  cared  for.  This  asylum  pro- 
vides for  itself,  and  has  no  relation  with  the  prison  administra- 
tion. The  system  adopted  is  not  that  of  families,  but  of  associa- 
tion. 

The  Rauhe  Haus.at  Horn,  near  Hamburg,  is  well  and  widely 
known  as  both  a  preventive  and  reformatory  institution  ;  but  that 
has  been  already  mentioned  and  briefly  described  in  a  former  part 
of  this  work. 

On  the  other  hand  there  is  an  industrial  school,  founded  and 
managed  by  the  State,  in  which  are  cared  for  about  a  hundred 
children,  who,  already  before  their  twelfth  year,  have  committed 
offences  against  the  laws,  or  given  themselves  to  vagrancy  or 
mendicity.  After  having  received  in  this  establishment  a  certain 
degree  of  instruction,  scholastic,  religious,  and  industrial,  these 
children  are  placed  out  by  the  administration  either  as  apprentices 
or  at  service ;  and  the  administration  continues  to  aid  them  not 


442  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  iv. 

only  by  its  counsels  but  with  money  or  its  equivalent,  according 
to  their  necessities.  For  ten  years  the  greater  part  of  the  chil- 
dren trained  in  this  establishment  have  given  hope  that  they  would 
continue  to  lead  a  regular  life. 


CHAPTER  LXXXVI.  —  LUBEC. 

IN  Liibec  persons  sentenced  to  imprisonment  serve  out  their 
sentences  either  in  the  penitentiary  or  in  the  detention  prison. 
In  both  these  establishments  the  mixed  system  is  in  use.  The 
average  number  in  the  penitentiary  is  from  twenty  to  thirty ;  in 
the  prison  of  preliminary  detention  from  thirty  to  forty.  The  lat- 
ter is  placed  under  the  direction  of  the  police,  represented  by  a 
superior  officer  of  that  body,  who  resides  in  the  establishment ; 
the  former  under  the  supervision  of  a  commission  composed  of 
members  of  the  senate  and  of  the  municipal  council.  The  im- 
mediate charge  is  confided  to  one  of  the  higher  employes  of  the 
prison. 

Politics  has  no  influence  in  the  appointment  of  the  prison 
officers. 

If  the  discipline  employed  should  be  such  as  to  prevent  relapse, 
it  should  also  have  mainly  in  view  the  reformation  of  the  prison- 
ers and  their  preparation  for  a  regular  life  by  training  them  to 
habits  of  order  and  industry. 

The  disciplinary  punishments  are  privation  for  a  time  of  warm 
food,  confinement  in  a  cell,  and  for  grave  infractions  corporal  pun- 
ishment. Special  recompenses  are  not  accorded  ;  but  to  prisoners 
who  have  been  conspicuous  for  exemplary  conduct,  and  who  have 
shown  an  unmistakable  desire  to  rise  in  the  moral  scale,  has  been 
granted  the  boon  to  be  employed  on  labors  more  in  accordance 
with  their  taste  than  those  to  which  the  majority  of  the  prisoners 
are  subjected. 

The  moral  and  religious  education  of  the  prisoners  is  committed 
to  a  chaplain,  who  does  not  confine  himself  to  the  celebration  of 
public  worship,  but  who,  by  personal  conversations  and  counsels, 
seeks  to  lead  them  to  repentance  and  a  better  life. 

There  is  no  school  in  the  prison. 

The  proportion  of  women  to  men  is  as  one  to  ten. 

Only  industrial  labor  is  employed.  It  is  let  to  a  contractor,  but 
is  executed  under  the  supervision  of  the  establishment.  The  prin- 
cipal industries  are  the  manufacture  of  cigars  and  tobacco,  and  the 
plaiting  of  straw.  The  product  of  the  labor  covers  about  one-fifth 
of  the  cost. 


PART  vn.]  IN  REUSS.  443 

The  sanitary  state  of  the  prisons  is  highly  satisfactory.  Clean- 
liness is  scrupulously  maintained  both  as  regard  persons  and  build- 
ings. There  has  not  been  a  death  for  several  years. 

Life-sentences  have  not  been  pronounced  in  Liibec  for  many 
years,  and  there  is  not  at  present  a  life-sentenced  prisoner  in  the 
penitentiary. 

Imprisonment  for  debt  does  not  exist ;  it  is  the  penal  code 
of  the  German  Empire  that  is  in  force  in  Liibec  as  in  the  other 
States. 

Undoubtedly  the  moral  reform  of  the  prisoners  is  a  leading  aim 
of  the  discipline,  but  how  far  these  efforts  are  crowned  with  suc- 
cess is  known  only  to  Him  who  reads  the  hearts  of  men.  Never- 
theless, relapses  and  reconvictions  are  rare. 

The  State  does  not  concern  itself  with  the  prisoners  after  their 
liberation  ;  but  there  is  an  aid  society  which  occupies  itself  with 
this  matter.  It  works,  not  without  success,  through  means  vol- 
untarily contributed.  Unhappily,  it  cannot  be  said  that  the  public 
is  much  interested  in  this  question. 

Theft  is  the  chief  crime  committed  in  Lubec.  It  would  be 
difficult  to  indicate  the  causes  perhaps ;  but  it  would  not  be  safe 
to  say  that  misery  never  pushes  persons  to  the  commission  of 
larceny. 

As  regards  preventive  measures,  —  there  exists  an  institution, 
supported  by  voluntary  subscriptions,  for  the  education  and  cor- 
rection of  vicious  children,  in  which  the  family  system  has  been 
adopted.  It  aims  to  place  the  children  in  the  normal  conditions 
of  family  life,  and  to  make  them  realize  day  by  day  the  benefits  of 
that  system. 


CHAPTER  LXXXVII.  —  PRINCIPALITY  OF  REUSS. 

/CELLULAR  imprisonment  is  applied  in  all  the  detention 
^^  prisons,  except  where  the  number  of  cells  is  insufficient ; 
congregate  imprisonment  in  all  the  penal  prisons.  The  congre- 
gate system  is  applied  in  the  execution  of  sentences  to  reclusion 
and  simple  imprisonment  for  terms  exceeding  three  months  ;  but 
in  the  case  of  young  criminals  sentenced  for  more  than  four  weeks 
the  imprisonment  is  softened  by  the  application  of  the  progressive 
principles  of  Crofton's  Irish  system.  The  prisoners  receive  for 
the  work  done  out  of  hours  one-half  of  the  gain  realized;  with 
this  money  they  assist  their  families,  or  it  is  paid  to  them  on  their 
discharge.  When  evidence  of  reform  is  observed  in  the  prisoners, 
a  more  agreeable  labor  is  given  them  :  they  are  employed  as  fore- 
men in  the  workshops  or  as  clerks  in  the  official  bureaus,  in  which 


444  STATE   OF  PRISONS,   ETC.  [Booic  iv. 

case  higher  wages  are  paid  them,  and  they  become  entitled  to  con- 
ditional liberation  when  they  have  served  out  three-fourths  of  their 
terms  of  sentence,  provided  those  three-fourths  represent  a  mini- 
mum duration  of  one  year. 

The  control  of  all  the  penitentiaries  is  confided  to  the  govern- 
ment of  the  principality.  The  officers  are  appointed  quite  inde- 
pendently of  political  considerations.  The  qualities  required  are 
a  vigorous  constitution,  a  good  education,  perfect  sobriety,  a  moral 
life,  an  irreproachable  character,  self-control,  military  precision, 
unquestioning  obedience  to  orders,  and  a  fidelity  and  incorrupti- 
bility immovable.  It  is  claimed  that  these  qualities  are  found 
in  the  larger  moiety  of  the  prison  officials  of  the  principality. 
There  are  no  special  schools  for  the  education  of  prison  em- 
ployes ;  at  the  same  time  it  is  felt  that  such  professional  educa- 
tion would  be  an  excellent  means  of  attaining  the  end  proposed 
by  prison  discipline. 

The  discipline  of  the  prisons  is  at  once  intimidating  and  re- 
formatory. To  obtain  the  moral  reform  of  the  prisoners  reliance 
is  placed  on  the  counsels  of  the  chaplains,  directors,  and  other 
functionaries  ;  on  the  public  worship  of  Sunday  ;  on  morning  and 
evening  prayer  in  common  ;  on  personal  religious  lessons  ;  and  on 
the  recompenses  indicated  above. 

The  disciplinary  punishments  are  the  solitary  cell,  the  dark 
cell,  the  hard  bed,  a  diet  of  bread  and  water,  and  the  use  of  fet- 
ters ;  these  punishments  are  intended  to  be  intimidating.  Re- 
wards are  employed  more  often  than  punishments. 

Volunteer  visitors  are  admitted  into  the  prisons  ;  not  however 
for  holding  Sunday-schools,  for  that  has  never  been  proposed. 
There  would  be  no  hesitation  to  authorize  religious  instruction  of 
that  sort,  given  by  persons  offering  the  necessary  guarantees. 

The  intellectual  improvement  of  the  prisoners  is  provided  for 
in  the  following  manner :  In  the  minor  prisons  the  inmates  are 
allowed  to  supply  themselves  with  the  means  of  instruction,  so 
far  as  the  order  of  the  prison  is  not  thereby  disturbed,  —  as  would 
be  the  case,  for  example,  if  music  and  singing  were  permitted. 
In  the  penitentiaries  (penitentiary  of  Zeits)  the  same  system  is 
in  use ;  the  prisoners  who  are  able  to  pay  for  their  own  support 
may  have  a  dispensation  from  industrial  labor,  and  may  give  their 
time  to  such  intellectual  pursuits  as  may  be  suited  to  their  taste 
and  necessities.  There  are  also  given  every  Sunday  lessons 
which  the  younger  prisoners  are  obliged  to  attend,  and  others 
may  do  so  if  they  choose.  These  lessons  include  religion,  Bible 
studies,  reading,  calculation,  and  singing. 

The  libraries  are  open  to  the  use  of  all  the  prisoners.  The 
selection  of  books  is  made  by  the  judges,  the  committing  magis- 
trates, the  chaplains,  and  the  directors  (wardens).  They  com- 
prise books  on  all  sorts  of  useful  knowledge,  —  geography,  travels, 


PART  VIL]  IN  REUSS.  445 

history,  natural  science,  etc. ;  but  romances,  novels,  and  works  of 
pure  literature  are  excluded. 

The  average  proportion  of  the  sexes  is  one  woman  to  four 
men. 

The  only  labor  admitted  is  that  which  is  industrial  and  remu- 
nerative ;  penal,  unproductive  labor,  whose  sole  aim  is  intimi- 
dation, has  no  existence  in  the  penitentiaries  of  Reuss.  The 
principal  industries,  including  the  lower  as  well  as  the  higher 
prisons,  are,  for  the  men,  cutting  fire-wood,  weaving,  brush-mak- 
ing, glove-making,  carriage-making,  tailoring,  shoemaking,  straw- 
plaiting,  etc. ;  for  the  women,  washing  and  mending.  Many  of 
the  prisoners  are  occupied  in  the  labors  of  the  field  and  the 
garden,  and  in  a  sugar  manufactory.  The  several  kinds  of  mer- 
chandise, as  gloves,  shoes,  brushes,  etc.,  are  made  to  order ;  the 
farm  and  garden-work  is  done  on  account  of  the  establishments ; 
the  work  in  the  sugar-factory,  for  which  a  high  price  is  paid,  is  in 
the  hands  of  contractors. 

The  expenses  of  the  prisons  are  not  covered  by  the  product  of 
the  prisoners'  labor. 

The  sanitary  condition  of  the  prisons  is  satisfactory.  The 
underclothing  is  washed  weekly ;  each  prisoner  receives  a  clean 
pocket-handkerchief  every  week,  and  personal  cleanliness  is  ex- 
acted daily.  The  ventilation,  cleanlinesss  of  the  cells  and  build- 
ings, heating  and  lighting  are  well  provided  for.  The  average 
of  sick  is  five  per  cent ;  of  deaths  a  little  less  than  one  and  one 
half  per  cent. 

The  death-penalty  still  exists,  and  is  not  likely  to  be  abolished, 
public  opinion  being  strongly  in  favor  of  its  retention.  Still,  it 
is  fifteen  years  since  any  one  has  been  sentenced  to  death  and 
executed.  Some  years  before  a  woman  had  been  sentenced  capi- 
tally, but  her  sentence  was  commuted  to  that  of  hard  labor  for 
life. 

Imprisonment  for  debt  has  been  abolished  since  1868. 

The  reformation  of  criminals  being  the  chief  end  proposed  in 
their  prison  treatment,  it  may  be  said  that,  as  a  general  thing, 
they  come  out  of  the  prison  better  morally  than  they  entered  it. 
The  reconvictions  are,  nevertheless,  somewhat  in  excess  of  twenty 
per  cent. 

Hitherto  little  has  been  done  to  save  liberated  prisoners  from 
a  return  to  crime.  There  is  no  society  having  this  end  in  view ; 
but  the  organization  of  such  an  association  is  in  contemplation. 

Witnesses  to  a  criminal  act  are  not  imprisoned  to  secure  their 
testimony  on  the  trial. 

The  most  common  crimes  are  theft  and  embezzlement.  The 
causes  must  be  sought  in  the  love  of  pleasure,  in  luxury,  and 
in  an  insufficient  apprenticeship  to  the  different  trades.  Next 
to  crimes  due  to  cupidity  come  personal  assaults  and  resistance 


446  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  iv. 

to  authority.     A  potent  cause  of  crime  is  found  in  the  want  of 
religion. 

The  two  institutions  for  juvenile  delinquents  and  young  crim- 
inals at  Zeits  and  Carolinenfeld  are  reported  as  not  having  yielded 
satisfactory  results.  As  regards  child-saving  institutions,  prefer- 
ence is  given  to  those  organized  on  the  family  principle,  in  favor 
of  which  public  opinion  is  pronounced  and  decisive. 

On  the  whole,  satisfaction  is  expressed  in  respect  to  what  has 
been  accomplished,  yet  it  is  admitted  that  perfection  has  not  been 
attained.  It  is  admitted  that  religious  instruction  and  effort  should 
be  carried  further ;  that  more  time  and  pains  should  be  given  to 
scholastic  education,  particularly  as  regards  young  criminals  ;  that 
those  who  already  know  a  trade  should  be  perfected  in  that  knowl- 
edge ;  that  such  as  are  only  day-laborers  should  be  taught  some 
handicraft  during  their  incarceration  ;  that  liberated  prisoners 
should  be  systematically  and  effectively  aided  ;  that  destitute  and 
neglected  children  ought  not  to  be  left  in  the  hands  of  their  vi- 
cious parents  till  they  become  criminals  ;  that  the  youths  of  all 
villages  ought  to  be  required  to  attend  Sunday-school  ;  that  less 
tolerance  should  be  shown  to  public  dance-houses  ;  that  a  better 
observance  of  the  Lord's  day  should  be  enforced  ;  that  promis- 
cuous dances  should  be  restricted  within  narrow  limits  ;  that 
children  should  be  kept  away  from  them ;  and  that  parents  should 
be  punished  who  do  not  send  their  children  to  school. 


PART  VIIL]  IN  AUSTRIA.  447 


PART    EIGHTH. 

AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN   EMPIRE. 

CHAPTER  LXXXVIII.  —  AUSTRIA.  —  PROGRESS  SINCE  1872. 

THE  latest  information  I  have  concerning  Austrian  prisons 
is  that  contained  in  the  discourse  which  I  had  the  honor  to 
pronounce  at  the  opening  of  the  International  Penitentiary  Con- 
gress last  year  (1878),  in  Stockholm,  as  follows  :  — 

No  changes  of  a  fundamental  character  have  taken  place  since 
the  Congress  of  London  (1872)  in  the  penal  or  penitentiary  sys- 
tem of  the  Austrian  Empire.  Nevertheless,  Austria  has  not  been 
idle  in  this  field,  and  progress  may  be  reported  here  as  elsewhere. 
The  penal  code  actually  in  force  in  that  country  was  adopted  in 
1852,  but  a  proposition  is  now  pending  before  the  legislative  body 
to  modify  essentially  its  provisions,  and  another  to  introduce  a 
new  system  of  detention.  But,  despite  these  proposed  measures 
for  radical  reforms,  Austria  has  none  the  less  labored  to  develop 
her  penitentiary  system  upon  its  present  bases,  especially  in  the 
direction  of  a  more  extended  application  of  cellular  imprisonment. 
The  first  prison  of  this  sort  was  opened  the  same  year  with  the 
London  Congress  (1872).  Three  others  have  followed,  the  latest 
having  been  inaugurated  last  month.  Together  they  contain  ten 
hundred  and  fifty  cells  for  day  and  night  occupancy  ;  so  far  as  tried, 
the  cellular  prisons  are  reported  as  having  yielded  satisfactory 
results.  Cellular  separation  in  Austria,  however,  is  not  absolute. 
The  prisoners  are  together  and  can  see  each  other  during  divine 
service,  in  school,  and  at  exercise  ;  and  association  to  that  extent 
is  found  to  have  a  favorable  effect  on  the  sanitary,  moral,  mental, 
and  physical  condition  of  the  prisoners,  particularly  those  whose 
intellectual  and  moral  culture  is  a  little  elevated.  Of  this  class  a 
considerable  number  is  found  among  the  prisoners  in  the  many 
different  countries  that  compose  the  Austrian  Empire.  Observa- 
tions carefully  made  and  recorded  show  the  following  comparative 
influence  of  cellular  and  associated  imprisonment  in  producing 
insanity  and  suicide.  The  former  gives  one  case  of  insanity  to 
every  one  hundred  and  eighty-six  prisoners,  while  the  latter  shows 
only  one  such  case  to  every  two  hundred  and  seventy-nine  prison- 
ers. Cellular  separation  shows  one  suicide  to  every  one  hundred 
and  eighty-four,  and  associated  imprisonment  one  to  every  twenty- 


448  STATE   OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BooK  IV. 

one  hundred  and  forty-two.  For  this  reason  the  Austrian  legisla- 
tion has  softened  the  application  of  the  cellular  system  in  the  way 
mentioned  already,  and  has  moreover  taken  account  of  the  intel- 
lectual culture  and  nationality  of  the  prisoners  subjected  to  that 
regime.  These  mitigations  are  not  found  to  render  less  effica- 
cious the  application  of  cellular  reclusion,  or  less  probable  the 
moral  regeneration  of  the  prisoner.  The  system  of  progressive 
classification  has  been  introduced  into  all  the  prisons  of  Austria, 
both  cellular  and  associated ;  and  its  influence  has  been  conspic- 
uous in  promoting  industry,  education,  and  good  discipline  among 
the  prisoners. 

For  a  further  account  of  the  prison  system  and  administration 
of  Austria,  I  must  have  recourse  to  the  official  report  submitted 
to  the  London  Congress  in  1872. 


CHAPTER  LXXXIX. — AUSTRIA  (continued}. — ADMINISTRATION. 
—  PRISONS.  —  PRISON  SYSTEM.  —  SUPPORT.  —  PENSIONS. 

ALL  the  prisons  of  Austria  are  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the 
ministry  of  justice,  which  shares  its  powers  of  administra- 
tion with  two  other  classes  of  authority,  —  local  and  intermediate. 
All  matters  of  minor  importance,  which  are  naturally  the  most 
numerous,  are  attended  to  by  the  local  authorities,  and  those  of  a 
graver  character  by  the  intermediate  authorities.  It  is  only  ques- 
tions of  the  highest  importance  that  are  submitted  to  the  decision 
of  the  ministry  of  justice.  The  ministry  of  justice  as  the  central 
authority  over  all  prisons  is  by  law  empowered  to  appoint  an  offi- 
cial from  its  own  office  as  the  representative  of  the  minister,  and 
to  intrust  him  with  the  supervision  and  guidance  of  all  prisons. 
But  since  1867  an  inspector-general  of  prisons  has  been  appointed. 

The  ministry  of  justice  appoints  the  directors  of  male  prisons, 
the  inspectors  of  female  prisons,  the  chaplains,  the  book-keepers, 
and  the  financial  and  medical  officers.  The  subordinate  officers 
are  named  in  certain  prisons  by  the  local,  and  in  others  by  the  in- 
termediate, authorities.  The  tenure  of  office  is,  as  with  all  the 
servants  of  the  State,  without  limit ;  that  is,  during  good  behavior. 

Austria  has  three  classes  of  prisons,  those  for  male  and  female 
prisoners  being  distinct  establishments,  —  (i)  prisons  for  persons 
sentenced  to  more  than  one  year  of  imprisonment ;  (2)  prisons 
for  persons  sentenced  to  less  than  one  year ;  (3)  prisons  of  the 
district  courts  for  minor  offences.  Of  the  first  class  there  are 
eighteen,  with  a  mean  population  of  10,490 ;  of  the  second 
class  there  are  sixty-two,  with  an  average  population  of  7,103  ; 


PART  vin.]  IN  AUSTRIA.  449 

of  the  third,  neither  the  number  of  prisons  nor  the  population  is 
given. 

The  proportion  of  male  prisoners  to  female  in  prisons  of  the 
first  class  is  as  five  to  one,  and  in  prisons  of  the  second  class  as 
six  to  one. 

Until  quite  recently  the  associated  system  of  imprisonment 
alone  existed  in  Austria.  Since  1867  all  new  prison  constructions 
have  been  arranged  in  such  manner  that  associated  imprisonment 
may  be  combined  with  cellular ;  so  that  excepting  short  imprison- 
ments, which  it  is  held  in  Austria  ought  to  be  wholly  cellular, 
every  prisoner  should  as  a  rule  spend  at  least  the  first  eight 
months  of  his  imprisonment  in  a  cell  and  the  remainder  in  asso- 
ciation, under  conditions  of  proper  classification  and  a  consequent 
gradually  improved  treatment  and  a  gradual  preparation  for  lib- 
erty. Several  prisons  of  the  first  class  have  been  built  or  are  in 
process  of  construction  upon  this  plan,  in  which  nevertheless  it 
is  intended  that  one-third  of  the  inmates  shall  undergo  their  en- 
tire punishment  in  cells,  and  that  the  other  two-thirds,  after  eight 
months  of  cellular  confinement,  shall  pass  into  the  state  of  asso- 
ciation and  enjoy  the  benefits  of  a  progressive  classification.  One 
prison  only  of  the  second  class  has  thus  far  been  arranged  on 
this  plan. 

The  considerations  which  have  prompted  this  change  are  that 
collective  imprisonment  carried  through  the  whole  sentence  has 
been  found  by  experience  incompatible  with  individual  treatment, 
and  consequently  obstructive  as  regards  the  moral  improvement 
of  the  prisoner,  particularly  in  the  old  and  ill-constructed  country 
prisons  ;  so  that  many  are  made  worse  instead  of  better  by  their 
imprisonment.  On  the  other  hand,  the  system  of  absolute  isola- 
tion has  been  attended  with  this  disadvantage,  —  that  it  makes  the 
prisoner  weak-willed,  especially  if  the  confinement  is  long  con- 
tinued. It  incapacitates  him  to  meet  successfully  the  temptations 
that  beset  him  on  his  return  to  liberty.  Difference  of  culture  is 
also  found  to  give  a  wide  difference  of  result  in  the  application  of 
the  cellular  system,  and  many  prove  on  trial  wholly  unfitted  for 
isolation.  On  these  grounds  it  has  been  judged  wisest  to  choose 
a  middle  course,  and  combine  the  two  systems. 

The  funds  for  the  support  of  the  prisoners  come  from  the  State. 
Here  and  there,  however,  there  exist  small  endowments  in  land 
or  money,  the  revenues  of  which  are  applied  to  that  purpose.  In 
Vienna  there  is  an  old  arrangement,  by  which  all  theatres  and 
public  exhibitions  must  contribute  an  annual  fixed  sum,  of  which 
half  is  paid  for  the  relief  of  the  poor  and  the  other  half  to  the 
prison  funds  of  the  province  of  Lower  Austria.  The  prisoners 
are  by  law  obliged  to  pay  the  actual  cost  of  their  keep  out  of  their 
own  property.  The  income  from  convict  labor  amounts  to  but  a 
small  part  of  the  cost. 

29 


450  STATE   OF  PRISONS,   ETC.  [BOOK  IV. 

The  directors  and  officers  of  the  prisons  of  the  State  receive 
when  incapacitated  the  same  pensions  as  its  other  servants.  These 
pensions  are,  —  after  more  than  ten  years  of  service,  one-third  ; 
twenty  years,  one-half  ;  thirty  years,  two-thirds  ;  forty  years,  the 
whole  of  their  last  salary. 


CHAPTER  XC.  —  AUSTRIA  (continued}.  —  DISCIPLINE.  — 
RELIGION.  —  EDUCATION.  —  LIBRARIES. 

THE  agencies  employed  as  a  stimulus  to  obedience  and 
industry  are  :  I.  The  hope  of  imperial  clemency,  which, 
according  to  an  ancient  custom,  is  extended  periodically  to  a  cer- 
tain number  of  prisoners  on  satisfactory  proofs  of  improvement. 
2.  A  share  in  their  earnings  in  the  form  of  peculium.  3.  The 
privilege,  accorded  only  to  the  well-behaved,  of  spending  for 
present  comforts  one-half  of  what  stands  to  their  credit.  These 
encouragements  have  worked  well,  and  greatly  aided  the  disci- 
pline. 

The  disciplinary  punishments  are  admonition,  coarse  work, 
withdrawal  of  privileges,  bread-and-water  diet,  irons,  hard  bed, 
confinement  in  a  cell  with  work,  and  confinement  in  a  dark  cell. 
An  exact  record  is  kept  of  all  punishments. 

In  the  Austrian  prisons  of  all  kinds  chaplains  and  religious 
teachers  are  provided  for  prisoners  of  every  sect,  of  which  the 
number  is  considerable.  As,  however,  the  greater  number  are  of 
the  Roman  Catholic  faith,  every  prison  has  a  Roman  Catholic 
chaplain,  and  when  the  number  of  prisoners  is  sufficient  to  re- 
quire so  many,  two  or  more.  Besides  holding  divine  service  and 
administering  the  sacraments,  the  chaplains  are  under  obligation 
to  visit  the  prisoners  individually,  to  seek  to  awaken  the  moral 
sense  within  them,  to  strengthen  them  by  spiritual  counsel  and 
exhortation  on  their  leaving  the  prison,  and  in  general  to  labor 
in  season  and  out  of  season  and  by  all  suitable  means  to  reclaim 
and  save  them. 

The  highest  importance  is  attached  to  the  labors  of  the  chap- 
lains, since  religious  instruction  is  found  the  most  effective  means 
to  acquaint  them  with  the  principles  of  morality  and  to  lift  them 
up  from  their  moral  degradation.  Many  prisoners  have  lost  heart 
and  have  fallen  into  despondency  and  even  despair,  from  which 
they  find  it  impossible  to  raise  themselves  by  their  own  unaided 
exertion.  As  a  consequence,  they  have  become  callous  and  in- 
different. Religion  alone  is  capable  of  reconciling  them  to  them- 
selves, to  society,  and  to  God  ;  it  alone  can  restore  hope  to  the 


PART  viii.]  IN  AUSTRIA.  451 

criminal,  the  loss  of  which  has  been  the  chief  cause  of  his  con- 
tinuance in  a  course  of  crime.  Religious  influences  are  therefore 
considered  an  essential  agency  in  the  moral  improvement  of 
prisoners. 

Formerly  volunteer  visitors  were  excluded  from  the  prisons. 
A  recent  Act  permits  the  visitation  of  cell-prisons  by  members 
of  societies  which  occupy  themselves  with  the  care  and  improve- 
ment of  discharged  prisoners. 

There  are  no  Sunday-schools  in  the  Austrian  prisons,  in  the 
American  sense  of  that  institution  ;  but  on  Sundays  and  all 
church-festival  days  lectures  are  delivered  to  the  prisoners  on 
various  subjects  of  scientific  and  popular  interest. 

The  average  proportion  of  prisoners  unable  to  read  on  their 
commitment  is  from  forty  to  fifty  per  cent. 

As  a  rule,  all  the  prisons  are  provided  with  schools.  All  pris- 
oners of  a  suitable  age  to  learn  (thirty-five  years  and  less),  and 
who  are  either  wholly  illiterate  or  of  defective  attainments,  are 
required  to  attend  the  prison  school. 

The  subjects  taught  are  the  common  primary  branches,  together 
with  composition,  the  elements  of  natural  history,  physics,  geog- 
raphy and  history,  and  in  rare  cases  drawing  and  geometry.  Be- 
sides this,  in  all  the  prisons  for  men  instruction  in  vocal  and 
instrumental  music  is  given,  but  only  as  a  reward  of  merit  and  to 
such  prisoners  as  possess  musical  gifts.  The  progress  made  in 
the  schools  is  satisfactory. 

Libraries  have  existed  in  the  prisons  only  during  the  last  few 
years.  The  use  of  libraries  is  constantly  increasing.  Those  who 
are  able  to  read  receive  books  for  themselves ;  for  those  in  associ- 
ated confinement,  who  are  unable,  readers  are  appointed.  Prefer- 
ence is  generally  given  to  tales,  travels,  and  biographical  sketches. 
Only  prisoners  of  some  education  ask  for  books  of  a  higher  stand- 
ard. The  influence  of  this  reading  is  exceedingly  good,  not  only 
because  the  keeping  of  order  and  quietness  is  thereby  greatly 
assisted,  but  because  the  mind  of  the  prisoner  is  in  this  way 
withdrawn  from  his  every-day  life,  directed  to  new  objects, 
stirred  to  higher  and  better  thoughts,  and  thereby  unconsciously, 
ennobled. 


452  STATE   OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  iv 


CHAPTER   XCI.  —  AUSTRIA  (concluded}.  —  LABOR.  —  HYGIENE. 
—  QUALIFICATIONS  OF  OFFICERS.  —  IMPRISONMENT  FOR  DEBT. 
-CAUSES  OF  CRIME.  —  AID  TO  LIBERATED  PRISONERS. 

PENAL  labor,  as  such,  does  not  exist  in  the  prisons  of  Aus- 
tria, although  difficult  and  disagreeable  work  is  sometimes 
awarded  by  way  of  disciplinary  punishment.  A  considerable 
variety  of  trades  is  pursued  in  the  Austrian  prisons.  No  less 
than  twenty  are  named,  and  the  statement  ends  with  an  et  cetera. 
Besides  handicrafts  pursued  within  the  prison-walls,  trustworthy 
prisoners  who  so  desire  are  employed  in  open-air  work, —  as  farmers, 
gardeners,  masons,  bricklayers,  laborers  on  streets  and  railways, 
stone-breakers,  etc.  Latterly  prisoners  sentenced  by  the  higher 
courts  are  much  employed  in  out-door  work.  The  effect  of  this 
is  found  beneficial  in  two  ways :  I.  The  prisoners  so  occupied 
(the  greater  part  of  whom  are  serving  out  their  first  sentences) 
are  thus  saved  from  the  evil  effects  of  association  with  other  pris- 
oners. 2.  Their  health  is  better,  and  hence  their  power  of  pro- 
duction while  at  work  is  greater. 

The  industrial  system  is  not  uniform.  In  some  prisons  the 
labor  of  the  prisoners  is  let  to  contractors ;  in  others  it  is  utilized 
on  account  of  the  State.  The  system  of  hiring  the  labor  of  the 
prisoners  to  contractors  is  preferred,  provided  always  that  con- 
tractors of  a  suitable  character  can  be  found  ;  otherwise,  the 
prison  direction  manages  the  labor  on  behalf  of  the  State.  The 
contract  system  is  preferred  for  two  reasons  :  first,  because  it 
prevents  loss  and  damage  ;  and,  secondly,  because  it  enables  the 
officers  to  devote  themselves  entirely  to  what  is  deemed  their 
proper  duty, — the  care  of  the  prisoners.  There  is,  nevertheless, 
confessed  to  be  a  grave  disadvantage  connected  with  this  system 
in  the  fact  that  an  outside  element  is  thus  introduced  among 
the  prisoners  unfavorable  to  their  moral  improvement.  Still,  it  is 
believed  that  this  disadvantage  may  be  reduced  to  a  minimum  by 
a  careful  selection  of  contractors,  foremen,  and  workmen.  The 
average  proportion  of  prisoners  for  the  last  three  years  who  were 
ignorant  of  a  trade  at  the  time  of  committal  was,  in  the  higher 
prisons,  —  men,  eight  per  cent ;  women,  twenty-four  per  cent :  in 
regard  to  the  other  prisons  statistics  are  wanting.  Every  such 
prisoner  learns  a  trade  in  prison,  if  he  is  sentenced  for  a  suf- 
ficiently long  time.  Pains  are  taken  to  guide  the  prisoner  in 
judging  of  his  own  capability,  that  so  he  may  learn  to  value  it, 
and  be  thereby  induced  to  earn  an  honest  living.  Thus  he  is 
taught,  not  only  how  to  work,  but  how  to  estimate  the  worth  of 
an  upright  life ;  and  he  is  quickened  in  his  industry  by  receiving 
a  portion  of  what  he  earns  during  his  incarceration. 


PART  vni.]  IN  AUSTRIA.  453 

The  sanitary  condition  of  the  prisons  is  for  the  most  part  good. 
The  drainage  leaves  little  to  be  desired.  The  water  supply  is 
always  sufficient  in  quantity,  and  generally  good  in  quality.  In 
the  southern  provinces  during  the  hot  season,  as  the  water  in 
many  prisons  is  from  cisterns,  a  modicum  of  vinegar  to  be  mixed 
with  it  is  supplied  to  the  prisoners.  Most  of  the  prisons  are 
well-ventilated.  The  cells  are  thoroughly  cleansed  and  painted 
every  year.  The  corridors  are  cleaned  daily,  and  the  floors 
scrubbed  with  sand  and  water  at  least  once  a  month.  The  cleans- 
ing and  disinfecting  of  water-closets  take  place  every  day.  Per- 
sonal cleanliness  is  rigorously  exacted.  The  body  linen  is  changed 
weekly  and  the  bed-linen  monthly.  The  collective  prisons  are 
furnished  with  portable  water-closets  ;  the  cellular  have  in  each 
cell  a  fixed  closet,  which  stands  under  a  ventilator  reaching  to  the 
roof.  The  dormitories  and  cells  are  lighted  by  gas  or  oil,  mostly 
the  latter.  The  heating  of  the  prisons  is  done  partly  by  iron 
stoves,  partly  by  hot  air.  The  bedsteads  are  generally  of  wood  ; 
in  some  cases,  however,  of  iron.  The  bed  is  of  straw,  with  pillow 
of  the  same  or  of  African  forest  hair,  two  sheets,  and  one  or  two 
blankets,  according  to  the  season.  The  bed  for  the  sick  is  the 
same,  but  the  linen  is  finer,  and  it  has  a  cotton  coverlet.  Nine 
hours  are  given  to  sleep.  The  remaining  fifteen  are  divided 
thus :  Religious  services,  one  and  a  half  hours  ;  meals,  exercise, 
and  rest,  two  and  a  half  hours  ;  labor,  ten  and  a  half  to  eleven 
hours  ;  attendance  at  school  (which  is  taken  out  of  the  hours  for 
labor  for  those  who  frequent  the  lessons),  two  hours.  Sick  pris- 
oners are  placed  in  the  hospital,  and  cared  for  according  to  the 
doctor's  orders  by  nurses  taken  from  among  the  prisoners  who 
show  themselves  worthy  of  such  confidence ;  but  those  prisoners 
who  have  only  slight  ailments  are  treated  in  their  cells.  Insane 
prisoners  are  taken  to  the  public  lunatic  asylum.  The  diseases 
most  frequent  are  those  of  the  respiratory  and  digestive  organs 
and  of  the  skin  and  cellular  textures.  The  average  number  of 
sick  during  the  years  1870  and  1871  did  not  vary  much  from  six 
per  cent.  The  death-rate  in  prisons  for  sentences  exceeding  a 
year  was  three  and  a  half  per  cent,  while  in  prisons  to  which  the 
sentences  were  for  less  than  a  year  it  scarcely  exceeded  one  half 
of  one  per  cent. 

It  is  held  in  Austria  that,  besides  a  technical  knowledge  of  their 
calling,  prison  officers  should  possess  a  good  general  education, 
and  have  experience  of  life,  knowledge  of  human  character,  firm- 
ness, and  a  serious  and  humane  spirit.  The  greater  number  of 
the  officers  at  present  employed  in  the  Austrian  prisons,  it  is 
claimed,  are  men  of  this  character.  Special  training  is  not  pro- 
vided for  this  class  of  public  servants.  It  is  thought  that  the  ex- 
perience necessary  for  a  prison  officer  may  be  best  acquired  by 
actual  service  in  a  prison. 


454  STATE   OF  PRISON'S,   ETC.  [BOOK  IV. 

Imprisonment  for  debt  no  longer  exists  in  Austria. 

The  chief  causes  of  crime  are  believed  to  be  dislike  to  work, 
desire  for  luxuries,  impatience  of  restraint,  want  of  education,  and 
the  poverty  so  closely  allied  to  ignorance. 

The  effort  to  procure  work  for  liberated  prisoners  has  been 
limited  hitherto  to  this,  —  that  those  who  have  learned  a  trade  in 
prison  receive  a  letter  stating  that  they  have  done  so,  and  those 
who  have  shown  themselves  particularly  attentive  receive  a  testi- 
monial to  that  effect.  In  particular  cases,  steps  are  taken  on  the 
part  of  the  officials  to  procure  work  for  those  prisoners  whose 
conduct  has  been  exemplary  and  who  have  given  proofs  of  firm- 
ness. The  results,  however,  have  been  too  isolated  to  afford  any 
statistics  upon  the  subject. 

There  is  only  one  liberated  prisoners'  aid  society,  which  is  in 
Vienna.  All  efforts  on  the  part  of  the  prison  directors  to  call 
into  existence  similar  societies  elsewhere  have  been  unsuccessful. 
The  society  in  Vienna  limits  its  operation  to  supporting  liberated 
prisoners  till  they  shall  have  found  occupation,  and  to  aiding  them 
with  tools,  clothes,  etc. 


CHAPTER  XCII.  —  HUNGARY  AND  CROATIA.  —  RECENT 
PROGRESS. 

HUNGARY  has  within  the  past  few  years  realized  notable 
progress  in  the  penal  and  penitentiary  domain.  Like  so 
many  other  peoples,  the  Hungarians  have  been  revising  their  sys- 
tem of  criminal  law.  The  new  code  is  already  before  the  parlia- 
ment, and,  when  enacted  into  law,  will  effect  a  radical  reform  in 
the  penitentiary  system,  —  a  reform  in  accord  with  the  ideas  and 
exigencies  of  the  times.  Indeed,  a  progressive  classification  has 
already  been  introduced  into  several  of  the  penitentiary  establish- 
ments of  the  kingdom.  Every  prisoner  on  his  committal  is  kept 
in  entire  isolation  for  at  least  six  weeks,  during  which  time  he 
is  made  the  object  of  an  earnest  study  on  the  part  of  the  officials. 
On  emerging  from  the  cell,  the  classification  begins  thus  :  i.  A 
probationary  class.  2.  A  reformatory  class.  3.  A  class  specially 
distinguished  for  good  conduct.  4.  An  intermediate  class  (liberes 
a  moitie). 

Scholastic  instruction  has  received  a  not  inconsiderable  devel- 
opment in  the  penitentiary  establishments,  where  are  taught  not 
only  reading,  writing,  arithmetic,  moral  science,  the  catechism, 
and  biblical  history,  but  also  natural  history,  natural  science,  geog- 
raphy, rural  economy,  grammar,  and  the  elements  of  the  Hun- 
garian constitution. 


PART  VIIL]  IN  HUNGARY  AND  CROATIA.  455 

The  laws  of  Hungary  know  nothing  of  imprisonment  for  life. 
This  punishment  is  judicially  pronounced  only  in  those  parts  of 
the  kingdom  where  the  Austrian  penal  code  is  provisionally  en- 
forced. 

Only  one  patronage  society  for  liberated  prisoners  exists  in 
Hungary,  and  that  has  had  a  life  of  but  four  years.  In  spite  of 
its  restricted  means  and  its  restricted  sphere  (being  confined  to 
the  capital),  it  has  accomplished  an  excellent  work.  During  the 
four  years  of  its  activity,  it  has  aided  two  hundred  and  thirty 
discharged  prisoners,  and  with  so  satisfactory  a  result,  that,  among 
all  the  persons  so  helped  and  protected,  there  has  been  but  a 
single  case  of  relapse,  —  less  than  one-half  of  one  per  cent. 


CHAPTER  XCIII.  —  HUNGARY  AND  CROATIA  (continued}.  — 
PUBLIC  OPINION  FAVORABLE  TO  PROGRESSIVE  SYSTEM. 

SO  far  I  have  cited  from  my  opening  address  at  Stockholm. 
What  follows  is  a  condensed  translation  from  the  Italian  of  a 
paper  addressed  to  Signer  Beltrani-Scalia,  by  M.  Emile  Tauffer, 
director  of  the  penitentiary  at  Lepoglava,  Croatia,  on  the  progres- 
sive system  of  penal  detention  according  to  recent  experiments 
made  in  Hungary  and  Croatia.  The  said  paper  is  in  the  form  of  a 
communication,  covering  twenty-eight  printed  octavo  pages,  to 
Signor  Beltrani-Scalia,  in  answer  to  three  questions  put  to  him 
by  the  last-named  gentleman. 

The  first  question  is  :  "  Whether  public  opinion  in  Hungary 
has  shown  itself  favorable  to  the  Irish  progressive  system  or 
the  cellular  system  ? " 

In  replying  to  this  question,  M.  Tauffer  goes  into  a  detailed 
history  of  the  progress  of  public  opinion  in  Hungary  on  this 
question.  He  shows  that  for  a  quarter  of  a  century  from  1840 
public  opinion  was  almost  unanimously  in  favor  of  the  cellular 
system,  and  that  nothing  prevented  its  adoption  but  the  absorp- 
tion of  the  public  mind  in  political  affairs.  It  was  not  until  the 
year  1866  that  the  Irish  system  became  known  in  that  country. 
The  first  notice  of  it,  from  the  pen  of  M.  Tauffer  himself,  ap- 
peared April  7  of  that  year  in  a  weekly  journal  of  jurisprudence. 
About  the  same  time  appeared,  in  book  form,  a  larger  and  more 
detailed  description  and  defence  of  the  system.  To  such  a  degree 
was  the  public  interest  in  the  system  awakened  and  the  public 
study  of  it  engaged,  that  in  two  years'  time  the  whole  current  of 
the  public  sympathy  and  favor  had  been  turned  from  the  cellular 
to  the  Crofton  plan  of  imprisonment.  A  commission,  consisting 


456  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BooK  iv. 

of  M.  Tauffer  and  Councillor  Ladislao  Csillagh,  was  appointed  to 
make  a  general  study  of  the  prison  systems  of  Europe,  and  more 
particularly  to  visit  Ireland,  and  institute  an  examination  of  the 
system  on  the  spot.  Their  report  completed  the  revolution  in  pub- 
lic sentiment,  and  led  to  the  preparation  of  a  bill  (progetto  di  legge 
penale),  providing  for  the  adoption  of  the  system  by  the  Hungarian 
parliament.  But  the  Magyars  are  a  practical  people.  Therefore, 
before  coming  to  a  conclusion,  means  were  taken  to  ascertain 
whether  the  system  could  adapt  itself  to  the  special  conditions  of 
the  country.  M.  Tauffer  was  in  1869  put  in  charge  of  the  prison 
of  Leopoldstadt  sul  Waag,  where  he  was  instructed  to  try  the 
system  and  observe  its  effects.  The  results  were  such  that  the 
Irish  progressive  system  was  definitively  embodied  in  a  project 
of  law,  and  after  having  first  gained  to  its  support  the  public 
opinion  of  the  nation,  it  received  also  the  approval  of  the  two 
houses  of  parliament,  and  of  the  students  of  penitentiary  science, 
so  that  not  a  solitary  voice  was  now  raised  in  opposition  to  it. 

A  like  reform  was  accomplished  in  Croatia  by  royal  ordinance 
in  the  year  1877. 

M.  Tauffer  is  careful  to  insist  that  the  absence  of  all  opposition 
to  the  system  in  Hungary  and  Croatia  must  not  be  ascribed  to  the 
want  of  knowledge  and  study,  but  it  only  shows  that  this  was  the 
system  best  adapted  to  the  circumstances  of  those  countries  ;  for 
there  was  no  lack  of  a  wide  and  thorough  acquaintance  with  the 
cellular  system  as  practised  in  Baden,  Prussia,  and  Belgium. 


CHAPTER  XCIV.  —  HUNGARY  AND   CROATIA  (continued}. — 
PROGRESSIVE  SYSTEM  ADOPTED. 

THE  second  question  proposed  by  M.  Beltrani  is :  "  How  and 
under  what  conditions  was  the  progressive  system  intro- 
duced into  Hungary,  and  more  recently  into  Croatia  as  well?" 

M.  Tauffer  answers  this  question  by  citing  the  exact  words, 
section  by  section,  of  the  regulations  of  the  central  penitentiary  of 
Lepoglava,  of  which  he  is  director.  I  shall  be  obliged  to  con- 
dense, lacking  space  for  so  full  a  citation. 

Mode  in  which  the  punishment  is  applied.  —  I.  By  absolute  iso- 
lation for  a  time.  2.  By  associated  imprisonment,  taking  account, 
however,  of  the  personal  and  moral  conditions  of  the  individual. 
3.  By  passing  into  a  probationary  or  testing  establishment  (inter- 
mediate prison} . 

Absolute  isolation.  —  All  new-comers  are  subjected  to  the  rule 
of  detention  in  a  cell.  The  stay  here  is,  ordinarily,  seven  weeks. 


PART  vin.]  IN  HUNGARY  AND  CROATIA.  457 

But  this  period  may  be  shortened  when  it  is  believed  that  its  object 
has  been  accomplished  ;  or  it  may,  on  the  other  hand,  be  extended 
to  eight  weeks  or  more  when  found  necessary.  On  the  third  day 
after  committal  to  the  cell  prisoners  are  furnished  with  work  and 
reading.  Daily  exercise  is  taken  in  suitable  yards,  with  complete 
separation  of  the  prisoners  from  one  another.  Every  prisoner 
receives  several  visits  daily  from  different  employes. 

Associated  imprisonment.  —  Prisoners  in  the  associated  prison 
work  and  live  together,  but  are  divided  into  two  great  classes,  and 
these  into  several  sub-classes. 

To  the  first  class  belong  all  on  first  coming  from  the  cell. 
Those  convicted  for  the  first  time  remain  here  three  months  ; 
those  previously  convicted  for  six  months  ;  those  previously  im- 
prisoned at  Lepoglava  or  in  any  other  establishment  of  the  mon- 
archy for  seven  months. 

These  terms  completed,  the  prisoners  are  promoted  to  the 
second  class. 

The  prisoners  belonging  to  the  two  before-mentioned  classes 
are  kept  separate  from  each  other,  at  least  during  the  night  and 
in  time  of  recreation ;  but  they  are  together  in  church,  at  exer- 
cise, and  generally  (not  always)  while  at  work. 

Each  of  these  two  principal  classes  is  divided,  as  before  stated, 
into  several  sub-classes,  as  follows  :  — 

1.  Prisoners  under  twenty-four  years,  of  previous  irreproach- 
able conduct,  who  have  sinned  through  levity  and  want  of  reflec- 
tion, without  deliberate  purpose,  and  who  are  distinguished  for 
their  moral  and  literary  education,  on  which  account  they  cannot 
be  considered  as  persons  given  up  to  crime.     Designation  of  this 
sub-class,  i.  a. 

2.  Prisoners  under  twenty-four  years,  of  previous  irreproach- 
able conduct,  but  who  committed  the  criminal  act  with  premed- 
itated intent,  to  which  however  they  were  not  impelled  by  any 
desire  of  gain  or  other  personal  advantage,  and  in  which  the 
nature  and  manner  of  executing  the  crime  show  that  the  person 
cannot  be  considered  as  morally  corrupt.     Designation  of  this 
sub-class,  i.  b. 

3.  Prisoners  under  twenty-four  years  who  perhaps  had  a  bad 
reputation  but  were  never  before  convicted,  in  whose  case  how- 
ever, either  in  motive  or  execution  of  the  crime  or  in  some  other 
circumstance,  there  are  indications  of   a  moral  conduct  tainted 
and  corrupt.     Designation,  i.  c. 

4.  Prisoners  over  twenty-four  years  who  are  in  the  conditions 
of  sub-class  i.     Designation,  n.  a. 

5.  Prisoners  over  twenty-four  years  who  are  in  the  conditions 
of  sub-class  ii.     Designation,  n.  b. 

6.  Prisoners  over  twenty-four  years  who  are  in  the  conditions 
of  sub-class  in.     Designation,  n.  c. 


458  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  iv. 

7.  Prisoners  under  twenty-four  years  previously  convicted,  but 
in  whose  case,  neither  in  the  first  offence  nor  the  second,  nor  in 
any  other  circumstance,  can  it  be  supposed  that  the  moral  charac- 
ter is  deeply  corrupted.      Designation,  in.  a  b.1 

8.  Prisoners  under  twenty-four,  previously  convicted,  in  whose 
case  the  condemnation  itself,  or  other  circumstance,  produces  the 
belief  that  the  offender  is  morally  corrupt.    Designation,  in.  a  b? 

g.  Prisoners  sentenced  for  rfoidive,  over  twenty-four,  in  whose 
case  neither  the  first  condemnation  nor  the  others  follow  a  crimi- 
nal act  caused  by  the  desire  of  gain.  Designation,  in.  b. 

10.  Recidivists   over   twenty-four  years,  convicted  of   crimes 
caused  by  a  desire  of  gain.     Designation,  in.  c  bl 

11.  Recidivists  belonging  to  the  above-named  sub-class,  with 
the  sole  difference  that  the  preceding  punishment  was  expiated 
in  a  penal  establishment  of  the  monarchy.    Designation,  in.  c  b.2 

Distinction  according  to  sub-classes.  —  In  each  of  the  two  great 
classes  the  prisoners  should  have  separate  dormitories,  so  that 
the  individuals  of  the  different  sub-classes  may  not  be  accommo- 
dated together.  The  dormitories  of  the  recidivists  should  be  in 
a  different  locality  from  the  others. 

Revision  of  the  classification.  —  When,  during  the  lapse  of  a  fixed 
time,  there  has  been  a  course  of  continued  good  conduct  on  the 
part  of  the  prisoner,  and  convincing  proof  has  been  given  by  him 
of  improvement,  he  is  to  be  transferred  to  another  sub-class  of  a 
higher  grade  ;  whereas,  on  the  contrary,  bad  conduct  will  be  fol- 
lowed by  degradation  to  a  sub-class  of  lower  grade.  Every  three 
months  the  director  of  the  establishment,  in  conjunction  with  his 
under-officers,  makes  the  changes  which  he  thinks  necessary  in 
this  sort  of  moral  classification  of  the  prisoners. 

General  provisions  concerning  the  mode  of  treatment  of  the  sub- 
classes. —  Prisoners  belonging  to  the  first  class  receive  no  part  of 
their  earnings.  The  recidivists  are  employed  at  more  severe  and 
disagreeable  labor  ;  and,  that  they  may  the  more  sensibly  feel  the 
punishment  awarded  them,  they  are  subjected  to  a  harder  and 
more  rigorous  discipline. 

Aim  of  the  probationary  establishment.  —  The  object  here  is  to 
place  the  prisoners  who  have  given  indications  of  amendment, 
and  are  recommended  to  a  full  pardon  or  conditional  liberty,  in  a 
condition  to  convince  the  authorities  of  the  reality  of  their  ref- 
ormation. 

Rules  for  entrance  into  the  probationary  stage.  —  In  accordance 
with  these  rules,  prisoners  of  the  second  class  who  are  not  recidi- 
vists may  be  transferred  to  this  stage,  provided  that,  besides 
meeting  the  pre-established  conditions,  they  have  other  personal 
conditions  which  offer  a  sufficient  guarantee  against  every  possi- 
ble attempt  to  escape,  and  provided,  moreover,  that  they  have 
expiated  at  least  three-fourths  of  their  punishment  in  the  pre- 


PART  VHI.]  IN  HUNGARY  AND  CROATIA.  459 

ceding  penal  stages.  Convicts  who,  by  provisions  of  law,  are  ex- 
cluded from  the  right  of  provisional  liberation  must,  in  case  of 
an  ultimate  transfer  into  the  probationary  prison,  have  expiated 
four- fifths  of  their  punishment  in  the  penal  prison.  Prisoners 
sentenced  for  life  can  be  transferred  to  the  probationary  stage, 
but  they  must  have  passed  at  least  ten  years  in  the  penal  prison 
(career e  duro). 

Conditions  to  be  observed  in  seeking  a  full  pardon.  —  Convicts 
who  are  by  law  excluded  from  conditional  liberation  can,  in  special 
cases  and  under  particular  conditions,  on  giving  indubitable  evi- 
dence of  reformation,  be  transferred  in  the  probationary  establish- , 
ment,  and,  on  having  expiated  three-fourths  of  their  punishment, 
—  or  fifteen  years  in  case  it  is  a  question  of  life-sentenced  prison- 
ers,—  can  be  proposed  to  the  judge  of  primary  jurisdiction  for 
the  presentation  of  a  petition  for  full  pardon  in  accordance  with 
prescribed  rules. 

Clothing. —  Convicts  are  required  to  wear  the  prison  dress. 
The  use  of  their  own  clothing,  whether  of  the  person  or  the  bed, 
is  absolutely  forbidden.  The  clothes  of  prisoners  in  the  pro- 
bationary establishment  differ  from  those  of  the  others  both  in 
cut  and  color. 

Labor  in  the  probationary  establishment.  —  The  prisoners  are 
here  specially  occupied  in  farming  and  gardening,  and  also  in  the 
care  of  live  stock.  It  is  considered  desirable  that  they  obtain  a 
mastery  of  these  arts.  Industrial  labor  is  exercised  only  so  far 
as  may  be  necessary  to  give  employment  to  mechanics  who  pro- 
pose to  pursue  the  same  trades  outside. 

Gratuities  paid  to  convicts.  —  Suitable  and  sufficient  rewards 
are  held  out  to  prisoners  to  encourage  them  to  be  industrious  and 
obedient,  according  to  their  classification  ;  but  the  rules  regu- 
lating such  rewards  are  too  numerous  and  would  occupy  too  much 
space  to  be  given  in  detail  in  this  work. 

Payment  of  the  convicts'  credits.  —  To  prisoners  discharged  from 
the  probationary  establishment  is  paid  their  entire  credit  at  the 
moment  of  their  liberation.  To  those  discharged  from  the  penal 
prison  is  paid  only  what  is  necessary  for  the  expenses  of  the 
journey  to  their  place  of  residence,  and  the  remainder  is  sent  to 
the  patronage  societies  to  be  handed  over  to  them  according  to 
fixed  rules. 

Instruction  in  tJie  probationary  establishment.  —  Every  prisoner 
is  here  under  obligation  to  attend  school  ;  but  those  who  are  al- 
ready sufficiently  instructed  may  be  excused  if  they  desire  it,  by 
the  director,  on  the  recommendation  of  the  schoolmaster  and  the 
chaplain. 

At  the  commencement  of  the  long  evenings  of  winter,  as  also 
in  the  afternoons  of  Sundays  and  feast-days,  all  the  prisoners  of 
the  probationary  establishment  receive  at  least  an  hour's  instruc- 


460  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  iv. 

tion  on  the  general  knowledge  useful  in  practical  life  and  es- 
pecially in  agriculture.  Such  instruction  is  imparted  by  the 
chaplain  and  schoolmaster  alternately  on  working  days,  but  by 
the  schoolmaster  only  on  Sundays  and  other  feast  days. 

It  is  in  this  manner  and  on  these  principles  that  the  progressive 
system  of  imprisonment  has  been  introduced  into  the  establish- 
ment of  Lepoglava  ;  and  an  organization,  similar  in  all  essential 
respects,  exists  in  that  of  Leopoldstadt  upon  the  Waag.  From 
the  foregoing  account  it  may  be  seen  that  this  system,  so  organ- 
ized, can  be  applied  in  an  imprisonment  which  does  not  exceed 
twelve  months. 


CHAPTER  XCV.  —  HUNGARY  AND  CROATIA  (concluded}. 
—  RESULTS  OF  PROGRESSIVE  SYSTEM. 

THE  third  question  is  in  these  words  :    "  What  have  been  the 
results  of  this  system  of  imprisonment  ;  and,  particularly, 
how  many  prisoners  have  been  employed  outside,  at  what  labors, 
and  with  what  results  ?" 

In  replying  to  this  question  M.  Tauffer  goes  largely  into  sta- 
tistical details,  which  are  extremely  interesting  and  valuable,  but 
in  which  it  is  impossible  to  follow  him  in  a  work  of  this  nature, 
where  every  thing  has  to  be  compressed  into  the  least  possible 
compass.  All  I  can  do,  therefore,  will  be  to  bring  out  a  few  of 
the  more  salient  points.  During  his  seven  years'  directorship  of 
the  penitentiaries  at  Leopoldstadt  and  Lepoglava  a  considerable 
proportion  of  the  prison  population  were  engaged  in  outside 
labors,  yet  in  all  that  time  not  an  escape,  or  even  an  attempt  to 
escape,  was  made.  The  same  is  true  of  four  hundred  and  thirty- 
five  convicts  who  during  those  years  passed  through  the  proba- 
tionary establishment,  and  only  one  of  those  discharged  from  this 
department  was  reconvicted  as  a  recidivist.  All  were  employed 
outside  on  various  kinds  of  labors,  —  farm  work,  the  construc- 
tion of  buildings,  etc.,  —  with  one  overseer  to  each  thirty  or 
forty  prisoners ;  and  when  they  were  sent  to  execute  errands  or 
bring  water,  they  went  unattended  by  any  one.  On  one  occasion, 
in  a  hemp  warehouse  beyond  the  limits  of  the  prison,  there  broke 
out,  in  December,  at  4  A.M.,  a  fire,  which  took  on  vast  dimen- 
sions from  the  immense  quantity  of  hemp  stored  in  it,  thereby 
endangering  the  dwellings  of  the  employes  in  the  immediate 
neighborhood.  The  services  of  the  prisoners  were  called  into  req- 
uisition to  aid  in  extinguishing  the  flames.  Without  any  special 
supervision,  and  in  the  deep  darkness  of  the  night,  that  prison 
population  worked  with  all  the  ardor  of  which  man  is  capable  in 


PART  viri.]  IN  HUNGARY  AND   CROATIA.  461 

moments  of  danger,  without  the  slightest  attempt  to  abuse  the 
unlimited  liberty  which  was  accorded  to  them.  The  building 
was  a  complete  prey  to  the  flames  ;  but,  with  an  absolute  forget- 
fulness  and  disregard  of  death,  there  were  saved  through  their 
efforts  a  great  number  of  bales  of  cotton,  as  well  as  other  prod- 
ucts of  labor  stored  there. 

In  November,  1877,  there  were  transferred  from  the  establish- 
ment of  Lepoglava  to  the  probationary  prison  the  first  twelve 
prisoners.  These,  at  the  time  of  M.  Tauffer's  writing,  were  en- 
gaged in  constructing  various  buildings  connected  with  the  estab- 
lishment; and  in  the  meantime,  as  a  provisional  or  temporary 
habitation,  a  warehouse  was  made  to  serve  their  purpose  in  the  out- 
er court-yard,  far  beyond  the  beats  of  the  sentinels,  where  neither 
bolts  nor  grates  reminded  them  of  a  prison.  The  door  even  was 
unbarred  during  the  night ;  there  was  only  a  rule  forbidding 
prisoners  to  leave  the  place  after  the  usual  hour  of  retiring. 
The  general  satisfaction  and  appreciation,  on  the  part  of  all  the 
prisoners,  of  such  a  treatment  form  the  best  recompense  even  for 
the  numerous  cares  and  labors  of  the  officials.  Not  a  solitary 
escape  was  effected  or  attempted.  True  is  that  profound  paradox 
of  Wichern  :  "  The  strongest  wall  is  no  wall."  True  is  that  more 
didactic  statement,  to  the  same  effect,  of  M.  Vacherot,  of  the 
Institute :  "  Attraction  in  the  realm  of  mind  is  the  greatest  di- 
recting force,  —  the  surest  means  of  government." 

Of  one  hundred  and  sixty-five  prisoners  provisionally  released 
from  Lepoglava  from  March,  1876,  to  March,  1878,  only  two  had 
their  licenses  withdrawn.  It  is  with  perfect  truth  that  M.  Tauffer 
thereupon  adds  :  "  Truly,  better  results  could  not  be  desired." 

Since  the  introduction  of  the  Irish  progressive  system  into 
Hungary  and  Croatia  the  death-rate  has  fallen  greatly,  having 
previously  been  6.7  per  cent,  and  now  being  no  more  than  2.8 
per  cent.  This  may  be  owing  partly  to  better  sanitary  meas- 
ures, but  is  mainly,  no  doubt,  due  to  the  moral  effect  of  the 
system,  by  replacing  the  sentiments  of  despondency,  sadness, 
and  dread  with  the  contrary  and  counteracting  sentiments  of 
hope,  cheerfulness,  and  courage. 


462  STATE   OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BooK  iv. 


PART     NINTH. 

RUSSIAN    EMPIRE. 

CHAPTER  XCVI.  —  RUSSIA   PROPER.  —  RECENT  PROGRESS. 

THIS  is  what  the  writer  said,  concerning  criminal-law  reform 
and  penitentiary  reform  in  Russia,  in  his  opening  address  at 
the  Congress  of  Stockholm  (1878),  deriving  his  information  from 
a  communication  made  to  him  by  M.  de  Grot,1  secretary  of  state 
in  the  ministry  of  justice,  St.  Petersburg:  — 

The  actual  penal  code  of  Russia  dates  from  1845.  By  that  code 
the  knout,  so  famous  in  history,  was  abolished  ;  and  in  1 863  nearly 
all  other  corporal  punishments  shared  the  same  fate.  No  impor- 
tant changes  have  taken  place  in  the  penal  code  of  Russia  since 
the  Congress  of  London,  but  the  ministry  of  justice  has  been 
engaged  in  an  earnest  study  of  the  subject ;  and  in  1877  a  special 
commission  was  created  to  examine  the  draft  of  a  new  scale  of 
punishments  prepared  by  that  ministry.  The  commission  has 
completed  its  labors,  and  the  new  scale  of  penalties  will  serve  as 
the  basis  of  a  new  penal  code.  In  this  scale  the  death-penalty  is 
retained  only  in  the  case  of  crimes  against  the  safety  of  the  State 
and  the  person  of  the  emperor.  Properly  speaking,  therefore, 
banishment  to  Siberia,  coupled  with  hard  labor  (travaux  forces), 
occupies  the  first  place  among  Russian  penalties.  By  the  existing 
code  this  penalty  is  for  life,  or  a  maximum  term  of  twenty  years  ; 
by  the  draft  (projet)  of  the  commission  it  is  for  life,  or  a  maxi- 
mum term  of  fifteen  years.  The  commission  has  in  view  other 
ameliorations  of  the  present  code.  It  favors  a  great  diminution 
of  the  number  of  crimes  against  which  this  sentence  must  now 
by  law  be  pronounced,  and  would  have  the  sentence  affixed  only 
to  crimes  of  the  gravest  character.  Moreover,  the  commission  is 
in  favor  of  the  absolute  abolishment  of  simple  banishment  to 
Siberia,  —  that  is,  without  the  addition  of  hard  labor  ;  it  would 
have  this  species  of  banishment  replaced  by  imprisonment  in 
some  form.  Indeed,  the  tendencies  of  its  labors  and  proposi- 
tions is  towards  the  absolute  destruction  of  Siberia  as  a  place  of 
punishment. 

i  M.  de  Grot  was  also  first  vice-president  of  the  congress,  and  acted  as  president 
in  the  absence  of  His  Excellency  M.  Bjornstjena,  who  was  president. 


PART  ix.]  IN  RUSSIA.  463 

The  same  commission  is  charged  with  the  duty  of  framing  a 
new  penitentiary  system.  It  proposes  three  species  of  privation 
of  liberty  :  I.  For  a  term  of  eighteen  months  to  six  years,  with 
labor,  exercise,  school,  and  church  in  association,  under  certain 
restrictions,  and  all  the  rest  of  the  time  in  cell  ;  nevertheless, 
the  first  four  weeks  of  the  imprisonment  must  in  all  cases  be 
passed  in  cellular  separation  day  and  night.  2.  For  a  term  of 
two  weeks  to  a  year,  to  be  passed  wholly  in  cellular  confinement. 
3.  In  houses  of  arrest  for  a  term  not  exceeding  three  months,  — 
cellular  separation. 

While  awaiting  a  complete  reform  of  her  penitentiary  system, 
the  Russian  Government  has,  during  these  later  years,  limited  its 
action  to  partial  ameliorations,  and  principally  in  the  construction 
of  prisons.  In  1875  the  first  essay  was  made  at  St.  Petersburg, 
in  the  creation  of  a  large  cellular  prison  for  700  inmates,  —  600 
men  and  100  women.  There  are  however  in  this  prison  only  317 
cells,  and  the  rest  of  the  edifice  is  designed  for  the  system  of 
association. 

Russia  has  not  as  yet  any  institution  for  the  professional  train- 
ing of  prison  officers.  However,  the  Government,  during  the 
current  year,  sent  three  commissioners  to  the  different  countries 
of  Europe  to  study  the  construction,  administration,  and  manage- 
ment of  penitentiary  establishments,  and  hopes  to  profit  by  the 
knowledge  which  they  may  bring  back  in  continuing  and  hasten- 
ing the  work  of  prison  reform  in  its  own  dominions.  Since  the 
year  1874  one  of  the  professors  in  the  University  of  St.  Petersburg 
is  charged  with  the  duty  of  giving  annual  courses  of  lectures  on 
penitentiary  science.  All  this  points,  not  dubiously,  to  the  ulti- 
mate establishment  of  special  schools  for  the  professional  educa- 
tion of  prison  keepers. 

Russia  is  evidently  waking  up  to  the  importance  of  preventive 
and  reformatory  institutions  for  the  young.  The  first  agricultural 
penitentiary  colony  for  juvenile  delinquents,  under  fourteen  years 
of  age,  was  organized  in  1870,  near  St.  Petersburg,  by  a  volun- 
tary society  ;  but  the  Government  furnished  the  site,  and  grants 
an  annual  subsidy.  Since  that  date,  there  have  been  organized 
seven  or  eight  similar  colonies  in  different  provinces  of  the  em- 
pire, for  the  most  part  without  aid  from  the  Government.  In 
general,  these  institutions  find  much  sympathy  and  support  from 
the  public  ;  but,  from  the  shortness  of  time  during  which  they 
have  been  in  operation,  the  authorities  consider  it  too  soon  to 
pronounce  definitely  as  to  results. 

There  are  at  St.  Petersburg,  at  Moscow,  and  in  some  of  the 
provincial  cities  reformatory  and  industrial  schools  which  begin  to 
show  a  certain  degree  of  success  and  give  promise  of  larger 
fruits.  There  exist,  likewise,  chiefly  in  the  large  cities,  numerous 
asylums  for  children,  vagrants,  orphans,  and  mendicants.  After 


464  STATE   OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  iv. 

the  age  of  ten  to  twelve  years,  effort  is  made  to  apprentice  these 
children  to  some  trade,  or  to  continue  their  education  and  in- 
struction in  other  schools.  All  these  institutions  move  on  pros- 
perously, especially  as  regards  their  pecuniary  resources,  since 
benevolence  is  largely  characteristic  of  the  Russian  people,  and 
contributors  are  readily  found. 

Two  patronage  societies  for  discharged  prisoners  have  been 
recently  organized  in  St.  Petersburg,  one  for  males,  the  other  for 
females  ;  but  the  results  obtained  thus  far  are  moderate.  Never- 
theless, public  attention  begins  to  turn  towards  this  side  of  the 
penitentiary  system.  The  journals  speak  of  it  favorably  ;  and  a 
short  time  ago  there  appeared  in  a  Russian  review  ("The  Bulletin 
of  Europe")  an  elaborate  article  on  this  subject,  which  gives 
an  historical  resume  of  what  has  been  done  in  this  regard  by 
other  countries,  and  points  out  the  manner  in  which  the  work  of 
patronage  may  be  organized  in  Russia.  By  the  initiative  of  a 
generous-minded  Russian  lady,  there  is  about  to  be  formed  in 
St.  Petersburg  a  society  for  the  patronage  of  liberated  juveniles 
of  both  sexes,  whose  activity  will  probably  commence  in  the 
autumn  of  the  current  year  (1878). 


CHAPTER  XCVII. —  RUSSIA   (continued}.  —  THE  EMPEROR'S 
INTEREST  IN  PRISON  REFORM. 

I  HAVE  sought  further  and  more  extended  information  con- 
cerning Russia  since  the  Stockholm  Congress,  and  particu- 
larly in  regard  to  Siberia,  but  without  success.  I  only  know,  in 
addition,  that  the  emperor  has  examined  and  approved  all  the 
conclusions  reached  by  the  Congress  of  Stockholm ;  that  the  im- 
perial commission,  of  which  M.  de  Grot  is  president,  has  submit- 
ted a  report,  with  the  draft  of  a  prison  system  for  the  empire ; 
that  the  said  report  and  bill  are  now  before  the  Council  of  State 
(the  legislative  body  of  the  empire)  ;  that  prison  reform  is  the 
order  of  the  day  for  Russia;  that  Alexander  II.  is  not  only 
greatly  interested  in  the  amelioration  of  prisons,  but  has  set  his 
heart  on  this  as  the  last  great  reform  to  be  accomplished  by  him 
for  his  people.  And,  further,  I  have  good  reason  to  believe  that 
Siberia  is  positively  and  absolutely  doomed  ;  and  that  at  least  the 
younger  members  of  the  great  army  of  prison  reformers  now 
marching  on  to  the  conquest  of  the  world  will  live  to  see  and 
record  it  as  "a  thing  of  the  past."  This  is,  perhaps,  "glory 
enough,"  and  information  enough,  for  the  moment.  There  are 
solid  and  sufficient  reasons  why  Russia  should  not  desire  to  sub- 


PART  rx.]  IN  RUSSIA.  465 

mit  to  the  world  at  this  time  a  report  upon  the  actual  status  of 
the  penitentiary  question  in  her  territories.  Indeed,  a  detailed 
description  of  the  system  now  in  operation  in  Russia  is  impossi- 
ble, and,  if  possible,  could  not  give  an  exact  idea  of  things ;  since 
the  penitentiary  question  in  that  country  is  at  this  moment  pass- 
ing through  a  transitional  phase,  a  radical  reform  being  proposed 
and  certain  experiments  having  been  already  commenced.  Rus- 
sia is  thus  between  two  systems,  —  one  acknowledged  to  be  unsat- 
isfactory, and  the  other  but  just  dawning,  with  its  methods  and 
measures  yet  undeveloped.  From  a  scientific  point  of  view  such 
a  transitional  phase  might  be  interesting,  but  it  could  not  give 
precise  statements  either  as  to  what  exists  now  or  what  is  to 
exist  hereafter.  Therefore  any  report  upon  the  actual  condition 
of  things  could  not  be  an  exposition  of  a  system,  but  must 
simply  play  with  the  traditions  of  the  past  and  the  hopes  of  the 
future  ;  for  the  present  is  but  a  "  dissolving  view,"  to  give  place, 
let  us  hope,  to  a  picture  as  enduring  as  it  will  be  beautiful. 


CHAPTER  XCVIIL  —  RUSSIA  (concluded).  —  ADDITIONAL  ITEMS. 

THE  author  has  just  received  (August,  1879)  an  interesting 
letter  from  M.  de  Grot,  the  official  delegate  from  the  Rus- 
sian Government  to  the  Prison  Congress  of  Stockholm,  and  a 
very  high  authority  in  his  own  country  on  the  prison  question. 
Together  with  certain  items  stated  in  the  preceding  chapters, 
M.  de  Grot  communicates  new  matter  of  great  interest  and  sig- 
nificance. It  seems  to  me  best  to  translate  his  letter  in  full,  as 
follows :  — 

"  First  of  all,  I  ought  to  make  a  very  humble  apology  for  not  having 
sooner  replied  to  'your  letter  of  the  month  of  April ;  but  the  truth  is,  that 
your  letter  reached  me  at  a  moment  when  I  was  extremely  occupied,  and 
when  the  council  of  the  empire  was  considering  the  new  project  for  the 
administration  of  prisons  in  Russia.  This  project 'was  framed  by  a  com- 
mission under  my  presidency ;  it  was  accepted  and  confirmed  as  a  whole 
by  the  emperor ;  and  the  central  administration  is  at  this  moment  acting 
under  its  provisions.  The  central  administration  depends  on  the  minister 
of  the  interior ;  but  its  chief  is  clothed  with  high  powers,  and  can  act  in 
the  greater  number  of  cases  independently,  and  without  the  intervention 
of  the  minister.  [It  is  M.  Galkine,  whom  you  saw  at  Stockholm,  who 
is  appointed  chief  of  this  administration.  In  the  provinces  the  adminis- 
tration of  the  prisons  remains  as  it  was ;  but  M.  Galkine  has  been  charged 
with  the  duty  of  drawing  up  a  project  of  reform  for  them. 

"  A  second  project  has  been  formulated  by  the  before-mentioned  com- 
mission upon  the  general  penitentiary  system  to  be  observed  in  Russia  for 

30 


466  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  .       [BooK  IV. 

the  future.  In  part  this  project  has  also  been  examined  by  the  council 
of  the  empire  (the  legislative  body)  in  my  presence,  before  departure  for 
the  baths  of  Switzerland,  but  the  final  discussion  will  not  take  place  till 
autumn.  This  project  is  intended  to  serve  as  the  basis  of  a  new  criminal 
code.  The  principal  point  which  failed  to  secure  a  unanimity  of  voices 
has  reference  to  our  system  of  deportation  and  of  exportation  to  Siberia. 
The  commission  is  of  the  opinion  that  this  mode  of  punishment  ought  to 
be  entirely  abolished,  since  it  does  not  in  any  respect  secure  its  object, 
and  since  the  experience  of  more  than  a  century  has  shown  that  the  Gov- 
ernment is  incompetent  to  organize  this  deportation  upon  solid  and  satis- 
factory bases.  However,  this  manner  of  viewing  the  question  meets  with 
a  good  deal  of  opposition ;  and  it  seems  that  many  desire  still  to  make 
new  essays,  and  to  continue  the  exportation  with  some  modifications. 
For  myself,  I  have  the  firm  conviction  that  all  this  opposition  will  lead  to 
nothing,  and  that  we  shall  nevertheless  be  compelled,  sooner  or  later,  to 
abolish  exportation  and  deportation  to  Siberia.  It  does  great  injury  to  this 
whole  country,  flooding  it  with  malefactors  who,  having  nothing  to  do,  fill 
the  country  with  tramps  and  thieves,  and  return  very  often  under  the  eyes 
of  the  police  in  the  metropolis.  Evidently,  this  is  a  state  of  things  impos- 
sible to  be  endured. 

"  As  regards  the  regime  to  be  adopted  in  the  penitentiaries  the  Govern- 
ment accepts  a  mixed  system ;  the  cellular  system  entire  in  short-term 
prisons,  and  in  the  convict  or  central  prisons  cellular  separation  at  night 
and  associated  labor  by  day.  When  this  project  shall  have  been  definitely 
adopted  and  the  law  promulgated,  it  will  then  belong  to  the  new  admin- 
istration to  carry  it  into  execution,  and  to  take  the  steps  necessary  to  im- 
prove existing  penitentiaries  and  to  construct  new  ones,  as  funds  shall  be 
placed  at  its  disposition.  It  thus  appears  that  the  whole  penitentiary  ques- 
tion in  Russia  is  in  a  state  of  transition  and  reform.  It  would  be  very 
difficult  to  furnish  extended  details  upon  the  actual  condition  of  the  pris- 
ons, especially  as  the  old  administration,  in  expectation  of  a  reform  whose 
commencement  dates  only  from  the  year  1860,  neither  could  nor  would  in 
these  latter  years  put  in  operation  any  radical  measures.  All  that  I  can 
say  is  that  the  state  of  our  prisons  is  very  bad.  We  have  neither  good 
prison  structures  nor  employes  specially  prepared  for  the  prison  service. 
The  labor  is  imperfectly  organized,  and  the  greater  part  of  the  prisoners 
have  nothing  to  do.  Even  the  youths  are  not  everywhere  separated  from 
the  adult  prisoners.  It  must  be  said,  however,  that  in  these  later  times 
the  penitentiary  question  has  great  interest  for  the  Russian  public,  and 
books  begin  to  issue  from  the  press  relating  to  it. 

"  At  the  present  moment  the  Russian  public  is  a  good  deal  occupied  in 
organizing  agricultural  colonies  and  reform  schools  for  young  criminals, 
and  within  the  last  eight  or  nine  years  not  less  than  ten  or  a  dozen  have 
been  founded  in  different  provinces  of  the  empire.  All  the  agricultural 
colonies  hitherto  founded  in  Russia  owe  their  existence  to  the  initiative  of 
private  persons  who  form  societies  to  that  end ;  but  the  Government  also 
aids  in  their  support. 

"  Within  a  short  time  a  commencement  has  been  made  in  the  work  of 
patronage.  In  the  last  year  two  patronage  societies  have  been  organized, 
—  one  at  St.  Petersburg  to  aid  discharged  juveniles,  the  other  in  the  south 
of  Russia,  at  Kischeneff,  for  liberated  prisoners  of  all  ages  who  desire  to 
avail  themselves  of  its  assistance." 


PART  ix.]  IN  FINLAND.  467 


CHAPTER  XCIX.  —  FINLAND.  —  GENERAL  VIEW  OF  THE 
PRISON  QUESTION. 

IN  1877  the  author  received  from  Mr.  A.  Grotenfelt,  of  Finland, 
judge  of  the  court  of  appeals  for  that  grand-duchy,  'a  com- 
munication in  regard  to  penal  and  penitentiary  matters  therein,  of 
which  the  following  is  a  substantial  translation :  — 

"Although  the  administration  of  the  prisons  of  the  Grand-Duchy  of 
Finland  is  not  officially  confided  to  me,  and  I  have  only  within  the  last 
few  years  prepared  for  the  Government  of  my  country  some  bills  {projects 
of  law}  on  the  reorganization  of  the  penitentiary  establishments,  I  take  the 
liberty  of  communicating  to  you  a  few  facts  relating  to  the  penal  code  and 
penitentiary  system  of  Finland,  which  may  have  perhaps  some  interest  for 
you.  That,  however,  will  not  prevent  me  from  sending  to  the  Congress,  at 
least  if  no  unforeseen  accident  hinder,  replies  to  the  questions  which  you 
proposed  in  your  circular  letter  of  September,  1876. 

"  In  this  country,  which  was  for  centuries  under  Swedish  rule,  but  has 
been  subject  to  Russia  only  since  1809,  the  general  law  of  Sweden  of  1 734 
is  still  in  force.  The  titles  of  this  law  which  concern  crimes  and  punish- 
ments have  been  applied  even  in  Sweden,  at  least  partially,  down  to  1864, 
when  the  new  penal  code  was  published.  As  regards  Finland  some  parts 
of  the  said  law  of  1734,  concerning  crimes  and  punishments  have,  how- 
ever, undergone  certain  modifications  by  more  recent  regulations  thereto 
relating,  and  the  draft  of  a  new  criminal  code  for  Finland,  as  also  of  a  law 
on  the  application  of  punishments  prepared  by  a  commission  organized  to 
that  end,  was  published  in  1875. 

"  The  old  law  which  we  received  from  Sweden  has  for  its  basis  the  sys- 
tem of  corporal  punishments,  and  a  large  number  of  crimes  are  by  its 
provisions  punished  capitally.  The  death-penalty  has  not  been  formally 
abolished,  although  since  1824  it  has  never  been  applied.  In  virtue  of  an 
ordinance  which  appeared  in  1826,  criminals  sentenced  for  offences  of  the 
graver  type  are  sent  to  hard  labor  in  Siberia,  or  for  certain  physical  or 
sanitary  reasons  are  employed  at  hard  labor  for  life  in  Finland.  In  the 
case  of  crimes  less  grave  in  character  capital  punishment  has  been  com- 
muted by  the  clemency  of  the  sovereign  into  hard  labor  for  a  term  of 
years.  The  average  number  of  criminals  annually  sent  to  Siberia  is  twelve. 
This  number  is  about  forty  per  cent  of  all  those  who  have  been  sentenced 
capitally. 

"  The  security  of  person  and  property  has  not  been  in  the  least  dimin- 
ished by  the  suspension  of  capital  punishment.  Murders  and  thefts  must 
be  classed  among  crimes  extremely  rare,  and  the  same  may  be  said  of 
highway  robbery.  The  public  opinion  of  the  country  then  is  not  in  favor 
of  the  death-penalty,  a  punishment  for  the  rest  which  could  not  be  carried 
into  effect  in  a  country  where  there  is  no  public  executioner.  In  the  new 
draft  of  a  penal  code  of  1875  capital  punishment  is  retained  only  in  case 
of  an  attack  upon  the  emperor,  grand  duke  of  Finland ;  but  as  the  sove- 
reign does  not  reside  in  the  country,  there  is  no  reason  to  suppose  that 


468  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BooK  iv. 

occasion  will  arise  for  the  application  of  this  punishment.  If,  however,  by 
some  sad  fatality  the  necessity  should  present  itself,  the  death-penalty  could 
be  executed  only  through  the  aid  of  the  military  and  by  means  of  the 
shot-gun.  No  punishment  attended  by  infamy  is  provided  for  in  the  draft 
of  the  penal  code  of  1875. 

"  Corporal  punishments  are  only  applied  exceptionally,  when  offenders, 
to  hasten  the  moment  of  their  deliverance  and  avoid  long  formalities, 
decline  to  ask  in  the  superior  court  that  their  punishment  be  commuted  to 
that  of  bread  and  water.  In  a  few  years  when  penitentiary  reform  shall 
have  been  accomplished,  at  least  in  part,  corporal  punishments  will  no 
longer  be  pronounced  by  the  courts. 

"  The  bill  regulating  the  application  of  public  punishment  is  based,  in  so 
far  as  imprisonment  is  concerned,  on  the  progressive  system.  Provisional 
or  conditional  liberation  is  provided  for  in  recompense  of  good  conduct 
for  all  prisoners  sentenced  to  an  imprisonment  of  three  years  and  more. 
This  conditional  liberty  is  not  at  present  accorded  by  law ;  nevertheless 
the  Government  has  sometimes,  indeed  not  unfrequently,  authorized  cer- 
tain prisoners  on  their  own  request  to  establish  themselves  as  colonists 
in  Siberia,  after  having  undergone  a  certain  part  of  their  punishment  in 
Finland. 

"  The  ministers  of  the  prisons  are  bound  to  surround  all  the  prisoners 
with  religious  influences,  and  all  who  need  literary  instruction  are  obliged 
to  attend  school.  But  there  is  an  exception  to  this  rule  in  the  pending 
bill,  to  the  effect  that  this  obligation  does  not  extend  to  prisoners  sentenced 
to  less  than  fifty  days,  nor  to  those  who  are  sentenced  to  longer  terms  and 
who  have  passed  the  limit  of  forty  years.1 

"  Within  the  last  ten  years  libraries  have  been  established  in  all  the 
prisons  of  Finland.  The  apprenticeship  to  trades  and  the  labor  in  gen- 
eral are  adapted  so  far  as  possible  to  the  capacity  of  each  individual  and 
to  the  probable  social  state  which  he  will  occupy  after  his  liberation. 

"The  salaries  of  all  prison  officers  have  been  increased  within  these 
latter  years,  and  especially  since  1875.  In  all  prisons  of  whatever  class 
chaplains  and  schoolmasters  are  attached  to  the  establishment,  and  in  the 
penitentiaries  there  are  also  found  superintendents  of  labor.  Since  the 
year  1872  female  overseers  have  been  employed  not  only  in  the  female 
penitentiaries,  but  also  in  the  female  wards  of  the  houses  of  arrest. 

"  In  view  of  the  advantage  to  be  derived  from  having  the  directors  of  pen- 
itentiaries specially  instructed  in  their  work,  the  Government  in  1872,  1875, 
and  1876  sent  abroad  three  prison  functionaries  to  study  the  organization 
of  penitentiaries  in  general,  and  to  learn  the  best  methods  in  use  in  dif- 
ferent countries  for  the  treatment  of  prisoners.  In  1876  there  was  sub- 
mitted to  the  Government  a  project  for  organizing,  in  connection  with  the 
principal  penitentiary  of  the  country  at  Tavastehus,  an  establishment  for 
the  special  education  of  prison-keepers. 

"In  1875  was  begun  the  erection  of  a  new  penitentiary  near  Helsingfors 
the  capital  of  the  country.  It  will  contain  accommodations  for  four  hun- 
dred and  fifty  men-prisoners ;  there  will  be  one  hundred  cells  complete 

1  No  such  limitation  as  this  exists  in  the  United  States.  Here  illiterate  prisoners 
over  forty  and  even  over  fifty  years  are  glad  to  receive  lessons,  and  if  naturally  intel- 
ligent they  make  fair  progress. 


PART  ix.]  IN  FINLAND.  469 

for  day  and  night,  two  hundred  and  fifty  night-cells,  and  associated  work- 
shops for  three  hundred  and  fifty  men. 

"  Within  the  last  few  years  there  has  been  constructed  at  the  peniten- 
tiary at  Tavastehus  a  cell-house  containing  sixty-six  cells  complete.  At 
the  penitentiary  of  Abo  two  wings  have  been  erected,  one  of  which  has 
seventy-five  cells  complete,  and  the  other  an  equal  number  of  night-cells. 

"  At  Wibourg  a  new  house  of  arrest  (detention  prison)  is  going  to  be 
built  on  the  cellular  plan.  This  house  will  be  the  first  in  which  will  be 
applied  those  rational  principles  which  tend  to  the  introduction  of  reform 
into  the  Finnish  houses  of  arrest  now  so  defective. 

"  There  is  at  this  moment  a  project  of  law  before  the  national  diet  to 
establish  a  reformatory  school  for  juvenile  delinquents  and  juvenile 
vagrants. 

"  In  1869  there  was  organized  at  Helsingfors  a  society  having  in  view 
to  offer  to  liberated  prisoners  the  possibility  of  earning  a  living  by  their 
labor,  and  at  the  same  time  to  inspire  them  with  the  courage  necessary  to 
re-conquer  their  lost  reputation  and  social  status.  This  society  has 
branches  in  all  the  more  important  towns  of  Finland." 


CHAPTER  C.  —  FINLAND  (concluded).  —  ADDITIONAL 
ITEMS. 

THUS  far  Mr.  Grotenfelt.     I  have  also  received  a  communica- 
tion from   another  distinguished  member  of   the   Finnish 
bench,  Mr.  G.  Ehrstrom,  who  has  repeated  many  of  the  state- 
ments made  by  his  colleague,  with  interesting  additions.     Among 
other  things  he  says  :  — 

"  As  regards  establishments  for  the  education  of  deserted  and  vagrant 
children,  as  well  as  reform  schools  for  young  delinquents,  all  recognize  the 
urgent  need  for  them.  Schools  of  the  first  class  here  named  have  been 
founded,  to  the  number  of  ten  or  twelve,  in  different  parts  of  the  country, 
one  of  which  at  least  receives  vicious  children  in  preference  to  others.  As 
most  of  these  schools  are  situated  in  the  country,  their  inmates  become 
familiar  with  country  life  and  country  occupations.  The  parliament  of 
Finland,  at  the  beginning  of  the  present  year,  determined  to  found  a 
special  institution  for  the  treatment  of  juvenile  transgressors,  and  voted 
the  requisite  appropriation  for  its  construction. 

"  An  interesting  peculiarity  is  to  be  noted  in  the  treatment  of  prisoners 
in  this  country.  A  large  number  of  criminals,  who  have  suffered  in- 
carceration for  a  considerable  time  in  the  prisons  of  Finland  and  have 
been  conspicuous  for  their  good  conduct  as  prisoners,  have  themselves 
asked  (and  the  favor  has  been  accorded  by  the  Government)  to  be  trans- 
ported to  Siberia  as  colonists.  Such  permissions  have  been  found  to 
exert  a  salutary  influence  on  the  discipline  of  the  prisons,  at  the  same  time 
that  the  privilege  so  granted  has  removed  them  from  the  circle  of  their 


47O  STATE   OF  PRISONS,   ETC.  [BoOK  IV. 

former  wicked  companions,  —  a  circle  into  which  they  would  otherwise 
have  been  almost  sure  to  re-enter  after  their  liberation.  This  permission 
has  besides  afforded  them  the  opportunity,  by  engaging  in  agriculture  or 
some  other  industry,  to  earn  their  daily  bread  by  honest  work."  1 


CHAPTER  CI.  —  POLAND.  —  EARLY  EFFORTS  TOWARDS 

CHILD-SAVING. 

« 

THE  lot  of  those  children  who  in  consequence  of  parental  neg- 
lect or  the  complete  lack  of  guardianship  menace  social 
order,  or  have  already  infringed  it  by  their  wrong-doing,  has  long 
been  the  object  of  anxious  thought  among  men  of  heart  and  un- 
derstanding. It  was  in  1827  that  Count  Frederic  Skarbet,  of 
Poland,  afterwards  minister  of  justice,  proposed  the  formation  of 
a  society  for  the  care  of  neglected  children.2  In  1830  was  founded 
the  so-called  institute  for  neglected  children, — thus  antedating 
the  Rauhe  Haus  and  Mettray.  It  received  children  from  the 
courts,  from  the  police,  and  from  families  which  were  unable  to 
manage  them. 

The  political  events  which  succeeded  arrested  the  development 
and  had  an  unfavorable  influence  on  the  character  of  this  institu- 
tion, which,  though  removed  from  place  to  place  and  even  tempo- 
rarily closed,3  has  preserved  its  existence  to  our  day ;  has  entered 
upon  the  path  of  reforms  ;  has  traced  in  its  new  regulations,  in  a 
manner  more  exact,  the  sphere  of  its  operations  and  the  classes 
of  children  that  may  be  admitted  as  pupils ;  and  has  added  to  in- 
dustrial labor  those  of  agriculture  in  a  colony  which  is  the  gift  of 
the  counts  of  Puslowski.  The  institution  is  found  to-day  at  Mok- 
olow,  near  Varsovie.  It  receives  children  sent  to  it  by  the  police 
and  by  their  families,  and  is  counted  among  benevolent  rather 
than  penal  establishments. 

The  national  code  divides  minority  (which  continues  in  Poland 
to  the  age  of  twenty-one  years)  into  three  periods  :  I.  The  period 
of  absolute  irresponsibility,  —  to  seven  years,  or  even  to  ten,  if  it 

1  This  recital  suggests  the  inquiry  whether  transportation  may  not  be  usefully  em- 
ployed, as  a  reward  instead  of  a  punishment,  in  a  penitentiary  system.     If  punishment 
ought  to  be  suffered  on  the  spot,  —  that  is,  in  the  country  where  the  crime  has  been 
committed,  —  that  justice  may  not  be  subjected  to  a  hazardous  uncertainty,  is  it  not 
true  on  the  contrary  that  a  transportation,  tied  to  the  soil  by  the  property  and  the 
family  of  the  liberated  prisoner,  would  offer  little  if  any  danger  to  society  ?     In  this 
case  justice  would  be  exposed  to  no  risks ;  chance,  as  an  element  in  the  problem, 
would  be  excluded ;  and  the  social  work  would  complete  the  penal  without  being 
confounded  with  it. 

2  It  was  in  the  same  year  that  the  first  reform  school  was  established  in  Boston. 

3  During  the  Revolution  of  1831. 


PART  ix.]  IN  POLAND.  471 

is  proved  that  the  minor  acted  without  knowledge.  2.  The  period 
of  relative  responsibility,  from  seven  or  ten  to  fourteen  years. 
3.  The  period  of  absolute  responsibility,  from  fourteen  to  twenty- 
one  years,  but  always  with  certain  reserves. 

The  law  required  a  separation,  in  the  general  prisons,  to  be 
made  between  minor  and  adult  prisoners  ;  but  this  provision  re- 
mained a  dead  letter,  owing  to  the  lack  of  space  to  carry  it  into 
effect.  It  was  only  —  thanks  to  the  private  initiative  of  Mr.  Mat- 
ernicki,  a  director  of  one  of  the  prisons,  who  at  his  own  expense 
opened  the  first — that  there  were  organized  small  schools  in  the 
prisons,  the  founding  of  which  was  in  1853  ordained  by  law,  and 
their  arrangements  determined  in  detail  by  a  subsequent  regula- 
tion. 


CHAPTER   CII.  —  POLAND  (continued].  —  AGRICULTURAL 
PENITENTIARIES  AND  INDUSTRIAL  ASYLUMS. 

"VTEVERTHELESS,  statistics  showed  an  almost  annual  in- 
-LN  crease  of  offences  committed  by  minors.  This  fact  at- 
tracted the  attention  of  right-thinking  men,  a  few  of  whom  set 
themselves  to  devise  the  plan  of  a  patronage  society  for  minors 
who  were  found  to  be  in  circumstances  of  so  much  peril.  The 
result  was  the  organization  of  a  new  society  called  "  Society 
of  Agricultural  Colonies  and  Industrial  Asylums."  This  asso- 
ciation was  recognized  and  sanctioned  by  the  law  of  the  2Oth 
February,  1871,  which  gave  to  it  as  far  as  minors  were  con- 
cerned—  both  those  judicially  condemned  as  delinquents,  and 
mendicant,  vagrant,  and  unprotected  children  —  the  double  char- 
ter of  (i)  Pedagogic,  —  that  is,  having  relation  to  the  duties  of  the 
Society  within  the  limit?  of  the  colonies  and  asylums  founded  by 
it ;  (2)  Tutelary,  or  protective,  whereby  the  Society  is  charged 
with  the  duty  of  watching  over  the  conduct  of  the  children  after 
they  have  left  the  establishments. 

As  regards  the  first :  Its  pedagogic  character  imposes  on  the 
Society  a  fourfold  function, —  (i)  To  regenerate,  so  to  speak,  the 
children  confided  to  its  care,  to  lift  them  up  from  their  abase- 
ment ;  (2)  To  give  them  a  primary  instruction ;  (3)  To  fortify 
their  health,  their  physique,  generally  enfeebled  in  the  case  of 
children  morally  neglected ;  (4)  To  accustom  them  to  useful  and 
productive  labor. 

As  regards  the  second  :  The  tutelary  character  of  the  Society 
is  exerted  in  two  ways,  —  (i)  By  placing  the  children  on  their 
leaving  the  establishments  in  respectable  and  worthy  families  ; 
(2)  By  watching  over  their  moral  conduct,  and  by  furnishing 


472  STATE   OF  PRISONS,  ETC,  [BooK  iv. 

them  the  means  of  perfecting  themselves  in  the  career  which 
they  follow. 

The  rules  of  the  Society,  while  defining  its  object  and  duties, 
declare  at  the  same  time  its  constituent  elements  and  its  govern- 
ing authorities. 

It  is  composed  of  membres-fondateurs  (founding-members)  of 
both  sexes,  whose  number  cannot  exceed  twenty,  and  who  pay  an 
annual  assessment  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  roubles  ;  and  of  hon- 
orary members,  whose  number  is  unlimited,  and  who  pay  an 
annual  fee  of  six  roubles.  The  Society  is  administered  by  the 
committee  composed  of  the  six  founding-members  and  ten  speci- 
alists with  their  president,  and  by  the  administration  with  its 
chairman,  vice-chairmen,  and  members.  The  committee  is  a 
legislative  power ;  the  administration,  an  executive  power.  The 
code  of  regulations  further  defines  the  attributes  or  powers  of 
each  of  these  authorities,  and  lays  down  the  general  rules  re- 
lating to  the  administration  of  the  colonies  themselves.  As  to 
the  special  rules,  they  are  framed  for  each  colony  separately  and 
published  after  its  opening. 

I  will  not  go  into  a  history  of  the  gradual  development  of  the 
Society  and  of  all  its  labors,  but  will  only  say  that  the  two  au- 
thorities, the  committee  and  the  administration,  first  prepared 
themselves  for  the  work,  —  that  is  to  say,  they  secured  members 
and  assessments ;  they  elaborated  the  system  to  be  introduced 
into  the  future  colonies  ;  they  addressed  a  memorial  to  the  Gov- 
ernment, praying  that  it  would  grant  to  the  Society  a  tract  of  land 
whereon  to  found  the  first  colony  for  juvenile  delinquents  (boys). 
The  results  of  these  efforts  were  that  already  in  1874  the  So- 
ciety counted  two  thousand  members,  and  its  possessions  con- 
sisted of  forty  thousand  roubles  in  money  and  one  hundred  and 
seventeen  acres  (arpents)  of  forest  given  by  the  Government  for 
the  founding  of  the  colony. 


CHAPTER  CIII.  —  POLAND  (continued).  —  FAMILY  SYSTEM 
ADOPTED  FOR  PENITENTIARY  COLONIES. 

IT  was  determined  to  take  as  a  model  for  the  new  establish- 
ment the  French  colony  of  Mettray,  with  this  difference  only, 
that  the  families  should  be  less  numerous  (fifteen  in  each).  After 
clearing  a  portion  of  the  forest,  this  same  year  (1874),  on  the 
fifth  of  March,  were  laid  the  foundations  of  the  first  colony  for 
juvenile  delinquents  in  Poland.  As  the  place  on  which  it  was 
constructed  was  called  Studzieniec,  the  same  was  given  to  the 


PART  ix.]  IN  POLAND.  473 

colony  itself.  Two  years  later,  on  the  I4th  of  May,  1876,  the  for- 
mal opening  of  the  colony  took  place.  To-day  (October,  1878) 
it  has  six  little  houses  for  colons,  forming  the  two  sides  of  a  rec- 
tangle, with  the  director's  house  at  one  end  and  the  chapel  at 
the  other ;  and  beyond  are  found  the  various  other  buildings  of 
the  establishment.  The  family  houses  (of  which  the  cost  of  con- 
struction is  four  thousand  seven  hundred  and  fifty  roubles  each) 
are  composed  of  the  parterre,  or  ground-floor,  where  are  situated 
the  workshops  and  the  story  intended  for  the  dormitories,  in 
which  the  iron  bedsteads  are  so  arranged  that  they  can  be  folded 
up  and  fastened  by  hooks,  together  with  the  bedding,  to  the  walls, 
thus  changing  the  dormitory  into  a  refectory.  Close  to  this  is 
the  apartment  of  the  father  of  the  family,  from  which  he  over- 
looks the  children.  Among  the  family  houses  there  are  some 
which,  without  having  workshops  on  the  ground-floor,  are  inhabited 
by  two  families,  —  one  below,  the  other  above,  —  each  having  a 
separate  entrance,  one  on  the  one  side  of  the  house,  the  other 
on  the  other.  The  number  of  inmates  at  the  present  time  is 
eighty.  They  have  fixed  upon  two  hundred  as  the  maximum 
number  to  be  received,  which  it  is  not  proposed  ever  to  exceed 
in  any  one  colony.  In  time  the  houses  will  be  surrounded  by 
gardens,  though  even  now  they  present  a  picturesque  appearance 
on  the  dark  background  of  the  forest. 


CHAPTER  CIV.  —  POLAND  (continued}.  —  INMATES.  —  LABOR. 
—  EDUCATION.  —  ESTABLISHMENT  FOR  GIRLS. 

IN  virtue  of  the  new  code  introduced  into  Poland  in  1876,  and 
of  the  special  ordinances  relating  to  our  establishments,  the 
colony  of  Studzieniec  receives  juvenile  delinquents  judicially  con- 
demned, at  ten  years  old  at  least,  and  sixteen  at  most,  sent  with 
a  copy  of  the  sentence  and  the  certificate  of  their  age,  —  this  last 
being  necessary,  in  order  that  it  may  be  known  whether  they  will 
be  able  to  pass  two  entire  years  in  the  colony.  Two  years  have 
been  fixed  upon  as  the  shortest  term  possible  in  which  to  effect  a 
radical  change  in  the  character  of  the  child,  to  destroy  his  evil 
inclinations,  and  to  teach  him  some  trade,  which  afterwards  may 
serve  him  as  a  means  of  living.  Agriculture  is  made  the  principal 
occupation  of  the  colony.  Trades  will  be  introduced  in  proportion 
to  the  increase  of  the  colony  and  its  needs,  and  also  of  the  facil- 
ity of  finding  markets.  At  present  there  are  taught  the  trades  of 
wagon-making,  carpentry,  cabinet-work,  and  tailoring.  Above  all, 
it  is  sought  to  teach  the  children  to  provide  for  their  own  wants. 


474  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BooK  iv. 

It  is  thus  that  already  the  houses  are  provided  with  furniture  of 
their  own  manufacture,  such  as  wardrobes,  chairs,  tables,  etc., 
which  articles  they  also  make  for  sale.  Some  of  these  articles 
have  already  acquired  such  a  reputation,  —  and  this  is  especially 
the  case  as  regards  carts  and  wagons,  —  that  they  are  eagerly 
sought  for  at  the  fairs  held  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  colony. 
The  means  of  education  are  such  as  exist  in  the  colony  of  Mettray, 
and  it  may  be  said  that  both  in  its  moral  and  physical  relations 
the  colony  of  Studzieniec  is  developing  in  a  satisfactory  manner. 
Time  would  fail  me  to  give  in  detail  all  the  proofs  of  the  refor- 
matory action  of  the  colony.  Suffice  it  to  say  that  these  happy 
results  are  due  to  the  well-organized  supervision  and  administra- 
tion of  the  colony,  confided  to  a  young  man,  Mr.  Trajeuski,  for- 
merly a  teacher  in  the  Polish  institution  for  neglected  children, 
who  went  to  Mettray  and  spent  some  months  there  with  a  view 
to  prepare  himself  for  his  new  duties.  The  sympathy  felt  by  the 
public  in  this  work  is  shown  in  the  fact  that  in  1876  its  assets 
amounted  to  100,000  roubles,  and  the  confidence  felt  in  the  So- 
ciety is  still  more  strikingly  proved  by  the  fact  that  lately  one  of 
the  members  of  the  committee,  the  Count  Kicki,  bequeathed  to  it 
his  colossal  fortune  of  1,500,000  roubles. 

The  Society  having  accomplished  a  part  of  its  task  in  the 
establishment  of  a  colony  for  delinquent  boys,  proposes  to  found 
another  for  girls  of  whom  the  number  is  much  less. 


CHAPTER  CV.  —  POLAND  (concluded}.  —  COMPREHENSIVE 
PLAN  OF  INDUSTRIAL  ASYLUMS. 

THE  Society  now  proposes  to  enter  upon  the  second  part  of  its 
work,  namely,  the  care  and  salvation  of  the  other  and  far 
more  numerous  class  of  minors,  —  such  as  mendicants,  vagrants, 
unprotected,  and  morally  degraded  children.  It  has  already  com- 
municated its  plans  to  the  Government,  and  as  soon  as  these  shall 
be  approved  it  will  put  its  shoulder  to  the  work.  According  to 
these  plans,  the  colonies  and  asylums  for  the  second  class  of 
minors  (which  it  is  proposed  to  spread  over  the  whole  country, 
beginning  with  two  as  with  the  penal  colonies)  will  be  organized, 
like  the  Swiss  colonies,  with  twenty  or  thirty  inmates  in  each. 
That  will  enable  the  Society  to  test  severally  the  two  systems, 
French  and  Swiss.  As  the  character  of  the  colony  of  Studzieniec 
is  preponderantly  penal,  that  of  the  projected  colonies  will  be  pre- 
ponderantly pedagogic.  There  will  be  admitted  children  between 
the  ages  of  eight  and  fourteen  years,  to  be  retained  at  least  two 


TART  ix.]  IN  POLAND.  475 

years  and  not  beyond  sixteen  years  completed.  These  children 
are  to  be  sent  to  the  establishments  by  the  police,  or  by  the  admin- 
istration of  the  place  where  they  are  found  at  the  time,  or  by 
their  parents  or  guardians. 

In  this  manner,  then,  the  entire  period  of  minority  has  its 
guardianship  assured  in  Poland.  The  little  infant  from  the  cra- 
dle (despite  the  suppression  of  the  foundling  hospital)  finds  it  in 
the  infant  nursery  (creche}  and  in  the  asylums  of  the  Philan- 
thropic Society,  scattered  throughout  the  whole  country.  The 
child  from  eight  to  fourteen  years  of  age,  who  is  on  the  descent 
to  crime,  finds  it  in  the  pedagogic,  educational,  or  disciplinary 
industrial  asylums  for  vagrant,  mendicant,  homeless,  and  unpro- 
tected children.  The  child  from  ten  to  eighteen  years,  if  already 
criminal  and  touched  by  the  sword  of  justice,  finds  it  in  the  agri- 
cultural penal  colony  of  Studzieniec,  founded  on  a  model  made 
up  of  the  French  Mettray  and  the  German  Rauhe  Haus.  Time 
and  experience  may  introduce  some  modifications  in  the  details 
of  administration,  but  the  principles  will  remain  fixed  and  im- 
movable. The  stream  of  social  life  must  henceforth  flow  more 
clearly,  for,  as  a  distinguished  Englishman  has  said,  "  A  filter- 
ing apparatus  has  been  placed  at  its  sources."  The  people  of 
Poland  have  understood  and  have  carried  into  effect  the  words  of 
Henry  Martin  :  "As  society  has  a  duty  towards  adults,  to  inflict 
justice  upon  them,  so  it  has  a  duty  towards  children,  to  provide 
for  them  protection,  guardianship,  and  education." 


476  STATE   OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  IV. 


PART   TENTH. 

PORTUGAL. 

CHAPTER  CVI.  —  DIFFICULTY  IN  OBTAINING 
INFORMATION. 

SINCE  his  first  visit  to  Europe,  in  1871,  for  the  promotion  of  in- 
ternational prison  reform,  the  author  has  made  almost  uninter- 
mitted  efforts  to  obtain  some  information  from  Portuguese  sources 
concerning  the  condition  and  administration  of  Portuguese  pris- 
ons. He  has  repeatedly  addressed  the  Government  itself ; 1  he 
has  as  often  written  to  private  citizens,  who  have  been  reported 
to  him  as  occupied  with  these  questions  ;  he  has  applied  to  suc- 
cessive United  States  ministers  accredited  to  the  court  at  Lisbon, 
who  have  kindly  used  their  influence  in  his  behalf  with  the  Port- 
uguese Government  to  move  it  to  a  response,  —  but  not  a  solitary 
word  has  ever  come  to  him  from  Government  or  citizen  as  the 
result  of  all  this  one-sided  correspondence.  Of  course  he  had  no 
right  to  the  information  sought ;  and  he  has  no  right  to  complain, 
and  does  not  complain,  that  his  applications  have  been  unheeded 
by  those  to  whom  they  were  addressed.  The  reader  can  inter- 
pret this  persistent  (for  it  was  persistent)  silence  as  well  as  the 
author.  But  he  has  a  right  to  mention  th^4act,  and  does  mention 
it,  as  an  explanation  of  the  very  little  he  has  to  say  —  and  the 
not  very  satisfactory  character  of  that  little  —  concerning  the 
prison  system  and  prison  work  of  Portugal.  All  he  has,  and  of 
course  all  he  can  give,  on  this  subject  is  contained  in  an  extract 
from  a  dispatch  of  the  Honorable  Benjamin  Moran,  United  States 
minister  at  Lisbon,  addressed  some  three  years  ago  to  the  Wash- 
ington Government,  the  substance  of  which  may  be  found  in 
the  five  next  following  chapters. 

1  As  he  has  all  the  other  Governments  of  the  civilized  world,  —  supreme,  provincial, 
and  colonial,  —  scarcely  one  of  which,  and  certainly  none  of  great  importance  in 
this  regard,  has  failed  to  respond  to  the  application  by  furnishing  the  information 
asked. 


PART  x.]  IN  PORTUGAL.  477 


CHAPTER  CVII.  —  CONDITION  OF  PRISONS. 

gravest  of  all  defects  in  the  laws  and  government  of 
this  kingdom  has  reference  to  the  jails.  But  although  the 
most  flagrant,  it  is  the  one  whose  remedy  is  easiest ;  it  would  in- 
volve no  considerable  outlay  ;  and  the  outcry  against  the  evil  is 
so  loud  that  any  expenditure  of  money,  any  trouble  incurred  by 
the  responsible  minister  would  be  well  spent.  The  evil  is  two- 
fold,—  the  infrequency  of  jail-deliveries  and  the  state  of  the  jails 
themselves.  Obviously,  the  first  principle  in  the  restraint  of 
crime  is  that  jail-life  should  seem  abhorrent  to  those  treading  on 
the  brink  of  a  criminal  career  ;  that  felony  should  be  made  to 
appear  shameful  in  the  eyes  of  the  young.  The  second  is  that 
punishment  should  come  surely  and  swiftly  ;  so  that  a  beginner 
may  regard  a  criminal  life  as  a  ruinous  speculation,  indepen- 
dently of  all  moral  objections  to  it.  Both  these  principles  are 
entirely  ignored  in  Portugal,  at  least  in  practice  ;  and  in  the 
neglect  of  them,  the  other  purpose  of  jails  —  the  reformation 
of  criminals  —  also  fails  of  being  carried  out.  In  Portugal  a  jail 
is  not  a  mysterious  and  awe-inspiring  edifice,  wherein  sin  and 
sinners  are  hidden  behind  high  walls,  within  which  the  pen- 
alty of  outraged  law  is  sternly  exacted,  and  where  at  the  same 
time  mercy  is  the  handmaid  of  justice,  and  tenderly  urges  repent- 
ance. There  is  no  impression  made  on  the  passer-by  that  a  con- 
vict, when  committed  there,  is  cut  off  from  all  association  with 
the  outer  world,  from  all  intercourse  with  innocence,  and  all  share 
in  the  sunshine  of  life. 


CHAPTER  CVIII.  —  ACCESSIBILITY  OF  THE  PRISONS  TO  THE 
OUTSIDE  WORLD. 

THE  jail  stands  in  the  centre  of  the  market-place,  and  the 
prisoners'  rooms  are  on  a  level  with  the  pavement,  with 
such  free  access  to  the  windows  (merely  guarded  by  one  soldier), 
that  prisoners  and  accessories  in  crime  may  converse  freely. 
The  voice  of  merriment  is  heard  throughout  the  day  ;  and  the 
time  is  beguiled  by  appeals  to  passers-by  for  money,  and  by  jests 
at  the  expense  of  those  who  do  not  give. 

Then,  this  almsgiving,  —  what  can  be  worse?  Honest  poverty 
in  rags  must  receive  some  awkward  lessons  from  seeing  thought- 
less persons  encouraging  the  prisoners  while  they  neglect  the 
deserving ;  from  seeing  such  persons  lavish  comforts  on  the  dis- 


4/8  STATE   OF  PRISONS,   ETC.  [BOOK  iv. 

honest  which  they,  with  all  their  pinching,  can  seldom  or  never 
obtain.  It  cannot  but  be  that  crime  must  lose  its  shamefulness 
when  notorious  criminals  are  seen  all  day  within  earshot  of  other 
men,  and  constantly  conversing  with  the  young  sentry  at  the 
window. 


CHAPTER  CIX.  —  HARDENING  EFFECT  OF  CONTACT  WITH  THE 
OUTSIDE  WORLD. 

I  AM  reminded  here  of  a  prominent  illustration  of  the  harden- 
ing effect  of  this  contact  with  the  outside  world,  as  reported 
by  Mr.  Moran,  on  one  of  the  prisoners  themselves.  He  was  a 
youth  of  seventeen  years,  asking  for  money  like  the  others  at  the 
window,  but  whose  innate  good-breeding  and  honest  expression 
had  not  yet  been  effaced  by  three  months'  companionship  with 
the  profligate.  But  he  had  made  a  beginning  in  the  loss  of  the 
sense  of  shame,  —  he  had  learned  already  to  expose  unblush- 
ingly  the  fact  that  he  was  a  prisoner,  which  had  for  a  time  over- 
whelmed him.  He  was  in  confinement  close  by  his  mother's 
house  (she  being  a  woman  of  eminent  respectability  in  the 
town),  where  he  himself  had  been  brought  up,  and  had  ever 
borne  a  good  character.  Within  her  very  sight  he  was,  by 
the  treatment  of  the  law,  being  converted  into  a  hardened  crimi- 
nal. The  sequel  of  his  story  illustrates  also  the  second  position, 
—  that  the  great  principle  of  speedy  punishment  is  ignored  here. 
The  youth  was  kept  twelve  months  awaiting  his  trial,  to  the 
obvious  injury  of  his  morals  far  beyond  what  would  have  been 
the  case  in  the  contact  with  criminals  at  a  penal  establishment 
under  proper  discipline,  not  to  speak  of  the  cruel  outrage  done 
to  his  mother. 

His  was  a  case  specially  calling  for  a  speedy  punishment,  and 
at  the  same  time  not  a  severe  one,  —  a  punishment  due  simply  to 
unrestrained  passion,  but  mitigated  by  circumstances  of  grave 
provocation,  not  a  sentence  degrading  him  to  the  rank  of  thieves. 
Indeed,  it  is  not  clear  that  he  deserved  any  punishment.  He 
killed  another  boy,  but  had  no  intention  to  kill  him ;  and  he 
struck  him  under  the  following  provocation  :  He  had  been  for  a 
long  time  aggravated  by  the  wilful  destruction  by  this  boy  of  the 
produce  of  his  mother's  garden,  the  fruit  of  all  his  leisure,  devoted 
filially  to  his  mother's  comfort.  He  came  upon  his  enemy  en- 
gaged in  the  very  act  of  committing  this  outrage,  and  the  blow 
which  he  struck  was  unluckily  fatal.  It  was  a  monstrous  injustice 
that  his  ultimate  conviction  should  be  anticipated  and  bail  not 
accepted  ;  but  the  delay  oi  twelve  months  was  a  scandal  and 
an  outrage. 


PART  x.]  IN  PORTUGAL.  479 

This  case  has  been  stated  at  length,  because  the  glaring  cir- 
cumstances of  injustice  and  unwisdom  surrounding  it  illustrate 
the  viciousness  of  a  system  where  such  a  case  could  be  possible 
within  twenty  miles  of  the  capital  city.  Where  is  public 
opinion  ?  Where  is  public  justice  ? 


CHAPTER  CX.  —  BAD  EFFECT  OF  LONG  DELAY  OF 
TRIAL. 

ONE  result  of  the  delay  in  jail-delivery  is  indirectly  to  be 
found  in  the  records  of  carriage  accidents,  —  the  constant 
escape  of  the  author  of  the  disaster,  whether  innocent  or  not. 
The  public  habitually  connive  at  his  running  away ;  they  seem 
convinced  that,  though  he  may  deserve  some  penalty  (a  fine,  per- 
haps, if  the  circumstances  are  not  aggravated),  he  cannot  deserve 
twelve  months'  preliminary  confinement  before  trial ;  and  a  poor 
gallego  cannot,  of  course,  find  bail  among  strangers. 

Two  cases  of  this  connivance  came  under  Mr.  Moran's  immedi- 
ate notice  last  year.  A  child  ran  under  a  tramway-car  near  Porto, 
in  spite  of  great  presence  of  mind  on  the  part  of  the  driver.  As 
the  child  was  killed,  the  innocent  author  of  the  disaster  ran  away, 
and  the  company  was  unable  to  give  either  his,  name  or  address. 
Another  instance:  Through  the  fault  of  the  managers,  a  diligence 
was  sent  out  on  the  dangerous  road  to  Regon  with  a  rotten  har- 
ness. The  reins  broke  short  off  on  the  descent  of  the  Marno 
mountains,  the  coach  was  upset,  and  every  passenger  was  injured, 
five  being  killed.  The  coachman,  alone  uninjured,  alone  able  to 
afford  assistance,  was  forced  to  seek  safety  in  flight  from  long 
preliminary  imprisonment  before  trial,  to  the  neglect  of  his  suffer- 
ing passengers. 

Another  result  of  the  injustice  of  delays  in  trials  sounds  some- 
what paradoxical,  —  laws  so  harsh  to  the  accused  before  trial  are 
as  lax  to  them  when  on  trial.  Juries  will  not  convict :  they  prob- 
ably consider  that  the  prisoner  has  been  already  sufficiently 
punished,  and  the  tax-payer  sufficiently  taxed  with  many  months' 
support  of  him  before  his  trial.  Thus,  at  present,  what  punish- 
ment there  is  is  chiefly  punishment  before  trial.  At  first  all  are 
treated  with  equal  injustice,  afterwards  with  equal  leniency;  and 
the  press  is  wholly  useless  either  to  set  the  innocent  right  or  to 
warn  the  public  of  the  names  of  dangerous  characters. 


480  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  iv. 


CHAPTER  CXI.  —  THE  REMEDY  FOR  SUCH  DELAY. 

NOTHING  short  of  the  closing  of  all  small  jails,  frequent  jail- 
deliveries,  the  allowance  of  easy  bail  before  trial,  and  a 
thorough  reform  of  legal  procedure  so  as  to  insure  conviction  of 
manifest  guilt,  can  ever  enable  the  law  courts  of  this  land  worthily 
to  fulfil  their  twofold  function  of  clearing  the  innocent  and  reliev- 
ing society  of  the  guilty. 

Still,  despite  all  this,  crime  does  not  abound  in  Portugal,  —  cer- 
tainly not  crimes  of  violence  or  of  dishonesty,  although  there  is 
no  exposure  to  be  feared,  and  though  justice  is  slow  to  overtake 
the  guilty,  and  far  from  sure  to  overtake  them  at  all. 


PART  XL]  IN  ITALY,  481 


PART    ELEVENTH. 

ITALY. 

CHAPTER  CXII. — CLASSES  OF  PRISONS.  —  ADMINISTRATION. 


prison  system  of  Italy  embraces  the  following  classes 
JL  of  prisons  :  i.  Prisons  for  preliminary  detention  and  the 
punishment  of  minor  offences,  —  number  not  stated ,  average 
number  of  inmates  45,082.  2.  Penitentiaries,  with  several  sub- 
divisions, of  which  the  total  number  is  twenty,  with  an  average 
population  of  10,738.  3.  The  bagnios,  or  galleys,  number  twenty- 
one,  with  a  population  of  15,148.  4.  Correctional  prisons  for  ju- 
venile convicts,  four,  with  573  inmates.  5.  Agricultural  colonies, 
five.  6.  One  prison  for  invalids. 

The  supreme  authority  in  the  penal  administration  of  Italy  is 
the  minister  of  the  interior.  Under  him  in  immediate  charge  is 
the  director-general  of  prisons,  with  several  inspectors-general. 

The  minister  of  the  interior  appoints  the  directors  and  superior 
officers  of  the  prisons ;  the  subaltern  officers  are  appointed  by  the 
provincial  authorities.  The  superior  officers,  after  a  certain  period 
of  trial,  are  appointed  for  life  ;  the  subalterns  are  liable  to  dis- 
missal, yet,  after  some  years  of  blameless  conduct,  they  also  are 
appointed  for  life. 


CHAPTER  CXIII.  —  AIM  OF  THE  DISCIPLINE. 

THE  end  aimed  at  in  the  administration  of  penitentiary  disci- 
pline in  Italy  is  so  to  direct  punishment  that,  without  allow- 
ing it  to  lose  its  necessary  characteristic  of  deterrence,  it  shall 
also  possess  the  other  equally  essential  requisite  of  reforming  the 
delinquent.  Nothing  therefore  is  omitted  to  obtain  this  desirable 
end,  while  on  the  one  hand  it  is  instilled  into  the  mind  of  the 
prisoner  that  he  will  be  enabled,  by  good  conduct,  to  ameliorate 
his  condition  ;  on  the  other  it  is  sought  to  raise  his  sense  of  manly 
dignity  that  he  may  not  become  a  hypocrite.  In  the  penitentia- 
ries those  who  distinguish  themselves  by  their  good  conduct  enjoy 

31 


482  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BooK  iv. 

special   advantages,  —  such   as   being   intrusted   with   domestic 
work,  being  recommended  to  mercy,  etc. 

In  the  bagnios  there  has  been  established  a  system  of  progres- 
sive classification  under  which  prisoners,  like  the  mercury  in  a 
thermometer,  ascend  and  descend  according  to  their  deserts. 
Each  class  has  its  distinctive  badge  and  special  privileges.  Those 
prisoners  who  have  distinguished  themselves  by  good  conduct  in 
the  penitentiaries,  and  have  worked  out  at  least  one-half  their 
term,  are  removed  to  the  agricultural  colonies  of  Pianosa  and 
Gorgona. 


CHAPTER  CXIV.  —  RELIGION.  —  SCHOOLS.  —  LIBRARIES. 

EVERY  prison,  even  for  persons  awaiting  trial,  has  a  priest 
who  is  its  titular  chaplain.  As  in  Italy  the  great  mass  of 
the  citizens  are  Catholic,  there  are  no  ministers  of  other  creeds 
attached  to  the  prisons.  Whoever  belongs  to  a  different  religious 
communion  is  permitted  to  confer  with  a  minister  of  his  own 
creed  on  application  to  the  director,  who  cannot  refuse  to  admit 
the  individual  named  by  the  prisoner. 

Besides  the  spiritual  service  the  chaplain  gives  lectures  to,  or 
holds  moral  conferences  with,  the  prisoners ;  visits  them  when 
sick;  administers  the  consolations  of  religion  to  the  dying  ;  deliv- 
ers a  sermon  to  them  once  a  week  in  the  chapel  ;  visits  in  their 
cells  newly-arrived  prisoners  and  those  about  to  be  discharged  ; 
admonishes  and  comforts  such  as  are  confined  in  punishment- 
cells;  and  often  conducts  the  prison  school,  or  aids  the  master 
in  doing  it. 

The  Italian  Government  attaches  great  importance  to  a  service 
such  as  that  rendered  by  the  chaplains  ;  to  such  an  extent  is  this 
true,  that  in  order  to  secure  it  the  Government  has  not  hesitated 
sensibly  to  increase  the  budget  of  the  prisons. 

In  each  penitentiary  there  exists  a  school  to  which  is  admitted 
the  largest  possible  number  of  prisoners,  the  youngest  and  best 
conducted  having  the  preference.  In  the  houses  of  detention  and 
the  reformatories  the  school  takes  a  wide  range,  as  it  admits  all 
the  inmates  indiscriminately ;  and  in  these  are  specially  taught 
drawing,  vocal  and  instrumental  music,  agriculture,  some  foreign 
language,  etc.,  and  this  with  admirable  results.  Every  prison  has 
a  small  library  belonging  to  it,  the  formation  of  which  specially 
occupies  the  attention  of  the  central  direction.  As  soon  as  the 
prisoners  acquire  the  ability  to  read  they  show  a  great  inclination 
to  it ;  but  almost  invariably  they  seek  in  books  some  diversion 
from  their  monotonous  life,  or  food  for  the  imagination,  rather 


PART  xi.]  TAr  ITALY.  483 

than  a  fund  of  solid  knowledge  ;  consequently  few  of  the  books 
read  by  them  are  of  a  didactic  character,  but  the  greater  part  are 
tales  or  romances,  —  of  course  always  of  an  unimpeachable  moral 
tendency. 


CHAPTER  CXV.  —  PRISON  LABOR. 

IN  the  penitentiary  system  of  Italy  there  is  no  labor  bearing  an 
exclusively  penal  character.  It  is  sought  to  give  to  the  indus- 
trial education  of  the  prisoners  the  turn  which  seems  best  suited 
to  them;  and  to  impart  the  trade  most  easily  mastered.  Labor  has 
no  other  aim  in  the  Italian  prisons  than  to  overcome  the  natural 
propensity  to  idleness  in  the  criminal,  to  accustom  him  to  a  life  of 
activity  and  hardship,  and  to  give  him  the  means  of  obtaining  an 
honorable  livelihood. 

The  industrial  arts  mostly  practised  in  the  penitentiaries  are 
those  of  the  shoemaker,  carpenter,  blacksmith,  and  weaver  ;  and 
in  the  bagnios  the  prisoners  are  made  agriculturists,  laborers  in 
the  salt-deposits,  and  workers  in  cotton,  hemp,  etc.  Until  1868 
the  industries  of  the  prisons  were  managed  by  the  administration. 
Since  that  time,  as  an  experiment,  the  contract-system  has  been 
introduced  into  eleven  prisons.  The  question,  Which  is  the  best 
of  these  two  systems  ?  is  so  complicated  and  difficult  that  the 
administration  is  unwilling  to  pronounce  an  opinion  till  it  has 
made  further  trial  of  each. 


CHAPTER  CXVI.  —  REFORMATORY  RESULTS  —  CLASSES 
AND  CAUSES  OF  CRIME. 

THE  administration  of  the  Italian  prisons  finds  it  a  difficult 
task  to  decide  the  question  whether  its  penitentiary  system 
answers  the  end  of  reforming  the  criminal,  and  whether  on  dis- 
charge the  prisoner  is  morally  better  or  worse.  The  relapses  into 
crime  scarcely  exceed  18  per  cent  on  the  whole  body  of  criminals  ; 
but  in  1871,  of  the  criminals  sentenced  to  an  imprisonment  of 
more  than  a  year,  28  per  cent  were  recidivists.  Concerning  the 
number  of  reconvictions,  a  most  important  fact  may  be  gathered 
from  the  registered  statistics  of  the  administration  relative  to  the 
time  elapsing  between  the  discharge  and  the  committal  of  fresh 
crime.  From  these  it  is  found  that  of  recidivists  sentenced  to 


484  STATE   OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  iv. 

the  bagnios,  27  per  cent  relapse  within  the  first  year,  16  per  cent 
within  the  first  two  years,  and  57  per  cent  beyond  that  space  of 
time.  The  reconvictions  of  those  sentenced  to  the  penitentiaries 
are  37  per  cent  within  the  first  year,  19  per  cent  within  two  years, 
and  44  per  cent  beyond  that  lapse  of  time  ;  and  among  the  fe- 
males 46  per  cent  within  the  first  year,  16  per  cent  within  two 
years,  and  38  per  cent  beyond  that  time. 

As  regards  the  classes  of  crimes,  the  inmates  of  Italian  pris- 
ons in  1871  were  in  the  following  proportions  :  For  crimes 
against  the  person,  in  the  bagnios,  all  males,  46  per  cent ;  in  the 
penitentiaries,  males,  35  per  cent;  females,  28  per  cent.  Crimes 
against  property,  in  the  bagnios,  30  per  cent  ;  in  the  peniten- 
tiaries, males,  47  per  cent  ;  females,  53  per  cent.  The  chief 
causes  of  crime,  accordingly,  are  stated  to  be  cupidity,  revenge, 
anger,  and  illicit  passion. 


CHAPTER  CXVIL— CHILD-SAVING  WORK. 

THE  number  of  reformatories  in  Italy  is  thirty-three,  of  which 
twenty-two  are  for  boys  and  nine  for  girls.  They  are  rather 
of  an  educative  than  punitive  nature.  They  are  entirely  private 
in  their  character,  having  been  instituted  either  by  individual  be- 
nevolence or  by  charitable  associations.  Government  makes  use 
of  them  for  those  juveniles  who  fall  under  the  censure  of  police- 
law  for  idleness  or  vagrancy  ;  also,  for  the  detention  of  those 
who  are  placed  in  them  for  correction  by  paternal  authority.  Of 
these  establishments  twenty-five  are  industrial  and  six  agricultu- 
ral. Their  discipline  not  being  as  severe  as  that  in  the  houses  of 
custody,  Government  makes  use  of  them  also  as  a  reward,  gather- 
ing into. them  those  minors  who,  having  been  overtaken  by  penal 
law,  have  shown  an  exemplary  behavior. 

The  average  number  of  juveniles  sheltered  in  the  reformatories 
in  1870  was  2,268,  of  whom  1,895  were  boys  and  373  girls.  The 
total  number  on  the  3ist  December  of  the  same  year  was  2,465, 
of  whom  2,066  were  boys  and  399  girls,  thus  classified  :  For  idle- 
ness and  vagrancy,  boys,  1,931,  —  girls,  399;  paternal  discipline, 
boys,  135,  —  girls,  o.  Parents  are  under  no  obligation  to  provide 
for  the  maintenance  of  a  child  who  is  confined  in  a  reformatory 
for  idleness  or  vagrancy  ;  but  when  a  father  places  him  in  one  of 
these  establishments  for  correction,  the  State  charges  him  with 
twenty  cents  per  day.  He  is,  however,  exonerated  in  part  or  en- 
tirely from  his  charge,  if  he  can  prove  himself  indigent. 


PART  XL]  IN  ITALY.  485 


CHAPTER  CXVIII.  —  AGRICULTURAL  PENITENTIARY 
COLONIES. 

THE  information  thus  far  given  has  been  drawn  from  the  re- 
port to  the  London  Congress.  The  main  object  of  Signer 
Beltrani's  communication  in  1874  was  to  note  the  progress  real- 
ized subsequently  to  that  gathering  ;  and  that  more  particularly 
as  regards  the  agricultural  penitentiary  colonies.  Two  had  already 
been  established,  on  as  many  islands  in  the  Tuscan  Archipelago, 
—  Pianosa  and  Gorgona.  To  them  prisoners,  who  have  served  out 
one  half  of  their  terms  of  sentence,  are  eligible  to  be  removed  from 
any  and  all  of  the  other  prisons  of  the  kingdom  as  a  reward  for 
industry  and  good  conduct.  These  colonies  constitute,  to  all  in- 
tents and  purposes,  the  intermediate  prison  of  the  Crofton  system 
in  its  best  form.  The  labor,  beyond  that  pertaining  to  the  estab- 
lishments, is  wholly  agricultural,  being  devoted  to  the  culture  of 
the  vine,  the  olive,  and  the  cereal  grains.  Agriculture  is  taught 
to  the  prisoners  scientifically  as  well  as  practically.  The  transfer 
from  the  other  penitentiary  establishments  is  on  the  ground  of 
merit  and  by  way  of  reward.  It  is  intended  as  a  stimulus  to  order, 
industry,  and  obedience,  an  end  which  it  is  found  to  promote  very 
effectively.  The  influence  upon  the  discipline  of  the  prisons  from 
which  the  prisoners  are  drafted  to  the  agricultural  colonies  is  ex- 
cellent ;  nor  is  that  of  the  useful  and  healthful  labors  on  which 
they  are  employed  in  the  colonies  less  so  upon  the  prisoners  them- 
selves. Thus  occupied,  their  minds  are  turned  largely  from  evil 
thoughts,  and  from  those  wicked  machinations  which  idleness  so 
often  prompts.  They  are  brought,  day  by  day,  to  look  forward 
to  a  better  future,  and,  through  habit  and  the  stimulus  of  gain 
(for  they  are  allowed  a  liberal  share  in  the  product  of  their  toil), 
they  naturally  acquire  a  love  of  labor.  Physically  they  cannot 
but  improve,  for  they  have  constant  exercise  in  the  open  air.  Se- 
lected from  the  mass  of  convicts  for  their  good  conduct  and  dili- 
gence in  work,  and  having  undergone  at  least  one  half  of  their 
appointed  punishment,  they  are  so  uniformly  well-behaved  that 
it  is  seldom  any  case  of  disorder  occurs,  and  the  discipline  is 
reported  as  truly  admirable. 


486  STATE   OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  iv. 


CHAPTER  CXIX.  —  THREE  PENAL  CODES  PROPOSED.  — 
ADDITIONAL  AGRICULTURAL  COLONIES. 


several  penal  codes  have,  since  the  Congress  of  Lon- 
don,  been  studied,  discussed,  and  modified  ;  but  as  yet  it 
has  not  been  possible  to  establish  in  Italy  one  uniform  code  in 
place  of  the  two  actually  existing,  —  the  Tuscan  and  the  Alber- 
tine.  The  latest  of  these  was  that  proposed  by  Mancini,  minis- 
ter of  the  interior,  in  1876.  His  draft  proposed  the  abolition  of 
the  death-penalty  and  the  introduction  of  a  graded  penal  system, 
with  three  stages  ;  namely,  imprisonment  on  the  Auburn  plan, 
the  agricultural  colony,  and  conditional  liberation.  To  begin  the 
reform,  Minister  Mancini  separated  conditional  liberation  from 
the  code,  and  procured  its  enactment  as  one  of  the  laws  of  the 
realm. 

The  system  of  agricultural  penitentiary  colonies  has  been  en- 
larged by  adding  to  Pianosa  and  Gorgona,  already  existing  and 
intended  for  prisoners  sentenced  to  the  punishment  of  reclusion, 
relegation,  and  simple  imprisonment,  two  others  to  the  same  end, 
—  Montecristo  and  Capraia.  There  has  also  been  created  a  fifth 
colony  for  prisoners  sentenced  to  the  galleys  (travaux  forces),  the 
severest  punishment  below  that  of  death,  in  Castiadas  (a  province 
of  Cagliari).  The  labors  of  the  convicts  at  Castiadas  —  the  culti- 
vation of  the  fields,  drainage,  the  building  of  houses,  the  opening 
of  new  roads  etc.  —  will,  it  is  hoped,  succeed  in  restoring  Sardinia 
to  that  high  state  of  prosperity  which  distinguished  it  in.  ancient 
times,  and  which  it  owed  chiefly  to  the  excellence  of  its  agri- 
culture. 


CHAPTER  CXX.  —  IMPROVEMENTS  RECENTLY 
INTRODUCED. 

THE  ameliorations  introduced  into  the  actual  penitentiary  sys- 
tem embrace  the  buildings,  the  dietary  and  earnings  of  the 
prisoners,  the  discipline,  the  personnel,  the  administration,  etc. 

The  municipalities  have  been  stirred  up  to  construct  the  new 
or  alter  the  old  detention  prisons  in  such  manner  as  to  adapt  them 
to  the  cellular  system  established  by  law  for  all  prisons  of  that 
class. 

The  dietary  in  the  penitentiaries  has  been  modified  by  abolish- 
ing the  different  sorts  of  rations  (legal,  industrial,  compensatory), 
and  by  establishing  a  uniform  ration  for  all,  with  permission  to 


PART  XL]  IN  ITALY.  487 

the  prisoners  to  expend  a  portion  of  their  earnings  in  the  purchase 
of  additional  comforts.  This  reform  has  in  view  the  incitement 
of  the  convicts  to  increased  diligence  by  showing  them  that  the 
harder  they  work  the  greater  will  be  their  ability  to  procure  an 
improved  diet. 

The  banishments  (bandi1)  and  many  other  regulations  which 
governed  the  discipline  and  administration  of  the  bagnios  or 
galleys  have  been  abolished.  A  common  system  of  book-keeping 
has  been  introduced  into  all  the  prisons.  The  right  to  inflict 
blows  and  other  cruel  punishments  on  the  prisoners  in  the  galleys 
has  been  abolished.  By  a  decree  of  the  4th  February,  1877,  a 
great  decentralization  of  the  prison  administration  has  been  ef- 
fected, whereby  many  functions  have  been  taken  away  from  the 
central  administration  and  passed  over  to  the  municipalities.  Let 
it  be  noted,  in  passing,  as  a  little  curious  that  decentralization  is 
counted  an  amelioration  in  Italy,  whereas  in  England  increased 
centralization  is  regarded  in  the  same  light. 

More  of  a  military  character  has  been  given  to  the  administra- 
tion and  Service  of  the  prisons,  which  I  fear  will  turn  out  to  be 
a  reform  in  the  wrong  direction. 

A  school  for  the  professional  education  of  prison  keepers  has 
been  established  at  Rome.  This  is  a  reform  having  grand  possi- 
bilities and  a  vast  reach,  of  which  more  hereafter. 

The  most  effective  agency  for  securing  good  conduct  in  the 
prison  is  conditional  liberation,  secured  by  the  Act  of  the  I2th 
^.pril,  1877.  The  diffusion  and  enlargement  of  the  means  of  in- 
struction in  the  prisons  certainly  ought  to  be  counted  among  the 
agencies  calculated  to  strengthen  the  principle  of  obedience  in 
the  prisoners.  Among  these  are  especially  noteworthy  the  estab- 
lishment of  prison  schools  and  libraries  by  private,  municipal,  and 
Government  generosity.  The  school  and  library  of  Martelli  in 
the  prison  of  Novara  and  the  library  in  the  detention  prison  at 
Palermo  are  among  the  most  splendid  of  those  examples  of  pri- 
vate beneficence. 

The  Government  has  earnestly  sought  to  render  the  scholastic 
instruction  in  the  prisons  more  efficacious.  The  inspectors  of 
public  instruction  have  been  charged  with  the  inspection  and 
supervision  of  the  prison  schools.  The  subjects  of  instruction 
are  not  restricted  to  reading,  writing,  and  cyphering,  but  embrace 
also  the  principles  of  book-keeping,  composition,  analysis  of  sen- 
tences, the  rights  and  duties  of  citizens,  and  the  general  organ- 
ization of  the  State. 

1  I  am  unable  to  explain  this  term,  not  understanding  it  myself. 


STATE   OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BooK  iv. 


CHAPTER  CXXI.  —  PUBLIC  INTEREST  IN  PRISON  REFORM. 

IN  Italy  not  a  few  of  the  members  of  parliament  take  a  pro- 
found interest  in  the  penitentiary  question,  and  give  to  it  a 
broad,  enlightened,  and  earnest  study.  Able  reports  are  often 
submitted,  and  able  discussions  had  in  both  Chambers  on  all  the 
different  phases  of  the  subject,  —  such  as  transportation,  condi- 
tional liberation,  criminal  lunacy,  etc.  The  question  of  the  pre- 
vention and  repression  of  crime  is  there  regarded  much  more  as 
a  question  of  statesmanship  than  of  philanthropy.  The  two  na- 
tional societies  which  make  a  study  of  insanity  and  hygiene  give 
large  space  to  the  penitentiary  problem.  The  same  is  true  of 
Italian  newspapers,  which  often,  especially  when  an  interpellation 
is  made  in  parliament,  insert  notes,  projects,  and  studies  on  the 
subject  of  the  interpellation.  Scientific  journalism  also  devotes 
much  space  and  talent  to  the  study  and  exposition  of  this  question. 


CHAPTER  CXXII. — ADVANCE  IN  CHILD-SAVING  WORK. 

THAT  Italy  is  advancing  in  reformatory  work  is  proved  by 
the  introduction  of  the  family  system  into  the  agricultural 
colony  of  Scansano,  and  the  excellent  results  it  appears  to  be 
yielding.  In  the  reformatory  of  Genoa  there  has  been  formed  a 
section  of  cabin  boys  (mozzt),  and  the  minister  of  marine  has  au- 
thorized the  enrolment  of  the  reformed  juveniles  among  the  cabin 
boys  of  the  royal  navy  after  a  year's  apprenticeship  in  the  school 
of  naval  implements  and  manoeuvres  established  in  the  institu- 
tion. Finally,  the  four  juvenile  prisons  have  been  reorganized 
upon  bases  greatly  more  educational  by  a  regulation  of  Nov. 
27,  1877.  The  number  of  schoolmasters  has  been  increased,  lay 
instruction  introduced,  a  head-master  appointed,  who  is  a  sort 
of  family  father  charged  with  the  supervision  of  the  instruction  — 
scholastic,  industrial,  and  moral  • —  of  the  youths  upon  a  graded 
system,  and  with  a  registration,  in  the  presence  of  the  inmates,  of 
merits  and  demerits.  The  regulation  also  prescribes  the  distri- 
bution, in  different  houses,  of  those  committed  by  the  courts  and 
those  received  by  way  of  paternal  correction,  the  older  and  the 
younger,  etc. 


PART  XL]  IN  ITALY.  489 


CHAPTER  CXXIII.  —  WORK  OF  PATRONAGE  EXTENDED. — 
ACTIVITY  OF  THE  PRESS. 

PRIOR  to  the  Congress  of  London,  there  was  a  patronage 
society  for  liberated  prisoners  in  the  Tuscan  provinces,  with 
its  principal  seat  at  Florence,  and  branches  in  many  of  the  cities 
and  villages  of  Tuscany.  Also  one  in  each  of  the  cities  of  Bres- 
cia, Milan,  and  Turin  ;  but  these  were  for  juveniles  only.  What 
follows  has  been  done  since  the  London  Congress.  Minister  Ni- 
cotero,  by  circulars  of  the  I5th  May,  1876,  and  I3th  January,  1877, 
urged  the  governors  of  provinces  to  use  their  influence  for  the 
creation  of  patronage  societies  in  their  several  jurisdictions.  The 
pre-existent  society  of  Turin  has  declared  that  it  would  extend  its 
efforts  to  adult  prisoners  as  well  as  to  minors.  New  societies 
have  been  organized  in  the  provinces  of  Bellano,  Bergamo,  Como, 
Macerata,  Mantova,  Parma,  Salerno,  Trapani,  Vicenza,  Cuneo, 
Genoa,  Naples,  and  Rome  (the  last  two  for  minors  only).  In  six- 
teen other  provinces  committees  of  patronage  have  been  consti- 
tuted, many  of  which  have  collected  lists  of  adherents,  framed 
codes  of  regulations,  etc.  The  movement  still  continues,  and 
there  is  reason  to  hope  that  it  will  not  soon  be  arrested.  It  is 
understood  that  all  the  old  societies  still  exist,  and  give  token 
of  growing  activity  and  usefulness.  All  this  magnificent  work, 
be  it  noted,  has  been  accomplished  within  the  space  of  two 
years. 

Numerous  works,  from  the  thick  octavo  to  the  pamphlet,  have 
been  published  in  Italy  on  all  the  phases  of  the  penitentiary  ques- 
tion within  the  last  half-dozen  years,  and  have  been  well  received 
and  widely  read  by  the  Italian  public.  The  largest  as  well  as  the 
best  of  these  —  L  Uomo  Delinquente  (the  criminal)  —  has  already 
gone  through  two  editions. 


CHAPTER  CXXIV.  —  PROFESSIONAL  TRAINING  SCHOOL  FOR 
PRISON  OFFICERS. 

IN  a  preceding  paragraph  I  promised  a  word  or  two  further  on 
the  normal  school,  —  college  one  might  call  it,  —  for  the  pro- 
fessional education  of  prison  officers,  at  Rome.  It  has  accommo- 
dations for  between  two  hundred  and  three  hundred  inmates. 
The  majority  of  these,  though  not  all,  are  selected  from  the  Italian 
army.  They  are  young  men  taken  from  the  elite  of  that  body. 
The  greater  part  of  them  are  skilled  as  agriculturists,  shoemakers, 


4QO  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  iv. 

tailors,  carpenters,  or  other  handicraft  workers.  These  are  care- 
fully instructed  in  all  matters  needful  to  render  them  efficient  offi- 
cers in  the  various  establishments  for  criminals  and  vagrants  ;  but 
they  are  especially  trained  with  reference  to  the  wants  of  the  agri- 
cultural penitentiary  colonies  before  mentioned.  Two  thousand  of 
these  young  men  have  already  gone  out  from  this  institution,  and 
their  influence  has  made  itself  felt  as  a  beneficent  and  elevating 
power  in  the  administration  of  the  prisons  of  the  Italian  penin- 
sula. It  was  with  unspeakable  delight  that  I  recently  paid  a  visit 
to  this  establishment,  which  maybe  pronounced,  in  all  respects,  a 
model  institution  of  its  class.  It  is  a  subject  of  gratulation  that 
the  next  prison  congress  is,  on  the  invitation  of  the  Italian  Govern- 
ment, to  be  held  at  Rome,  for  the  agricultural  colonies  and  the 
normal  school  for  prison  officers  are  worth  a  pilgrimage  to  the 
Eternal  City  from  the  most  distant  regions  of  the  globe.  But 
Italy  not  only  wishes  the  next  congress  to  meet  in  her  capital, 
she  desires  also  that  its  date  be  made  contemporaneous  with  the 
Exposition  Universelle,  to  which  she  proposes  to  invite  all  nations 
in  1883.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  her  desire  in  that  regard -also 
will  be  respected  ;  for  an  actual  inspection  by  the  congress  of  the 
remarkable  agency  which  she  has  established  for  supplying  her- 
self with  a  body  of  skilled  prison  officers  could  not  fail  to  give  the 
strongest  possible  impulse  to  reform  in  that  direction  throughout 
the  world.  An  incidental  advantage,  superadded  to  the  direct 
and  designed  benefit,  would  result  from  such  institutions  in  this, 
—  that  their  tendency  would  be  to  give  a  character  of  stability 
to  the  penitentiary  administration  in  countries  where  it  is  now 


wanting. 


PART  xn.]  IN  DENMARK.  49 1 


PART   TWELFTH. 

SCANDINAVIAN      COUNTRIES. 

CHAPTER  CXXV.  —  DENMARK.  —  HISTORICAL  SKETCH 
OF  THE  PRISON  QUESTION. 

IN  the  year  1875  I  spent  a  week  in  visiting  and  inspecting  the 
penal  establishments  of  Denmark,  under  the  guidance  of 
Mr.  Fr.  Bruun,  director-general  of  prisons  for  that  kingdom. 
Mr.  Bruun  is  a  gentleman  of  great  ability,  broad  views,  large  cul- 
ture, and  possessing  all  those  high  moral  qualities  so  necessary 
to  one  occupying  such  a  position.  What  I  shall  have  to  say  of 
the  prisons  of  this  country  will  therefore  be  the  result  of  personal 
observation,  and  of  conversations  with  the  director-general  and 
with  other  prison  officials  of  the  kingdom. 

Prison  reform  has  made  marked  progress  in  Denmark  both 
before  and  since  the  Congress  of  London.  Indeed,  few  countries 
have  to-day  a  more  thoroughly  organized  or  more  efficiently 
worked  penitentiary  system.  Until  near  the  close  of  the  last 
century  the  state  of  the  Danish  prisons  was  bad  to  an  extreme. 
Capital  punishments,  maiming,  and  torture  abounded.  These 
however,  as  civilization  advanced,  had  been  replaced  to  a  consider- 
able extent  by  imprisonment.  This,  when  the  crimes  were  great 
and  the  malefactors  men,  was  accompanied  by  hard  labor  in  the 
fortresses  or  on  the  fleet,  where  the  prisoners,  with  fetters  on 
their  limbs,  worked  like  cattle  during  the  day,  and  at  night  were 
huddled  together  in  common  dormitories,  without  either  light  or 
guard.  It  is  not  necessary  to  describe  the  pandemoniums  which 
resulted.  The  common  jails  were  as  bad  as  the  higher  prisons, — 
as  bad  in  every  sense  as  the  English  prisons  in  the  last  century, 
of  which  Howard  has  given  such  harrowing  descriptions. 

Near  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century  things  had  come  to 
such  a  pass  that  the  Government  was  forced  to  give  serious 
attention  to  the  prison  problem.  In  1793  a  law  was  enacted  con- 
taining several  humane  and  just  regulations  ;  and  a  private  society 
was  formed  to  look  after  the  welfare,  as  well  spiritually  as  bodily, 
of  the  prisoners,  —  an  organization  quite  in  the  spirit  of  the  noble 
English  reformer,  who  began  his  work  just  twenty  years  before, 
and  had  already  closed  it,  a  martyr  to.  his  zeal,  in  the  great  empire 
of  the  North. 


492  STATE   OF  PRISONS,   ETC.  [BooK  IV. 

But  a  dark  night  soon  afterwards  settled  down  upon  Denmark, 
when  in  1801  England  made  her  memorable  attack  —  as  unex- 
pected as  a  clap  of  thunder  in  a  clear  sky  —  on  Copenhagen, 
which  resulted  in  a  war  that  lasted  thirteen  years.  During  the 
unequal  struggle  Denmark  saw  her  soil  desolated,  her  commerce 
destroyed,  her  strength  exhausted,  and  her  wealth  and  prosperity 
utterly  annihilated. 

Peace  was  concluded  in  1814,  but  a  generation  was  required 
for  the  country  to  recover  from  its  exhaustion.  For  more  than 
thirty  years  the  prison  question  had  to  be  put  aside ;  but  at  length 
the  estates  of  the  realm  entreated  the  Government  to  take  that 
question  anew  into  consideration.  Pursuant  to  their  prayer  a 
commission  was  appointed  in  1840  to  study  the  situation.  In 
accordance  with  its  recommendation,  the  cellular  system  was 
adopted  for  prisoners  awaiting  trial  and  persons  sentenced  for 
short  terms,  and  the  associated  system  for  those  condemned  to 
long  imprisonments. 


CHAPTER  CXXVI.  —  DENMARK  '(continued).  —  EARNEST 
WORK  DONE  SINCE  1840. 

FROM  that  time  forward  earnest  work  has  been  done  in  Den- 
mark for  prison  reform.  Even  the  two  wars  waged  by  the 
Danes  for  their  independence  against  the  Germans  —  one  in 
1848-52  and  the  other  in  1864-65  —  were  not  permitted  to  stop 
or  even  essentially  to  retard  this  work.  Of  its  greatness  some 
idea  may  be  formed  when  it  is  stated  that,  within  a  period  of 
twenty-five  years  from  the  commencement  of  the  reform,  a  sum 
equal  to  about  two  million  dollars  of  our  money  had  been  expended 
in  constructing  new  penitentiary  establishments,  as  well  jails  as 
higher  prisons,  —  an  amount  of  money  that  must  be  allowed  to 
be  not  simply  considerable,  but  extraordinary,  for  a  country  that 
does  not  contain  two  millions  of  inhabitants. 


CHAPTER  CXXXVII.— DENMARK  (continued).  —  PATRONAGE 

WELL-ORGANIZED    AND    EFFECTIVE. 

PATRONAGE  or  aid  societies  have  been  established  at  the 
seat  of  each  of  the  central  or  State-prisons.     The  society 
already  referred  to  as  having  been  organized  at  the  close  of  the 
last  century  had  perished  during  the  long  war,  and  no  record  of 


PART  xn.j  IN  DENMARK.  493 

its  work  has  survived.  A  new  prisoners'-aid  society  was  formed  in 
1841  in  Copenhagen,  through  the  exertion  of  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Fry, 
the  eminent  English  philanthropist  and  prison  reformer.  Its 
labors  were  confined  to  Copenhagen.  Later,  in  1859,  similar 
associations  were  organized  at  Viborg,  Horsens,  and  Vridslose- 
lille,  where  the  other  three  great  prisons  were  found.  Some  of 
the  functionaries  of  the  prisons  are  always  placed  on  the  adminis- 
trations of  these  societies,  the  additional  members  being  generally 
selected  from  the  citizens  who  carry  on  an  extended  business  as 
manufacturers,  merchants,  artisans,  farmers,  and  the  like,  because 
they  have  it  in  their  power  to  employ  a  large  number  of  prisoners 
as  workmen.  Towards  the  end  of  each  month  the  administration 
by  its  officers  appears  in  the  prison,  to  see  the  prisoners  who  are 
to  be  set  at  liberty  the  ensuing  month.  Their  behavior,  capacity, 
and  wishes  are  inquired  into,  and  an  understanding  is  had  as  to 
such  help  to  be  extended  to  each  as  may  seem  most  fit  according 
to  the  circumstances.  Not  all  prisoners  are  aided,  but  chiefly 
those  who  on  account  of  their  diligence  and  good  conduct  are 
recommended  by  the  director.  What,  next  to  behavior,  is  most 
taken  into  account  is  their  age,  their  needs,  and  their  early  life. 
The  younger  are  especially  helped  by  getting  them  into  service  ; 
the  older,  by  money  ;  the  artisans,  by  tools.  On  the  greater  part 
the  help  is  bestowed  as  a  gift,  but  on  others  as  a  loan ;  and  some 
are  only  promised  help  on  condition  that  they  first  show  a  dispo- 
sition to  help  themselves.  In  the  country  at  different  points  the 
societies  have  agents  to  whose  care  and  watch  they  confide  their 
wards.  For  a  number  of  years  the  State  has  granted  an  annual 
subsidy  to  these  associations ;  an  increasing  number  of  munici- 
palities do  the  same ;  and  the  citizens  generally  manifest  a  grow- 
ing sympathy  and  willingness  to  contribute.  Several  legacies 
have  been  bestowed  upon  these  societies,  the  largest  of  which  is 
five  thousand  five  hundred  dollars.  The  aid  societies  may  there- 
fore be  regarded  as  well-organized  and  efficient.  The  Government 
and  the  citizens  willingly  provide  them  with  all  the  funds  they 
need. 


CHAPTER  CXXVIII.  —  DENMARK  (continued}. —  PROGRESSIVE 
SYSTEM  ADOPTED  IN  ITS  ENTIRETY. 

FROM  the  above  statement  it  appears  that  the  prison  system 
of  Denmark  was  in  an  advanced  state  at  the  convocation  of 
the  London  Congress  ;  but  it  has  taken  a  new  start,  and  even  a 
new  departure,  since  then.     The  first  act  of  the  Danish  Govern- 
ment, after  the  return  and  report  of  its  commissioner,  so  far  as 


494  STATE   OF  PRISONS,   ETC.  [BOOK  iv. 

the  prison  administration  is  concerned,  was  to  issue  an  order 
provisionally  that  the  prisons  of  the  realm  be  conducted  on  the 
principles  announced  by  the  congress.  An  Act  has  since  been 
passed  establishing  the  progressive  system  of  prison  treatment 
absolutely  and  in  its  entirety. 

Before  I  proceed  to  give  the  provisions  of  the  law  referred  to 
in  the  last  section,  a  short  preliminary  statement  will  be  necessary 
concerning  the  prisons  and  sentences  employed  in  Denmark. 

The  first  classification  of  prisons  is  into  two  general  divisions  : 
I.  Common  jails,  of  which  there  are  ninety-three,  appropriated 
to  the  safe-keeping  of  prisoners  awaiting  trial  and  to  the  treat- 
ment of  misdemeanants  sentenced  to  terms  of  imprisonment  not 
exceeding  two  years.  2.  Felon  prisoners,  of  which  there  is  a 
twofold  subdivision  into  cellular  and  associated,  —  the  former  for 
convicts  condemned  to  terms  ranging  from  eight  months  to  six 
years,  though  with  an  average  detention  of  little  if  any  more  than 
one  year,  and  the  latter  to  terms  ranging  from  two  to  sixteen 
years,  or  for  life.  The  prison  at  Viborg  having  been  given  up 
as  no  longer  necessary,  there  remain  two  cellular  and  two  as- 
sociated prisons, -r- one  of  each  class  for  each  of  the  two  sexes  ; 
only  the  two  prisons  for  women  (cellular  and  associated)  are  in 
the  same  building  at  Copenhagen.  The  cellular  prison  for  men 
is  at  Vridsloselille,  and  the  associated  male  prison  at  Horsens. 

With  this  explanation  I  am  prepared  for  another.  The  new 
penitentiary  law  creating  the  progressive  system  was  passed  in 
April,  1873,  and  went  into  effect  in  June  of  the  same  year.  The 
encouragements  to  industry  and  good  conduct  which  it  holds  out 
to  the  prisoners,  —  the  means  whereby  it  proposes  to  educate 
their  will,  to  implant  in  their  souls  good  principles,  and  to  train 
them  to  beneficial  habits, —  may  be  best  set  forth  by  the  two  fol- 
lowing tables,  the  first  of  which  shows  the  system  as  it  is  applied 
in  the  associated  prisons,  and  the  second  as  applied  in  those  on 
the  cellular  plan. 

It  appears  from  these  tables  that  the  whole  term  of  sentence  is 
divided  into  seven  parts,  the  periods  under  the  heading  "  initial 
stage  "  and  "  first  class  "  being  identical ;  and  that  prisoners  sen- 
tenced to  the  shorter  terms  do  not  pass  through  all  the  stages,  but 
overtake  their  release  at  different  points  in  their  progress.  The 
system  of  progression  established  by  this  law,  it  seems  to  me, 
would  be  improved  (because  the  stimulus  thus  attained  would  be- 
come greater)  by  shortening  somewhat  the  stay  in  the  fourth  and 
fifth  classes  of  prisoners  sentenced  to  the  longer  terms,  and  so  en- 
abling a  greater  number  to  reach  the  intermediate  prison  and  the 
stage  of  provisional  liberation. 


PART  XH.] 


IN  DENMARK. 


495 


TABLE   I. 

Showing  the  minimum  time  in  which  prisoners  in  associated  prisons  are 
eligible  for  promotion. 


Duration  of  strict  imprisonment. 

Intermedi- 

Provisional 

Terms  of  sentence. 

Initial 
stage. 

ate  prison 
or  testing 
stage. 

liberation 
(ticket- 
of-leave). 

Class 

Class 

Class 

Class 

Class 

i 

2 

3 

4 

5 

Years. 

Months. 

M 

M 

M 

M 

jtf 

M 

M 

2 

3 

o 

6 

9 

6 

0 

O 

0 

3 

3 

o 

6 

9 

12 

6 

0 

0 

4 

3 

o 

6 

9 

12 

18 

0 

0 

1 

3 
3 

0 
0 

6 
6 

9 
9 

12 
12 

24 

24 

6 
18 

o 
o 

7 

3 

o 

6 

9 

12 

24 

18 

12 

8 

3 

0 

6 

9 

16 

24 

22 

16 

10 

3 

o 

6 

9 

18 

36 

24 

24 

12 

16 

3 
3 

o 

0 

6 
6 

9 
9 

24 
30 

36 
48 

30 
32 

36 
64 

TABLE   II. 

Showing  the  minimum  time  in  which  prisoners  in  the  cellular  prisons  are 
eligible  for  promotion. 


Duration  of  strict  imprisonment. 

Provisional 

liberation 

Terms  of  sentence. 

Initial 
stage. 

Class 

Class 

Class 

Class 

Class 

Intermedi- 
ate prison. 

(ticket- 
of-leave). 

1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

Years. 

Months. 

M 

M 

M 

jlf 

M 

M 

M 

% 

3 

0 

3 

2 

O 

O 

0 

0 

I 

3 

O 

3 

4 

2 

0 

O 

O 

iK 

3 

O 

3 

4 

8 

0 

0 

O 

2 

3 

o 

3 

4 

8 

6 

0 

0 

3 

3 

0 

3 

4 

8 

12 

6 

0 

4 

3 

0 

3 

6 

12 

12 

12 

o 

3 

o 

3 

6 

12 

18 

18 

o 

6 

3 

o 

3 

6 

18 

18 

24 

0 

During  my  sojourn  in  Denmark  I  visited  and  carefully  inspected 
the  two  female  prisons  under  the  same  roof  in  Copenhagen,  the 
cellular  prison  for  men  at  Vridsloselille,  and  the  associated  male 
prison  at  Horsens.  With  the  exception  of  the  older  portion  of 
the  female  prison  at  Copenhagen,  built  nearly  two  centuries  ago, 
they  are  admirable  in  all  respects.  But  what  most  won  my 
approval  was  the  spirit  of  kindness  and  sympathy,  the  desire  to 
win  back  the  prisoners  to  the  ways  of  honest  industry,  which 
were  everywhere  apparent.  Mr.  Bruun  seemed  to  have  succeeded 
in  breathing  his  own  spirit  of  Christian  love  and  good-will  into 
his  subordinates. 


496  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BooK  iv. 


CHAPTER  CXXIX.  —  DENMARK  (continued^)  —  REMARKABLE 

SUCCESS    OF    THE    SYSTEM. 

I  WAS  especially  anxious  to  learn  the  operation  and  effect  of 
the  new  system  of  classification  of  the  prisoners  established 
by  the  law  of  1873,  but  by  consent  of  the  Government  previously 
practised  for  some  ten  years  in  the  women's  prison  at  Copen- 
hagen. Mr.  Bruun  said  that  the  law  had  been  in  operation  for 
so  short  a  time  that  tangible  results  could  not  yet  be  attested  by 
statistics ;  but  that  the  best  fruits  had  been  realized  from  the  iso- 
lated and  imperfect  application  of  the  system  as  practised  for  ten 
years  in  the  prison  of  Copenhagen.  Relapses  had  been  diminished 
to  an  amazing  extent. 

Prior  to  its  introduction  they  had  been  from  thirty  to  thirty-five 
per  cent ;  but  at  present  not  more  than  ten  to  twelve  per  cent  of 
those  who  are  subjected  to  this  regime  are  returned  to  the  prison. 
I  was  further  assured  by  him,  as  also  by  Mr.  Moller,  director  of 
the  central  prison  at  Horsens,  that  the  new  law,  though  its  effects 
do  not  yet  appear  in  statistics,  has  not  failed  to  show  a  conspicu- 
ous power  for  good  in  the  improved  behavior  and  diligence  of 
prisoners.  In  the  men's  prison  at  Horsens  I  was  informed,  both 
by  the  director  and  chaplain,  that  scarcely  a  man  fails  to  make  his 
advance  from  class  to  class  within  the  minimum  time,  so  anxious 
are  they  to  get  the  increased  privileges  which  each  successive 
stage  offers  to  their  ambition.  In  the  other  prisons  the  effect 
does  not  appear  to  be  quite  so  marked ;  nevertheless  it  is  very 
great.  The  system  has  brought  a  life  and  vigor  into  public  pun- 
ishment hitherto  unknown, —  thereby  showing  that  men  are  still 
men  under  all  conditions,  and  that  they  are  actuated  and  con- 
trolled by  the  same  motives  inside  prison  walls  that  they  are  out- 
side of  them.  Under  the  new  system  the  prisoner  feels  that  he 
has  an  end  to  struggle  for.  He  feels  also  that  he  has  something 
to  lose ;  for  if  his  behavior  is  bad  he  is  returned  to  a  lower  class, 
and  if  he  commits  a  fault  he  must  remain  longer  in  the  class 
where  he  is.  An  increasing  measure  of  liberty,  in  which  the  will 
is  both  tested  and  strengthened,  is  gradually  accorded  to  him  as 
his  good  conduct  and  advancement  from  class  to  class  may  war- 
rant. 


PART  XIL]  IN  DENMARK.  497 


CHAPTER  CXXX.  —  DENMARK  (continued}.  —  FREQUENT 
VISITATION  OF  PRISONERS  IN  CELLS. 

IT  is  considered  of  great  importance  in  Denmark  to  secure  fre- 
quent visits  to  the  cell-prisoners.  For  that  purpose  the  follow- 
ing regulation  has  been  made  :  Every  Wednesday  the  director  of 
each  prison  holds  a  meeting  of  the  higher  officers  ;  namely,  the 
assistant  director  and  the  first  overseer,  who  have  charge  of  the 
discipline ;  the  chaplain,  who  has  the  pastoral  care  ;  the  medical 
officer,  who  has  the  sanitary  inspection  ;  the  book-keeper,  who  is 
in  charge  of  the  labor  ;  the  teachers,  who  give  lessons  to  the 
prisoners  ;  and  the  cashier,  who  has  the  clothing  and  the  inven- 
tory in  his  keeping.  Each  of  these  functionaries  is  required  to 
visit  all  the  inmates  at  least  once  a  month  ;  and  at  the  weekly 
meeting  they  must  submit  to  the  director  a  register  of  the  prison- 
ers visited  during  the  preceding  week,  noting  therein  what  they 
have  observed  in  respect  to  the  conduct  and  progress  of  each. 
The  deliberations  of  the  meeting  are  entered  in  a  record-book  by 
one  of  the  teachers  as  secretary,  and  this  record,  after  having 
been  read  and  approved,  is  signed  by  the  director. 


CHAPTER  CXXXI.  —  DENMARK  (continued).  —  CELLULAR 
DETENTION-PRISON  AT  COPENHAGEN. 

IN  addition  to  the  great  penitentiary  establishment,  I  also 
visited  a  prison  for  preliminary  detention  in  the  suburbs 
of  Copenhagen.  Like  all  other  prisons  of  its  class  in  Denmark, 
it  is  constructed  (as  prisons  of  this  description  ought  always  and 
everywhere  to  be)  upon  the  cellular  plan.  It  has  thirty  cells  ar- 
ranged in  three  tiers  on  each  side  of  an  open  area,  some  fifteen 
feet  wide  and  thirty-five  feet  in  length.  Here  divine  service  is 
held  every  Sunday,  the  prisoners  coming  out  of  their  cells  to  take 
part  in  the  exercise.  Each  cell  contains  about  eight  hundred 
cubic  feet  of  space.  There  are  also  a  few  additional  rooms  of 
larger  size  designed  for  prisoners  whom  it  may  not  be  thought 
safe  to  confine  separately,  or  for  mothers  who  have  infant  chil- 
dren to  whom  the  care  of  the  mother;  though  under  criminal 
detention,  is  still  a  necessity.  Attached  to  the  jail  are  six  or 
eight  yards,  in  which  the  prisoners  exercise  separately  for  half  an 
hour  each  morning  and  afternoon. 

32 


498  STATE   OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BooK  IV. 


CHAPTER  CXXXII.  —  DENMARK  (continued}.  —  CHILD-SAVING 

WORK. 

THERE  are  three  reformatory  institutions  in  Denmark  on  the 
model  of  Mettray ;  none  of  which,  however,  could  I  visit, 
on  account  of  their  distance  from  the  capital  and  the  shortness 
of  my  sojourn.  I  had  a  general  account  of  them  from  Mr.  Bruun, 
in  substance,  as  follows  :  They  have  all  been  founded  by  private 
benevolence  and  are  subject  to  private  control,  but  receive  pecun- 
iary aid  from  the  State.  Agriculture  is  the  principal  industry. 
As  regards  education  and  training,  it  is  sought  to  approximate 
the  family  life  as  much  as  possible  in  the  treatment  of  the  in- 
mates. The  results  have  been  satisfactory.  One  of  these 
establishments  —  that  at  Flakkebjerg  —  has  now  for  many  years 
displayed  great  activity  and  achieved  a  signal  success  under  the 
superintendence  of  Mr.  Moller,  a  gentleman  of  the  highest  abil- 
ity, whose  merits  have  been  recognized  and  rewarded  by  the 
Government  and  the  public. 

As  regards  other  child-saving  institutions  Denmark  has  made 
large  progress  since  the  Congress  of  London.  For  more  than 
fifty  years  associations  and  establishments  have  been  found  there 
which  have  offered  asylums  for  destitute,  deserted,  and  orphan 
children,  where  they  are  treated  on  the  family  idea,  and  where  an 
education  is  given  to  fit  them  for  agricultural  labor.  During 
the  period  that  has  elapsed  from  1872  to  1878,  it  is  young  girls 
and  children  of  the  female  sex  who  have  in  a  special  manner 
drawn  to  themselves  the  attention  and  care  of  the  public.  A 
society  having  this  end  in  view  was  organized  in  1872,  and  an 
asylum  was  opened  by  it  last  year  to  receive  young  girls  who 
have  been  discharged  from  prison,  where  it  is  sought,  as  in  Hol- 
land, by  giving  them  suitable  instruction,  to  furnish  them  with 
the  means  of  earning  an  honest  living. 

It  remains  under  this  head  only  to  mention  an  institution 
unique  of  its  kind  and  special  to  Denmark^  It  is  an  establish- 
ment which  offers  an  asylum  to  deserted  female  children,  who 
are  admitted  from  the  age  of  two  to  four  years  to  remain  to  the 
age  of  sixteen.  The  girls  receive  there  an  education  proper  to 
fit  them  for  the  highest  positions  as  servants.  This  establish- 
ment, which  dates  from  1874,  owes  its  existence  to  the  gener- 
osity of  the  deceased  Countess  of  Danner.  To  found  it  the 
countess  gave  her  chateau  of  Jasgerspris,  with  all  its  dependen- 
cies,—  a  gift  representing  a  value  of  nearly  10,000,000  francs, 
equal  to  $2)000,000,  or  .£400,000  sterling.  It  is  designed  for  six 
hundred  children  ;  but,  till  now,  it  has  received  only  two  hundred 
and  fifty. 


PART  xn.]  IN  SWEDEN.  499 

The  director-general  of  prisons  for  Denmark  publishes,  every 
five  years,  reports  which  are  continually  enlarging  their  range  of 
subjects,  and  which  offer  at  the  same  time  statistical  information 
of  the  highest  value. 


CHAPTER   CXXXIII.  —  DENMARK  (concluded}.  —  PRISONS  IN 
ICELAND.  —  PENITENTIARY  JOURNAL. 

MANY  penal  ordinances  have,  since  1872,  been  promulgated 
in  relation  to  Iceland,  a  country  which  is  connected  by  a 
personal  as  well  as  a  civil  union  with  the  kingdom  of  Denmark, 
so  that  the  penal  code  of  that  island  has  attained  the  same  de- 
gree of  development  as  that  of  Denmark.  At  the  capital  of  Ice- 
land a  new  penitentiary  has  been  erected,  and  at  the  same  time 
there  have  been  built  in  the  country  cellular  prisons  for  per- 
sons awaiting  trial,  and  for  criminals  sentenced  to  short  terms  of 
imprisonment. 

Since  1877  Mr.  Fr.  Stuckenberg  has  published  a  monthly  journal 
in  Copenhagen,  whose  aim  is  to  discuss  all  questions  appertaining 
to  penal  and  penitentiary  science,  and  to  serve  as  an  organ  for 
all  the  northern  countries,  —  Denmark,  Sweden,  Norway,  Fin- 
land, and  Iceland.  The  press  of  these  countries  has  greeted  the 
enterprise  in  the  warmest  manner,  and  predicted  for  it  a  pros- 
perous future. 


CHAPTER  CXXXIVV— SWEDEN. —  ROYAL  ADMINISTRATION 

OF  PRISONS. 

THE  system  of  prison  administration  in  Sweden  differs  from 
all  other  European  systems  in  this,  —  that  it  forms  a  separate 
and  almost  independent  branch  of  government,  under  the  name 
of  the  "  Royal  Administration  of  Prisons."  Iks  personnel  of  this 
department  consists  of  a  director-general  and  two  chiefs  of  bu- 
reau, with  a  corps  of  subordinates  including  a  medical  officer-in- 
chief,  who  is  charged  with  the  general  oversight  of  the  medical 
and  sanitary  service  of  all  the  prisons  of  the  realm,  —  an  office 
unknown,  so  far  as  I  am  informed,  in  all  the  other  penitentiary 
administrations  of  the  world ;  yet,  as  it  strikes  me,  an  office  most 
fit  and  useful,  since  it  gives  to  the  medical  service  of  the  prisons 
a  physician  of  the  highest  ability  and  broadest  experience,  who 
can  be  consulted  by  his  subordinates  on  all  occasions  of  special 


500  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  iv. 

importance.  Further,  it  is  his  duty  to  visit  once  a  year,  at  least, 
all  the  prisons  of  the  country,  whereby  there  is  secured  a  more 
uniform,  intelligent,  and  effective  organization  of  this  branch  of 
the  service. 

In  saying  that  the  penal  establishments  of  Sweden  are  under 
the  control  and  government  of  the  royal  administration,  one  ex- 
ception must  be  noted.  There  is  a  certain  number  of  communal 
or  district  prisons,  over  which  the  general  administration  has 
only  the  power  of  inspection.  This  arises  from  the  fact  that 
these  prisons  do  not  appertain  to  the  crown.  They  are  built, 
supported,  and  managed  by  the  communes,  and  serve  only  as 
houses  of  arrest  and  detention  during  the  preliminary  proceed- 
ings and  the  trial. 

Since  the  administration  of  the  Swedish  prisons  has  been  cen- 
tralized in  the  hands  of  a  single  and  independent  authority,  impor- 
tant results  have  been  obtained.     Previous  to  such  centralization, 
the  wisest  and  best  conceived  measures  were,  so  to  speak,  de- 
voured by  other  schemes  inspired  by  clashing  views  and  interests, 
with  no  hand  lifted  to  defend  them  or  to  effect  a  reconciliation. 
What  one  department  of  government   desired   another  refused, 
with  an  endless  series  of  antagonisms  as  the  result.     From  such 
a  state  of  things  there  sprang  of  necessity  a  wretched  confusion 
of  ideas  and  a  fruitless  conflict  of  schemes  and  purposes  ;  but  to- 
day we  see,  instead,  unity  of  views,  unity  of  plan,  unity  of  execu- 
tion,—  and  the  result  has  been,  not  a  faultless  system  certainly,  but 
such  reforms  in  the  penal  code  and  in  prison  discipline  as  have 
effected  a  considerable  diminution  in  the  number  of  crimes  and 
criminals.     To  verify  this  result,  it  is  only  necessary  to  glance  at 
the  figures  at  the  time  of  and  since  the  inauguration  of  the  cen- 
tral administration.     In    1840,  the  epoch  of  the  reform,  with  a 
population  of  3,138,887  souls  there  were  17,636  prisoners.     In 
1850  a  population  of  3,482,541  gave   13,410  prisoners.     In   1860 
there  were  12,577  prisoners  to  3,787,735    inhabitants;  while  the 
statistics  of  1870  showed  a  prison  population  of  13,127  to  a  citizen 
population  of  4,168,880.     In  other  words,  on  a  comparative  view 
of  the  figures  at  the  earliest  and  the  latest  of  these  periods,  it  ap- 
pears that  while  the  population  of  the  country  had  increased,  in 
round  numbers,  twenty-five  per  cent,  the  population  of  the  prisons 
had  decreased  in  the  same  ratio, — thus  showing  a  diminution  of 
exactly  one-half  in  the  comparative  criminality  of  the  country. 


PART  xii.]  IN  SWEDEN.  501 


CHAPTER  CXXXV.  —  SWEDEN  (continued}. —  CLASSES  OF 
PRISONS.  —  STAFF.  —  PERSONNEL. 

THERE  are  in  Sweden  three  classes  of  prisons,  which  may 
be  named  as  follows  :  — 

1.  Cellular  prisons  (maisons  d  'arret),  one  or  more  in  each  de- 
partment of  the  country,  forty-four  in  all,  with  two  thousand  four 
hundred  and  eighty-two  cells.     These  are  for  prisoners  whose 
sentences  do  not  exceed  twp  years. 

2.  Central  prisons,  —  some  cellular,  others  associated,  —  for  pris- 
oners sentenced  for  two  years  and  over.     Of  the  former  there  are 
three  for  men,  with  four  hundred  and  three  day  and  night  cells, 
and  eight  hundred  and  forty  night  cells,  with  workshops  suffi- 
ciently numerous  for  little  groups  of   ten   to   fifteen  prisoners 
in  each.     Of  the  latter  jthere  are  three  for  men  and  three  for 
women,  with  common  dormitories  and  only  a  few  punishment 
cells. 

3.  Dep6ts,  or  small  cellular  prisons  in  the  communes. 

The  departmental  cellular  prisons  are  ail  constructed  on  the 
same  plan,  are  generally  situated  in  the  suburbs  or  immediate 
vicinity  of  towns,  and  are  surrounded  by  gardens  and  exercise 
yards.  They  contain,  severally,  from  fifty-four  to  one  hundred 
and  two  cells  for  day  and  night  occupancy.  In  connection  with 
some  of  the  larger  of  these  establishments  are  special  houses  for 
the  confinement  of  tramps. 

The  central  prisons  for  men  are  built  to  accommodate  not  ex- 
ceeding  five  hundred  prisoners,  conformably  to  the  most  approved 
principles  of  penitentiary  science.  The  penitentiary  of  Gothem- 
bourg  has  294  cells  ;  that  of  Malmo,  441  ;  that  of  Langholmen, 
508,  —  in  all,  1,243;  °f  which  840  are  for  night  occupancy  only. 
Of  the  three  associated  prisons  for  men,  the  fortress  prison  of 
Varberg  is  for  able-bodied  life-prisoners  who  are  occupied  in 
stone-cutting.  The  fortress  prison  of  Landskrona  is  reserved  for 
life-sentenced  prisoners  less  vigorous,  and  for  those  more  advanced 
in  age.  The  central  prison  of  Karlskrona  is  intended  for  pris- 
oners  of  a  certain  age  sentenced  for  a  term  of  years,  and  for 
those  considered  incorrigible,  or  in  regard  to  whose  future  little  is 
to  be  hoped  for.  There  will  soon  be  built  at  this  prison  a  cellular 
wing  in  which  the  worst  prisoners  will  be  confined  separately  at 
night. 

The  central  prisons  for  women  are,  as  already  stated,  on-  the 
congregate  plan  ;  but  it  is  in  contemplation  speedily  to  arrange 
them  for  separation  of  the  prisoners  at  night. 

Thus  the  time  approaches  when  the  structure  of  the  prisons 
will  be  no  longer  a  hindrance  to  the  introduction  of  a  more  ra- 


5O2  STATE   OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  iv. 

tional  convict  treatment.  The  heaviest  work,  observes  Director- 
general  Almquist,  falls  upon  the  present  time,  —  that  of  preparing 
what  is  necessary  in  order  that  the  time  to  come  may  profit  by  a 
penitentiary  reform  whose  outcome  for  excellence  and  efficiency 
is  not  generally  understood  in  our  day. 

The  staff  attached  to  each  of  the  central  prisons  is  composed  of 
a  director,  employes,  and  keepers,  with  salaries  varying  according 
to  the  importance  of  the  prison  andv  the  length  of  service,  from 
7,000  to  600  francs,  together  with  in  most  cases  lodging  and  fire. 
The  keepers  may  receive,  in  addition  to  their  salary,  for  zeal  and 
exemplary  conduct,  a  maximum  gratuity  of  200  francs,  and  those 
.who  know  and  teach  trades  to  the  prisoners  may  obtain  a  further 
gratuity  of  150  francs. 


CHAPTER  CXXXVI.  —  SWEDEN  (continued}.  —  MODEL  PRISON 
FOR  YOUNG  CRIMINALS. 

A  BSOLUTE  injustice  would  be  done  to  Sweden,  and  important 
-£X  knowledge  withheld  from  the  students  of  penitentiary  sci- 
ence, if  I  should  fail  to  notice  the  efforts  put  forth  within  these 
later  years  in  the  direction  of  an  improved  prison  treatment.  The 
administration  conceived  it  to  be  a  matter  of  gravest  importance 
to  have  a  special  prison,  designed  chiefly  for  young  criminals  ;  and 
in  this  view  it  submitted  to  the  Government  in  1870  a  proposition 
for  the  erection  of  a  new  prison  at  Nya  Varfvet,  near  Gothem- 
bourg.  After  showing  the  danger  of  young  prisoners  being  cor- 
rupted by  a  forced  association  with  those  more  depraved,  and  the 
defect  of  the  contract  system  of  labor  as  regards  the  discipline, 
the  administration  proposed  that  the  new  prison  should  be  so  con- 
structed and  organized  that  the  prisoners  might  during  the  day 
work  in  little  groups  under  adequate  supervision,  and  be  at  night 
shut  up  in  cells  with  facilities  for  occupying  themselves  in  read- 
ing or  at  light  manual  labors. 

Since  the  want  of  moral  and  religious  education  is  a  principal 
cause  of  the  wrong-doing  of  youth,  the  administration  proposed 
that  much  more  time  and  care  than  formerly  be  given  to  the  re- 
ligious and  intellectual  instruction  and  moral  training  of  the  pris- 
oners. For  this  reason,  it  recommended  that  there  be  attached 
to  the  prison,  designed  for  three  hundred  at  most,  not  only  a 
chaplain  as  teacher  of  religion  and  superintendent  of  instruction, 
but  also  special  masters  for  the  subjects  usually  taught  in  pri- 
mary schools,  as  well  as  for  the  industries  which  should  enable 
the  prisoners  to  live  honestly  after  their  release.  It  suggested 
that  a  considerable  variety  of  trades  be  introduced  into  the  prison  ; 


PART  xn.]  IN  SWEDEN.  503 

and,  as  agriculture  is  the  leading  industry  of  Sweden,  the  project 
showed  the  great  advantages  that  would  accrue  to  the  prisoners 
if,  some  time  prior  to  their  liberation,  they  should  be  employed  in 
farming,  and  be  permitted  to  learn  something  of  the  trades  most 
useful  to  be  known  in  connection  with  it,  such  as  carpentry, 
smithing,  saddlery,  etc.  Also,  that  in  recompense  of  his  good 
conduct  the  prisoner  might  be  allowed,  in  his  leisure  time  and 
during  the  evenings,  to  receive  lessons  in  linear  and  architectu- 
ral drawings,  in  basket-work,  brush-making,  wood-carving,  toy- 
making,  etc.  His  aptness  in  various  occupations  would,  after 
his  discharge,  add  to  his  means  of  self-support. 

The  administration  further  suggested  in  its  project,  that,  as  it 
would  not  in  general  be  possible  to  count  upon  a  genuine  reform 
and  serious  resolutions  on  the  part  of  the  prisoner  without  the 
concurrent  moral  influence  of  the  prison  administration,  it  would 
be  indispensable  that  the  personnel  should  be  chosen  with  a  great 
deal  of  care  ;  but  that,  to  be  able  to  comprehend  the  exigencies  of 
this  service  and  gain  the  necessary  qualifications  for  it,  those  who 
sought  employment  in  the  prisons  should  be  required  to  pass 
through  a  preliminary  course  of  instruction  and  probation  ;  that, 
in  effect,  to  correct  the  spirit  of  the  criminal  and  inspire  him  with 
a  sound  and  serious  purpose  of  amendment  it  is  necessary  to  pos- 
sess a  knowledge  of  men  and  a  moral  force  by  no  means  common. 
But,  to  find  in  the  personnel  the  qualities  in  question  and  the 
knowledge  to  make  them  available,  it  is  well-nigh  indispensable 
that  its  members  be  made  to  pass  through  a  preparatory  and  pro- 
bationary course  in  a  well-administered  penal  institution.  With 
a  view  to  obtain  the  aid  and  support  of  which  such  an  adminis- 
tration has  need,  the  project  provided  for  the  formation  of  a 
commission  of  supervision,  composed  of  the  director,  the  chap- 
lain, the  doctor,  and  other -functionaries  of  the  prison,  with  whom 
should  be  associated  a  few  persons  among  the  more  intelligent 
and  influential  of  the  neighborhood.  The  aim  of  this  commis- 
sion would  be  mutually  to  aid  one  another  in  the  endeavor  to 
become  well  acquainted  with  each  prisoner,  to  win  his  confi- 
dence with  a  view  to  influencing  his  character,  and  when  a  pris- 
oner, towards  the  end  of  his  imprisonment,  should  show  himself 
worthy,  to  second  his  efforts  to  be  reinstated  in  society,  and 
to  obtain  service  or  some  other  lawful  means  of  providing  for 
his  wants. 

This  proposition  was  approved  by  the  Government,  and  the 
national  parliament  granted  the  necessary  funds  to  carry  it  into 
effect.  The  establishment  has  been  completed  on  the  principles 
above  set  forth.  The  same  principles  have  been  followed,  so  far 
as  possible,  in  the  reconstruction  of  the  central  prison  of  Malmo 
and  that  of  Langholmen  near  Stockholm.  But  with  a  view  to 
improve  the  discipline  and  get  rid  of  the  old  system  of  contrac- 


504  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BooK  iv. 

tors,  none  of  these  establishments  is  to  contain  more  than  five 
hundred  prisoners,  and  one  of  them  is  limited  to  a  maximum  of 
three  hundred. 

The  prisoners,  isolated  day  and  night  the  first  six  to  twelve 
months,  receive,  from  four  to  nine  hours  a  week,  the  instruction 
of  the  chaplain  and  schoolmasters,  and,  for  trades,  that  of  the 
trade-instructors.  When  the  period  of  isolation  is  over  they  are 
still  separated  at  night.  They  work  in  small  sections  of  ten  to 
fifteen  men,  each  in  his  shop,  under  the  supervision  of  the  trade- 
instructor  or  sometimes  of  a  well-behaved  convict,  as  well  as  un- 
der that  of  the  keeper,  who  promenades  in  the  corridor  separated 
from  the  workshop  by  a  paling. 

During  this  stage  of  their  imprisonment,  the  convicts  not  above 
the  age  of  thirty-five  years  are  obliged  to  attend  school  a  certain 
number  of  hours  weekly  ;  beyond  that  age  attendance  is  optional. 
On  Sunday,  after  divine  service,  there  are  exercises  of  singing 
and  drawing,  and,  after  dinner,  moral  lectures  or  readings  by  the 
chaplain,  the  schoolmasters,  or,  under  their  supervision,  by  one  of 
the  prisoners. 

At  Nya  Varfvet,  where  the  land  belonging  to  the  establishment 
is  considerable,  well-conducted  prisoners,  who  have  nearly  served 
out  their  time,  are  occupied  in  the  labors  of  agriculture,  horticul- 
ture, etc.  as  a  preparation  for  the  time  which  will  follow  their 
liberation. 

What  is  said  above  represents  only  the  shell,  the  outside  of 
things.  The  essential  progress  depends  on  the  spirit,  the  intelli- 
gence, and  the  zeal  of  the  local  staff  for  the  instruction,  the  labor, 
and  the  entire  treatment  in  all  its  details. 

Good  qualities  were  not  wanting  in  the  personnel  previously  em- 
ployed in  the  central  prisons  ;  still,  in  proportion  as  the  exigencies 
of  a  more  rational  penitentiary  treatment  increased,  in  the  same 
degree  were  those  relating  to  the  personnel  of  the  administration 
augmented.  But  an  entirely  new  appreciation  of  the  demands  of 
the  service  could  not  be  suddenly  imparted  to  the  whole  personnel 
already  employed,  because  the  knowledge  and  the  spirit  imposed 
by  the  new  state  of  things  were  of  slow  growth,  and  could  be  ac- 
quired only  by  study  and  experience. 

Schoolmasters  not  having  been  previously,  or  at  least  for  any 
great  length  of  time,  employed  in  the  central  prisons,  the  general 
administration  judged  it  wise  to  call  to  that  charge  persons  best 
fitted  for  it  by  their  spirit  and  their  education. 

Within  a  few  years  schools  have  been  established  in  all  the 
central  prisons  ;  but  in  each  of  the  three  new  prisons  two  teach- 
ers possessing  a  university  education,  high  natural  gifts,  and  a 
warm  interest  in  the  work  have  been  employed.  These  masters 
together  with  the  chaplain  give  special  lessons  in  the  cell  to 
such  prisoners  as  need  them  ;  but  they  also  teach  in  class,  and 


PART  XIL]  IN  SWEDEN.  505 

give  moral  and  instructive  lectures  to  the  whole  body  of  the  pris- 
oners. 

These  schoolmasters  are  further  charged  with  the  duty  of  giv- 
ing instruction  to  the  keepers,  and  of  supervising  their  studies. 
In  this  way  they  greatly  contribute  to  the  development  of  their 
intelligence,  at  the  same  time  that  their  relations  with  them  in- 
spire in  the  whole  corps  a  higher  and  more  civilizing  spirit. 

By  these  means,  without  having  recourse  to  special  schools, 
the  hope  is  entertained  of  being  able  to  establish  in  the  central 
prisons  a  preparatory  course,  not  only  for  the  personnel  there  em- 
ployed, but  also  for  the  employes  of  the  departmental  prisons. 


CHAPTER  CXXXVII.  —  SWEDEN  (continued}.  —  METHODS  OF 

INSTRUCTION. 

AMONG  the  convicts  are  found  not  a  few  endowed  with  rich 
natural  gifts  and  high  intellectual  powers,  unhappily  edu- 
cated in  a  wrong  direction.  With  others,  idleness  and  vice  have 
wrought  such  a  weakness  and  decay  of  the  faculties  that  they  are 
scarcely  accessible  to  any  degree  of  culture  ;  and  others  still,  as 
the  result  of  long-continued  evil  associations,  have  arrived  at  that 
point  of  crime  and  degradation  where  evil  has  become  with  them 
the  sole  end  of  existence,  the  only  means  of  gratification. 

Evidently,  then,  the  work  of  instruction  in  prison  schools  de- 
mands qualities  and  qualifications  essentially  different  from  those 
required  in  the  ordinary  schools.  An  instruction  intended  for 
persons  so  varied  in  moral  character  and  condition  should  have 
in  view  less  to  give  a  certain  degree  of  scholastic  knowledge  or 
to  perfect  it  than  to  awaken  the  sentiment  of  goodness,  never 
wholly  extinguished  even  in  those  who  have  fallen  lowest.  There- 
fore, scholastic  knowledge  ought  to  be  less  regarded  as  a  means 
to  arrive  at  the  end  really  held  in  view.  Wherever  there  exists  the 
indispensable  minimum  of  preliminary  knowledge,  the  method  of 
instruction  to  be  preferred  is  that  of  conferences,  or  familiar  les- 
sons, by  way  of  question  and  answer,  to  elucidate  the  subject  and 
aid  the  understanding  of  it,  the  prisoners  having  full  liberty  to 
ask  explanations  on  all  points  where  they  feel  the  necessity  of 
more  light. 

Experience  has  shown  that  this  method,  used  by  a  judicious 
and  earnest  professor,  is  nowise  injurious  to  good  order  or  the 
progressive  march  of  instruction,  while  it  imparts  a  degree  of 
variety  and  freedom  to  the  sameness  and  constraint  of  the  prison 
beneficial  alike  to  the  physical  and  moral  health  of  the  prisoner. 
The  teacher  who  thus  becomes  thoroughly  acquainted  with  each 


506  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BooK  IV. 

individual,  and  knows  both  his  moral  state  and  mental  develop- 
ment, is  able  to  adapt  his  lessons  to  both.  The  daily  intercourse 
of  teacher  and  prisoners  by  degrees  renders  more  placid  and  open 
a  nature  quick  to  take  offence  and  practised  in  deceit,  and  their 
thoughts  are  directed  to  subjects  which  had  before  been  quite 
strange  to  them. 

The  personal  interest  shown  in  the  criminal,  of  which  he  sees 
himself  the  object  perhaps  for  the  first  time  in  his  life,  quickly 
inspires  him  with  confidence  towards  the  person  who  labors  to 
awaken  his  conscience  and  develop  the  good  qualities  which 
till  then,  as  it  were,  had  lain  concealed  within  him.  Then  the 
prisoner  begins  to  confide  to  him  his  family  secrets,  and  to  ask 
his  advice  in  reference  to  such  or  such  a  matter.  When  his  con- 
fidence has  been  gained,  the  grand  aim  of  scholastic  instruction 
has  been  attained. 

In  proportion  as  the  prisoner  perceives  that  there  still  exist  in 
him  good  dispositions,  which  only  need  to  be  developed  and 
ripened,  the  sentiment  of  manly  dignity  is  awakened  in  him. 
Good  principles  and  serious  thoughts  take  root  in  his  heart,  and 
by  pains  and  care  on  the  part  of  an  enlightened  and  philanthropic 
teacher  they  may  grow  and  produce  a  new  inward  man.  And 
thus  we  arrive  at  the  realization  of  that  which  constitutes  the 
true  end  of  the  penitentiary  administration. 

Certainly,  this  end  is  not  reached  at  a  bound.  It  presupposes 
in  all  the  prison  functionaries  a  zeal,  an  unselfishness,  an  interest 
in  their  vocation  so  full  of  responsibility,  an  energy,  and  an  inces- 
sant professional  fidelity  which  give  them  moral  power  over  the 
prisoner,  and  which  are  all  qualities  absolutely  indispensable  in 
their  position. 

Besides  the  vast  field  which  the  prison  teacher  is  thus  called  to 
cultivate,  it  goes  without  saying,  that,  owing  to  his  knowledge  of 
them,  he  is  the  person  most  fit  to  give  to  the  prisoners  useful 
counsels  ;  to  furnish  them  with  directions  suited  to  the  moment 
most  dangerous  for  them,  —  that  which  follows  their  liberation  ; 
and  to  help  in  procuring  for  them,  according  to  circumstances, 
the  support  of  patronage  societies  or  of  private  persons. 

Such,  in  the  opinion  of  the  royal  penitentiary  administration, 
are  the  qualities  required  in  a  good  prison  schoolmaster.  They 
are  many,  and  of  an  importance  far  greater  than  is  generally 
supposed. 

The  prison  administration  and  the  keepers  should  work  on  the 
same  line  ;  and  to  this  end  the  personality  of  the  teachers,  their 
instructions,  and  the  zeal  which  they  have  for  their  mission  are 
not  without  effect.  It  is  this  thought,  this  spirit,  which  has  de- 
cided the  choice  of  the  schoolmasters  for  the  penitentiary  estab- 
lishments of  Sweden.  These  gentlemen  are  animated  by  the 
warmest  interest  and  the  most  generous  zeal  in  their  mission. 


PART  XH.]  IN  SWEDEN.  507 

In  the  central  prisons  for  men  instruction  is  limited,  so  far  as 
the  aged  and  the  old  recidivists  are  concerned,  to  a  few  hours 
during  the  week  or  the  evening  of  Sunday. 

There  is  a  schoolmistress  in  each  of  the  central  prisons  for 
women,  besides  which  a  few  ladies  who  have  the  confidence  of 
the  administration  are  permitted  to  visit  the  prisoners  on  Sun- 
day, to  read  to  them,  and  exercise  them  in  singing. 

Scholastic  instruction  is  limited  to  reading,  writing,  arithmetic, 
history,  geography,  and  natural  history  ;  but  it  extends  to  singing 
and  drawing  for  those  who  desire  it.  The  progress  is  in  general 
satisfactory,  sometimes  even  astonishing.  In  several  of  the  asso- 
ciated prisons  the  inmates  carry  four  parts  of  the  psalms  and 
of  other  simple  and  appropriate  tunes. 

In  the  departmental  and  communal  establishments,  where  the 
prisoners  remain  but  a  few  weeks  or  months,  instruction  is  given 
only  by  the  chaplains. 

The  New  Testament,  the  psalter,  and  the  book  of  hymns  and 
prayers  are  placed  in  all  the  cells. 

As  nearly  all  the  prisoners  can  read,  the  library  of  the  prison 
is  supplied  with  choice  books,  so  that  every  convict  finds  books 
suited  to  his  taste  and  his  needs.  Some  prisoners  have  read  all 
the  books  of  the  prison  library.  There  is  a  total  of  twenty-four 
thousand  volumes  in  the  Swedish  prisons.  Prisoners  are  allowed 
to  exercise  themselves  in  writing  and  arithmetic,  and  to  this  end 
an  inkstand  is  placed  at  their  disposal. 

The  school-rooms,  airy  and  well-lighted,  are  furnished  with 
maps,  engravings  of  natural  history,  and  all  other  appliances  used 
in  the  primary  schools. 

The  convicts  of  their  own  accord  employ  their  leisure  mo- 
ments and  their  Sundays  and  other  festival  days  in  reading, 
either  individually  or  in  groups ;  and,  in  this  latter  case,  one  of 
themselves  or  an  employe  reads  to  them  aloud. 

The  visits  required  to  be  made  in  the  cells  by  the  directors,  the 
officers,  and  the  employe's  of  the  prisons,  and  the  conversations 
which  follow  thereupon,  offer  them  the  best  opportunities  of  de- 
veloping the  intelligence  and  directing  the  education  of  the  pris- 
oners. With  a  view  to  furnishing  good  materials  for  these 
interviews,  which  should  never  be  made  matters  of  mere  routine, 
and  to  make  them  fruitful,  a  large  selection  has  been  made  of 
moral  sentences,  simple  but  of  deep  significance ;  and  these  have 
been  printed  in  large  characters  on  separate  cards,  to  be  hung  up 
successively  in  the  different  cells.  These  are  made  the  subject 
of  conversation  or  of  short  familiar  lectures  on  the  part  of  the 
prison  officials.  By  this  means,  also,  the  prisoner  is  furnished 
with  the  opportunity  of  giving  a  useful  turn  to  his  thoughts  in 
his  hours  of  solitude  and  silence. 

The  commission  of  surveillance  has  for  its  aim  to  study  the 


508  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BooK  IV. 

character  and  antecedent  life  of  each  convict,  with  a  view  to 
find  a  sure  basis  for  a  fit  penitentiary  treatment.  It  watches 
attentively  his  conduct  in  prison,  that  it  may  be  able  to  judge 
what  ought  to  be  done  for  his  rehabilitation,  and  whether  aid 
should  be  extended  to  him  on  his  liberation.  It  has  the  further 
duty  of  causing  to  be  kept,  by  one  of  the  teachers,  a  detailed 
journal,  a  moral  history  in  effect,  of  each  prisoner,  his  conduct, 
and  his  prog'ress,  whether  in  the  direction  of  good  or  of  evil. 

But  all  the  efforts  so  put  forth  would  exert  but  a  feeble  influ- 
ence towards  the  moral  regeneration  of  the  prisoners,  if  they  were 
not  supported  by  regular  labor  and  a  strict  discipline,  which,  with- 
out causing  irritation,  exacts  from  them  by  its  moral  force  a  sub- 
mission in  harmony  with  their  position,  and  leads  them  voluntarily 
and  with  good-will  to  obey  the  regulations  and  to  conduct  them- 
selves in  a  becoming  manner. 

Instruction,  reading,  singing,  and  the  various  other  efforts  of 
the  administration,  joined  to  a  just  and  humane  treatment,  have, 
beyond  all  question,  exerted  a  happy  influence  upon  the  spirit  and 
manners  of  the  prisoners. 


CHAPTER  CXXXVIII.  —  SWEDEN  (continued).  —  MORAL  AND 
RELIGIOUS  INSTRUCTION. 

MUCH  attention  is  given  in  Sweden  to  the  religious  and 
moral  instruction  and  culture  of  the  prisoners.  Every 
prison  has  its  chaplain,  who  devotes  his  whole  time  and  strength 
to  this  work.  As  there  are  thirty-eight  cellular  prisons  in  the 
twenty-five  provinces  and  at  least  a  dozen  on  the  congregate  plan, 
it  follows  that  not  less  than  fifty  men  are  so  engaged,  in  lieu  of  the 
eight  or  ten  in  the  State  of  New  York ;  and  yet  the  populations 
of  the  Kingdom  and  the  State  are  about  equal,  that  of  New  York 
being  in  fact  a  little  in  excess.  But  what  do  we  find  to  be  the 
character  of  these  men  thus  laboring  for  the  moral  regeneration 
of  the  prisoners  ?  They  are  selected  by  the  royal  administration 
with  the  greatest  care.  Being  then  good  and  competent  men, 
they  have  to  an  almost  unlimited  degree  the  respect  and  confi- 
dence of  the  prisoners  ;  and  their  work  is  both  quickened  and 
rewarded  by  the  results  attained.  It  is  true  they  have  a  better 
soil  to  work  upon  than  some  of  their  fellow-workers  in  other 
countries.  Irreligion,  using  the  word  in  its  exact  sense,  does  not 
appear  in  these  northern  European  countries  to  have  penetrated 
the  masses  ;  and  hence  it  may  be  said  that  the  moral  disorders 
which  there  bring  men  to  the  prison  have,  as  a  general  thing, 
rather  shaken  than  destroyed  the  religious  fibre.  Consequently, 


PART  xn.]  IN  SWEDEN.  509 

under  the  seclusion  and  calm  of  the  prison  it  measurably  recovers 
its  force  and  vibrates  anew  to  the  appeals  of  reason  and  religion. 
The  administration,  therefore,  counts  largely  upon  the  influence 
of  the  chaplain,  and  exerts  all  its  zeal  in  facilitating  and  support- 
ing his  endeavors.  At  every  hour  of  the  day  and  night  the 
prison  is  open  to  him.  It  is  made  his  duty  to  visit  the  prisoners 
as  frequently  as  possible,  to  exhort,  instruct,  and  encourage  them  ; 
in  a  word,  to  make  use  of  all  proper  means  to  inspire  them  with 
repentance  and  lead  them  back  to  virtue.  In  this  view  the  admin- 
istration has  caused  to  be  prepared  a  book  of  prayers  and  religious 
reading  adapted  to  the  special  use  of  prisoners ;  and  it  also  pub- 
lishes for  them  a  sort  of  monthly  journal,  in  which  are  related 
with  suitable  comments  all  the  principal  facts  and  incidents 
recorded  in  the  Bible  history.  This  journal  is  much  prized  by 
the  prisoners,  and  is  distributed  to  such  of  them  as  are  distin- 
guished for  their  good  conduct  or  have  shown  the  strongest  dis- 
position to  profit  by  its  lessons.  It  is  thus  made  a  reward  of 
merit  and  acts  as  a  stimulus  to  obedience  and  industry.  All  this 
is  over  and  above  the  routine  work  of  the  chaplains,  such  as  the 
religious  offices  of  Sundays  and  festival  days,  the  catechism,  etc., 
which  are  all  fixed  by  the  regulations,  and  from  which  the  prison- 
ers can  under  no  pretext  whatever  receive  a  dispensation. 


CHAPTER  CXXXIX.  —  SWEDEN  (continued).  —  PRISON  LABOR. 

ARIGHT  organization  of  prison  labor  is  considered  by  the 
royal  administration  to  be  of  the  greatest  importance,  not 
only  as  a  means  of  lessening  the  expense  of  the  prisons,  but  also 
as  one  of  the  most  useful  factors  in  convict  treatment.  It  affords 
a  healthy  nutriment  to  the  thoughts,  calms  the  spirit,  teaches 
order,  and  imparts  manual  dexterity,  so  useful  to  the  prisoner  on 
his  discharge.  The  possibility  of  increasing  his  peculium,  and  of 
contributing  to  the  support  of  his  wife  and  children,  —  these  two 
things  have  an  importance  which  cannot  be  too  much  insisted 
on.  The  choice  of  the  labor  is  considered  a  matter  of  special  im- 
portance. Manufacturing  operation,  properly  so  called,  with  its 
division  of  labor,  is  not  thought  to  respond  to  the  exigencies  of  a 
good  penitentiary  treatment.  Therefore  the  contract  system,  it  is 
held,  ought  to  be  discarded.  The  sole  interest  of  the  contractors 
is  profit,  and  hence  their  aim  is  naturally  so  to  organize  the  labor 
that,  in  employing  mechanical  force  and  the  greatest  possible 
division  of  labor,  this  may  yield  the  greatest  possible  amount 
of  income.  At  the  same  time,  the  fact  is  recognized  that  it  is 
often  extremely  difficult  to  find  an  industry  suitable  to  be  con- 


5IO  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BooK  iv. 

ducted  on  State  account.  By  way  of  compromise  between  these 
two  systems,  the  prisoners  have  more  recently,  under  the  direction 
of  the  prison  officials,  worked  on  raw  material  furnished  by  man- 
ufacturers or  even  private  individuals.  In  this  manner  have  been 
avoided  at  once  the  inconvenience  of  the  contract  system  and 
that  of  a  too  great  competition  between  private  industry  and 
prison  labor.  In  general  it  may  be  stated  that  the  contract 
system  is  being  abolished  as  far  and  as  fast  as  is  deemed  con- 
sistent with  the  interest  of  the  State  and  of  the  prisoner. 

In  the  organization  of  labor,  while  the  contract  exists  and 
so  far  as  it  exists,  since  the  economic  interest  ought  not  to  pre- 
vail over  the  moral  interest,  the  administration  is  not  absolutely 
obliged  to  accept  the  offer  which  is  financially  the  most  advanta- 
geous. The  choice  of  the  foremen  or  trade-instructors  of  the  con- 
tractors has  to  be  approved  by  the  administration,  and  the  admin- 
istration has  also  the  right  to  dismiss  them  whenever  the  interest 
of  the  discipline  may  require  such  a  step. 

According  to  the  report  furnished  to  the  London  Congress 
(1872)  by  the  Swedish  Government,  the  profits  of  the  labor  are 
thus  distributed :  In  associated  prisons  the  prisoners  are  en- 
gaged on  compulsory  labor  for  the  State.  The  sum  gained  for  the 
State  by  the  male  prisoners  is  about  equal  to  the  cost  of  their 
food.  The  sum  gained  by  the  work  of  the  women  is  equal  to  the 
cost  of  their  food  and  clothing.  But  in  the  cellular  prisons  the 
State  is  not  directly  benefited  by  the  work  of  the  prisoners. 
Their  earnings  are  distributed  thus  :  The  prisoner  receives  two- 
sixths  ;  the  director,  for  providing  work,  tools,  etc.,  one-sixth  ;  the 
keepers,  for  surveillance,  one-sixth  :  the  rest  is  deposited  in  the 
savings  bank  with  a  view  to  aid  on  their  discharge  prisoners  who 
need  such  assistance,  and  whose  conduct  during  their  imprison- 
ment has  been  unexceptionable.  Of  the  two-sixths  which  the 
Erisoner  receives  he  may  spend  two-thirds  in  buying  additional 
x)d,  but  cannot  exceed  in  such  expenditure  two  francs  a  week. 
In  Mr.  Almquist's  recent  brochure,  "  Sweden,  her  Social  Progress 
and  Penitentiary  Institutions,"  the  above  statement  is  modified 
to  this  extent,  — the  director  receives  one-sixth  only  after  the  earn- 
ings reach  the  sum  of  twenty-eight  hundred  francs  ($  560),  and 
on  an  amount  of  earnings  less  than  that,  one-third  ;  the  employes 
receive  always,  to  be  divided  among  them,  a  sum  equal  to  one-half 
the  share  of  the  director.  The  earnings  of  the  prisoners  await- 
ing trial  (prevenus  and  accuses)  belong  wholly  to  themselves,  ex- 
cept when  the  director  provides  the  work  for  them,  in  which  case 
he  gets  one-third. 

The  daily  earnings  of  male  prisoners  in  the  central  prisons 
(ten  to  twelve  hours)  are  eight  to  ten  cents  ;  of  women,  eleven 
to  twelve  cents  ;  but  this  is  over  and  above  the  peculium  allowed 
to  the  prisoners,  which  would  increase  the  sum  total  by  one-third. 


PART  xn.]  IN  SWEDEN.  5 1 1 


CHAPTER  CXL.  —  SWEDEN  (continued}.  —  DISCIPLINE. 

THE  use  of  tobacco,  of  which  formerly  the  consumption  was 
very  considerable,  is  not  at  present  tolerated  in  any  form. 

The  most  common  offences  against  discipline  are  attempts  to 
communicate,  drawings  and  writing  on  the  walls,  and  the  lack  of 
cleanliness. 

In  the  secondary  cellular  prisons  the  punishments  are  the 
withdrawal  of  the  bed,  diminution  of  food,  and  the  dark  cell.  In 
the  central  prisons,  additional  to  these,  are  cellular  separation 
with  or  without  work,  and  exceptionally,  in  very  grave  cases,  the 
bastinado. 


CHAPTER  CXLI.  —  SWEDEN  (continued).  —  HYGIENE. 

THE  sanitary  state  of  the  prisons  has  been  highly  satisfactory 
during  these  later  years,  owing  to  the  order  and  cleanliness 
which  reign  there,  and  the  great  care  bestowed  upon  the  prisoners. 
These  are  kept  at  regular  work,  not  too  hard,  and  receive  a  simple 
but  healthy  nutriment.  Cell-prisoners  work  ten  hours  ;  those  in 
the  central  prisons  a  little  longer.  Nine  hours  are  devoted  to 
sleep  in  summer  ;  ten  in  winter.  Morning  and  evening  a  half- 
hour  is  given  to  dressing,  prayer,  and  the  visit  of  the  keeper. 
An  hour  is  given  to  dinner  and  repose,  and  a  half-hour  each  to 
breakfast  and  supper.  On  Saturday  labor  ends  at  four  P.M.,  the 
rest  of  the  day  being  set  apart  for  bathing  and  general  hygienic 
purposes. 

The  cellular  prisoners  exercise  at  least  a  half-hour  daily  in  the 
exercise-yard.  The  sick  in  these  prisons  are  ordinarily  cared  for 
in  their  own  cells,  but  their  hammock  is  replaced  by  a  bed  ;  in 
grave  cases  they  are  taken  to  the  hospital,  with  which  each  cellu- 
lar prison  is  provided.  The  other  (congregate)  establishments 
have  spacious  and  well-aired  hospitals,  where  the  sick  are  treated. 
None  of  these  are  permitted  to  remain  in  the  workshop  or  com- 
mon dormitories. 


512  STATE   OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  iv. 


CHAPTER  CXLII.  —  SWEDEN  (continued}.  —  AID  TO  DIS- 
CHARGED PRISONERS. 

FOR  aiding  discharged  prisoners  there  have  been  organized 
within  the  last  few  years  nine  patronage  societies  in  the 
provinces,  some  of  which  have  displayed  a  fruitful  activity.  The 
members  pay  a  small  annual  fee,  and  the  societies  receive,  when 
necessary,  a  subvention  from  the  general  prison  administration, 
which  draws  for  this  purpose  upon  the  savings  bank  mentioned 
above,  whose  funds  consist  of  the  part  allowed  by  the  State  of 
the  product  of  prison  labor. 

For  liberated  female  prisoners  there  exists  at  Stockholm  a 
refuge,  under  the  active  patronage  of  the  queen.  The  women 
remain  there  generally  a  year  to  accustom  themselves  to  good 
manners,  at  the  same  time  learning  the  more  ordinary  sorts  of 
household  work,  different  kinds  of  sewing,  washing,  etc.  Expe- 
rience has  shown  that  it  is  not  difficult  to  find  places  for  these 
women  before  they  leave  the  refuge,  and  that  the  most  of  them 
do  well,  —  thanks  to  the  good  examples  and  the  good  training 
given  them  in  this  maternal  home. 

There  is  also  in  Stockholm  a  refuge  for  discharged  male  prison- 
ers, equally  remarkable  for  its  origin,  since  herein  the  two  are  quite 
at  the  antipodes.  As  the  other  had  a  queen  for  its  founder  and 
patron,  this  had  a  working-man,  who,  single-handed,  established 
and  superintends  it,  whereby  he  has  been  the  means  of  trans- 
forming a  goodly  number  of  criminals  into  honest,  decent,  and 
self-supporting  citizens.  Though  possessing  but  very  moderate 
resources,  his  refuge  has  effected  excellent  results,  and  in  this 
respect  is  not  unworthy  of  its  royal  co-worker. 

The  work  of  patronage  is  still  in  its  infancy  in  Sweden,  but  it 
is  sure  to  develop  and  expand  with  great  rapidity. 


CHAPTER  CXLIII.  —  SWEDEN  (concluded}.  —  CHILD-SAVING 

WORK. 

SWEDEN  is  behind  many  other  countries  as  regards  the  use 
of  agencies  which  are  preventive  of  crime,  unless  we  in- 
clude among  such  the  totality  of  those  measures  of  compulsory 
education  and  for  promoting  the  industrial  activity  of  her  popula- 
tion, —  in  which  respect  she  may  justly  challenge  a  place  in  the 
forefront  of  the  nations.  To  her  thousands  of  primary  schools 


PART  XIL]  IN  NOR  WAY.  513 

are  attached,  in  a  manner  more  or  less  direct,  a  great  number  of 
inferior  industrial  schools  for  both  sexes,  and  of  schools  of  house- 
wifery and  domestic  service  for  girls. 

There  are,  relatively,  a  considerable  number  of  special  estab- 
lishments, large  and  small,  designed  for  destitute  and  deserted 
children.  But,  until  recently,  Sweden  has  been  without  correc- 
tional establishments  for  youths  already  initiated  into  vice  and 
crime  almost  from  their  infancy.  Four  such  existed  prior  to  1875, 
with  an  aggregate  population  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  boys  and 
about  ten  girls.  In  that  year  there  were  founded  three  additional 
establishments  of  the  same  kind,  —  one  for  girls  at  Stockholm,  one 
for  boys  at  Kalmar,  and  last  (and  far  most  important  of  all),  the 
agricultural  colony  of  Hall,  founded  by  the  "  Oscar-Josephine 
Society,"  largely  through  a  donation  made  by  Queen  Josephine, 
since  deceased,  in  memory  of  her  husband,  King  Oscar  I.  This 
institution  has  taken  for  its  model  the  French  colony  of  Mettray. 
It  has  a  domain  of  nearly  two  thousand  acres,  admirably  situated 
on  the  shores  of  the  Baltic,  near  Stockholm,  and  is  intended  for 
three  hundred  colons.  It  receives  only  vicious  children,  ten  years 
old  at  least.  But  there  is  a  considerable  number  of  children 
below  that  age  who,  through  the  influence  of  bad  example  or  evil 
association,  are  in  imminent  peril  of  ruin,  unless  some  helping 
hand  be  extended  for  their  salvation.  Fully  impressed  with  these 
dangers  and  these  needs,  a  generous  lady  of  Stockholm,  Madame 
Sophia  Aim,  now  deceased,  has  given  more  than  a  million  of 
francs  to  found,  under  the  name  "Foundation  of  Axel  and  of 
Sophia  Aim,"  an  institution  intended  for  the  same  class  of 
children  of  both  sexes.  Within  a  few  years  this  useful  insti- 
tution will,  without  doubt,  be  in  full  activity.  Thus  the  good 
work  moves  on  in  Sweden,  as  elsewhere,  under  propitious  skies. 
What  will  not  the  world  have  witnessed  ere  a  new  generation 
arises  to  take  the  place  of  this  ! 


CHAPTER  CXLIV.  —  NORWAY.  —  CLASSES  OF  PRISONS. — 
ADMINISTRATION. 

NORWAY  is  behind  her  Scandinavian  sisters,  Denmark  and 
Sweden,  in  the  completeness  of  her  penitentiary  organiza- 
tion, but  not  in  her  spirit  of  progress  and  the  earnestness  of  her 
endeavors  to  realize  the  best  ideas  in  her  penitentiary  work. 

There  are  four  classes  of  prisons  in  Norway,  as  follows  :  three 
fortress  prisons,  four  houses  of  correction,  one  penitentiary,  and 
fifty-six  district  prisons,  corresponding  in  the  main  to  our  county 

33 


514  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BooK  IV. 

jails.  The  eight  establishments  belonging  to  the  first  three  cate- 
gories are  State-prisons,  and  their  expenses  are  defrayed  by  the 
Government ;  but  the  expenses  of  the  fifty-six  district  prisons  are 
met  by  the  districts  in  which  they  are  severally  situated,  minus 
certain  specified  items  of  expenditure,  which  are  a  charge  upon 
the  exchequer  of  the  State. 

The  management  of  the  prisons  of  Norway  is  in  the  hands  of 
the  department  of  justice.  This  department  is  charged  with  the 
immediate  administration  of  the  eight  State-prisons,  while  under 
it  the  administration  of  the  inferior  or  district  prisons  is  confided 
to  local  boards  of  managers,  with  superintendents  or  chiefs 
having  the  title  of  prefects,  who  appoint  their  subordinates.  Each 
State-prison  has  also  its  local  administration,  which  makes  the 
necessary  regulations  as  to  discipline,  economy,  etc.  ;  always, 
however,  in  conformity  to  rules  laid  down  by  the  department  of 
justice,  or  at  least  having  its  approval  and  sanction.  The  direc- 
tors and  chaplains  are  appointed  by  the  king  ;  the  medical  and 
financial  officers  by  the  minister  of  justice  ;  the  teachers  by  the 
chaplains  ;  and  all  other  functionaries  by  the  directors.  The  king 
names  the  members  of  the  local  managing  boards,  who  are  gen- 
erally taken  from  among  the  judicial  or  administrative  officers  of 
their  respective  localities.  Tenure  of  office  is  not  for  a  fixed  time, 
but  during  good  behavior. 

Under  authority  of  an  Act  of  the  Norwegian  parliament,  passed 
in  January,  1875,  a  director-general  of  prisons  was  appointed  the 
same  year,  under  the  title,  in  the  language  of  the  country,  of  ex- 
peditions-chief. The  appointment  was  given  to  Mr.  C.  C.  Smith, 
who  had  long  held  a  responsible  position  in  the  ministry  of  jus- 
tice, and  whose  ability  and  fidelity  had  therefore  been  thoroughly 
tested.  To  prepare  him  more  fully  for  his  work,  he  was  dis- 
patched on  a  mission  to  visit,  inspect,  and  examine  the  principal 
penal  establishments  of  the  different  countries  of  Europe.  I  had 
the  pleasure  to  make  the  acquaintance  of  the  new  inspector- 
general,  in  the  summer  of  1875,  at  Christiania,  soon  after  his 
appointment  and  before  he  had  been  on  his  European  mission. 
I  found  him  full  of  zeal  and  energy,  and  strongly  impressed  in 
favor  of  the  progressive  system  of  convict  treatment,  as  applied 
by  Sir  Walter  Crofton  in  Ireland. 


PART  XIL]  IN  NOR  WAY,  515 


CHAPTER  CXLV.  —  NORWAY  (continued).  —  PUBLIC  OPINION 
FAVORABLE  TO  THE  PROGRESSIVE  SYSTEM. 

THE  committee  of  justice  has,  in  successive  reports,  expressed 
a  preference  for  this  system,  but  has  shrunk  from  a  vigorous 
pressure  for  it,  because  of  the  great  expense  which  its  adoption 
would  cause.  This  timidity  is  perhaps  due,  in  part  at  least,  to 
the  fact,  that  since  1858  Norway  has  expended  about  1,000,000 
specie  dollars,  equal  to  $1,100,000  of  our  money,  in  building  her 
fifty-two  district  prisons,  whereby  her  prisons  of  preliminary 
detention  are  much  better  suited  to  their  purpose  and  work  than 
the  same  class  of  establishments  in  most  other  countries.  That 
must  be  set  down  to  her  credit,  as  a  good  and  sound  beginning. 
I  was  assured  that  a  thorough  reform  of  the  prison  system  could 
not  be  long  delayed  in  Norway,  especially  under  the  strong  and 
persistent  pressure  that  would  be  brought  to  bear  upon  the  work 
by  the  new  director-general  of  prisons  ;  and  that,  whenever  that 
time  came,  the  work  of  the  London  Congress  would  form  the 
basis  of  the  new  organization.  I  was  further  assuied  that  it 
would  be  easier  now  than  at  any  previous  time  to  carry  through 
the  needed  reforms,  for  the  reason  that  the  Congress  of  London 
had  made  the  prison  systems  of  the  whole  civilized  world,  so  to 
speak,  transparent.  They  can'  be  seen  as  in  a  mirror,  so  that 
the  good  points  may  be  copied,  while  the  bad  are  avoided.  They 
are  marshalled,  as  it  were,  in  groups,  thereby  enabling  each  nation- 
ality readily  to  decide  which  is  best  adapted  to  its  own  circum- 
stances, character,  and  wants. 


CHAPTER  CXLVI.  —  NORWAY  (continued].  —  PENITENTIARY 
AT  CHRIST  i ANIA. 

PERHAPS,  in  my  further  description  of  Norwegian  prison 
work,  I  cannot  better  discharge  the  task  than  by  giving  a 
brief  account  of  my  personal  inspection  of  a.  prison  of  each  class 
at  Christiania,  beginning  with  the  penitentiary. 

This  is  the  latest  and  best  of  the  State-prisons  of  Norway, 
having  commenced  its  work  in  1851.  It  is  a  cellular  prison  with 
two  hundred  and  fifty-two  cells,  spacious  and  well  ventilated. 
I  visited  it  on  the  7th  of  September,  1875,  when  the  number  of 
inmates  was  one  hundred  and  seventy-two.  Mr.  Richard  Peter- 
sen,  son  of  a  late  prime  minister  of  Norway,  is  the  director  of  the 


516  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BooK  iv. 

prison ;  a  gentleman  of  excellent  natural  gifts,  of  large  culture, 
and  with  a  heart  whose  every  pulsation  is  for  the  reform,  the 
elevation,  the  welfare,  —  in  one  word,  the  salvation,  —  of  the 
fallen  and  the  unfortunate.  In  his  whole  work  he  has  but  one 
impulse,  one  desire,  one  aim,  one  effort,  —  it  is,  by  God's  help,  to 
change  bad  men  into  good  ones  ;  to  that  every  thought  and  energy 
of  his  nature  are  directed  with  a  ceaseless  activity. 

On  the  prisoner's  arrival  at  the  penitentiary  Mr.  Petersen  first 
takes  him  into  his  private  office,  and,  in  a  strictly  confidential 
conversation,  questions  him  kindly  but  searchingly  as  to  his  past 
life,  —  his  parents,  his  brothers  and  sisters,  what  occupation  he 
had,  how  much  he  earned  by  his  labor,  where  he  had  lived,  what 
had  led  him  into  crime,  and  especially  the  cause  of  the  criminal 
act  for  which  he  had  now  been  committed.  In  conducting  this 
inquest,  Mr.  Petersen's  manner  is  so  gentle,  so  winning,  so  kindly, 
so  truly  paternal  —  for  his  heart  is  in  the  work  —  that  the  pris- 
oner's confidence  is  gained  ;  he  is  more  often  than  otherwise 
melted  into  tears,  and  the  secrets  of  his  life  are  laid  open  to 
the  view.  All  the  facts  elicited  in  this  interview  are  carefully 
recorded  in  the  "  Book  of  Character." 

Next,  Mr.  Petersen  explains  to  the  prisoner  the  nature  of  the 
punishment  to  be  undergone,  what  he  will  be  required  to  do  and 
what  not  to  do  while  in  prison,  and  why  all  this  has  been  made 
necessary  by  his  crime.  He  gives  him  to  understand  that  it  is 
his  duty  to  see  the  prescribed  punishment  executed,  at  the  same 
time  explaining  to  and  impressing  upon  him,  that  he  and  the 
other  officers  are  his  best  friends,  since  their  great  aim  is  to 
change  him  into  a  better  man. 

In  the  "character  book"  is  afterwards  inserted,  from  time  to 
time,  whatever  tends  to  throw  light  on  the  moral  condition  of 
the  prisoner,  —  such  as  fragments  of  his  correspondence,  how  he 
works,  studies,  progresses,  repents,  confesses  other  undetected 
crimes  (a  thing  not  uncommon),  or,  contrariwise,  how  he  retro- 
grades and  grows  worse.  His  disciplinary  punishments,  also, 
are  all  set  down  in  this  book ;  in  a  word,  an  outline  of  his  entire 
moral  history  during  his  imprisonment  is  there  made  matter  of 
record. 

Before  his  discharge,  the  prisoner  is  again  called  into  the 
director's  office,  and,  in  a  parting  conversation,  recounts  briefly 
the  incidents  of  his  prison  life.  He  tells  what  progress  he  has 
made,  and  in  what  directions  ;  what  are  his  plans  and  purposes  ; 
where  he  wishes  to  go  ;  what  to  do,  etc.  Then,  if  he  is  not 
from  Christiania,  the  director  asks  him  to  write  to  him  often  and 
freely,  and  to  inform  him  where  and  how  he  lives,  what  he  works 
at,  how  much  he  earns ;  in  short,  all  the  particulars  of  his  life, 
his  successes,  his  failures,  etc.  He  ends  by  assuring  the  prisoner 
that  he  will  still  continue  his  interest  in  him  and  seek  his  good. 


PART  xn.]  IN  NOR  WAY.  517 

The  chaplain's  estimate  of  the  prisoner  and  whatever  remarks  he 
has  to  offer  concerning  him  are  inserted  in  the  "  character  book." 
Lastly,  his  weight  on  his  discharge  is  recorded,  as  it  had  been  on 
his  entrance. 

Mr.  Petersen  lays  great  stress  on  these  notices  about  the  pris- 
oner, believing  it  necessary  to  study  the  man  thoroughly  in  order 
to  be  able  to  manage  and  mould  him  as  an  individual  being.  He 
visits  and  talks  personally  with  each  prisoner  every  three  weeks, 
and  so  does  the  chaplain.  Indeed  neither  of  these  officers  re- 
stricts himself  to  that  number  of  visits.  He  regards  individuali- 
zation  as  essential  to  all  reformatory  prison  discipline.  He  lays 
equal  stress  on  his  correspondence  with  discharged  prisoners,  — 
having  in  this  way,  in  numerous  cases,  continued  a  good  work 
and  carried  it  forward  to  perfection. 

Through  these  agencies  Mr.  Petersen  reaches  with  few  excep- 
tions the  hearts  of  his  prisoners,  because  his  own  heart  works  in 
and  by  them.  As  a  consequence  he  rarely  fails  to  win  their  con- 
fidence and  affection.  Thus  he  governs  them  by  gentleness  and 
love  rather  than  by  violence  and  fear  ;  and  they  are  unspeakably 
better  governed  and  are  made  more  docile,  orderly,  and  obedient 
by  the  former  method  than  they  would  or  could  be  by  the  latter. 

A  meeting  of  the  prison  staff  is  held  every  Saturday,  at  which 
are  found  the  director,  the  chaplain,  the  doctor,  the  three  school- 
masters, the  chief  warder,  and  the  steward  or  financial  officer,  for 
conference  and  consultation  on  all  matters  and  interests  pertain- 
ing to  the  prison  and  the  prisoners. 

No  classification  of  the  prisoners  exists  in  the  associated  pris- 
ons other  than  that  of  distributing  them  in  the  work-rooms  and 
dormitories  in  such  manner  that  the  younger  and  less  corrupted 
are  separated  so  far  as  may  be  from  the  older  and  more  dangerous 
criminals.  But  in  the  penitentiary  there  has  been  introduced  a 
system  of  progressive  classification  based  on  the  zeal  and  merit 
of  the  prisoners,  through  which  some  mitigation  of  their  punish- 
ment is  gradually  afforded.  Such  mitigation  consists  only  in 
allowing  them,  to  an  increasing  extent,  to  write  letters,  receive 
visits,  work  in  the  open  air,  and  other  minor  privileges.  The 
prisoners  are  not  permitted  either  to  share  in  their  earnings  or 
shorten  their  terms  of  sentence,  though  these  are  the  greatest 
stimulants  that  can  be  applied  to  impel  them  to  industry  and 
general  good  conduct. 

Among  the  best  reformatory  agencies  employed  Mr.  Petersen 
counts  the  sermons  and  personal  conversations  of  the  chaplain, 
the  school-lessons,  and  the  labor.  The  labor  he  declares  to  be 
his  "  hobby."  "  Ah,"  said  he,  kindling  into  a  glow  of  enthusiasm 
as  he  uttered  the  words,  "our  prisoners  who  are  employed  as 
cabinet-makers,  turners,  basket-makers,  blacksmiths,  saddlers,  etc., 
behave  well''  There  are  four  carding-machines,  all  made  in  the 


518  STATE   OF  PRISONS,   ETC.  [BOOK  iv. 

prison  itself.  They  are  each  of  a  size  to  be  placed  in  a  cell. 
They  were  constructed  on  this  wise  (I  give  the  account  in 
Mr.  Petersen's  own  words)  :  — 

"  I  had  many  years  ago  a  very  clever  prisoner  who,  having  often 
been  tried  for  theft,  had  passed  a  long  time  in  a  house  of  correction. 
'  Governor,  you  should  supply  your  prisons  with  a  carding-engine,'  said  he 
to  me  one  day ;  '  and  if  you  desire  it  I  will  make  a  smaller  machine  after 
the  large  one  I  have  seen  in  the  house  of  correction.'  After  having  con- 
versed with  him  I  consented,  and  let  him  begin  the  work.  He  had  no 
sketch,  no  model,  at  hand.  He  worked  out  of  his  own  head,  but  when 
the  machine  was  finished  it  showed  itself  to  be  in  all  its  details  extremely 
well  and  finely  done.  Afterwards  we  made  three  other  machines  on  the 
model  of  the  first.  The  four  prisoners  who  work  at  these  machines  be- 
have always  well,  and  are  industrious,  so  that  their  foreheads  rise  in  pearl 
drops,  to  my  hearty  pleasure  and  their  own  too.  They  clean  and  love 
their  machines  as  artillerists  do  their  guns.  The  builder  of  the  first  ma- 
chine is  this  day  an  honest  man.  I  think  that  my  confidence  in  him  did 
him  good." 

Mr.  Petersen  criticises  freely  his  own  prison.  In  the  first 
place,  he  says,  they  have  there  too  many  short  sentences ;  indeed, 
he  counts  all  sentences  too  short  that  are  under  a  year.  He  re- 
gards the  advances  made  in  the  five  classes  into  which  the  pris- 
oners are  divided  as  too  insignificant,  particularly  as  there  is 
included  therein  no  participation  in  earnings  and  no  abbreviation 
of  sentence.  The  subordinate  officers  lack  the  necessary  profes- 
sional education  for  their  work,  and  feel  too  little  interest  in  the 
prisoners.  He  is  a  thorough  believer  in  the  doctrine  promul- 
gated at  Cincinnati, — that  no  prison  can  become  a  school  of 
reform  till  there  is  on  the  part  of  the  officers  a  hearty  desire  and 
intention  to  accomplish  that  object,  and  a  firm  faith  in  the  pos- 
sibility of  accomplishing  it.  He  likes  the  cellular  system  up  to 
a  certain  point,  but  thinks  long  or  often  repeated  isolation  en- 
feebling to  both  mind  and  body. 

And  just  here,  at  the  expense  of  making  my  notice  a  little 
longer  than  I  could  wish,  I  must  introduce  an  extract  from  a 
letter  received  from  Mr.  Petersen  a  few  months  ago  to  show  still 
further  the  spirit  and  manner  in  which  his  prison  is  conducted, 
and  what  opinions  he  holds  after  more  than  twenty  years'  experi- 
ence as  a  prison  governor.  He  says  :  — 

"You  know  that  my  prisoners  are  divided  into  five  classes.  In  the 
first,  if  recidivists,  they  remain  three  to  five  months ;  in  the  second,  five 
months ;  in  the  third  and  fourth,  one  year  each ;  in  the  fifth,  the  rest  of 
their  prison  life.  In  the  first  and  second  classes  the  prisoners  work  in 
their  cells ;  in  the  third  they  may  work  out  of  the  cells,  but  within  the 
prison  building ;  in  the  fourth  and  fifth  they  may  work  in  the  yards.  These 
are  cultivated  as  much  as  possible,  but  with  simple  plants,  —  vegetables  for 


PART  XIL]  IN  NORWAY.  519 

the  table,  willows  for  the  basket-workers,  and  wild-roses  as  a  luxury.  The 
out-buildings  are  covered  with  creeping  vines.  I  have  also  a  nursery  of 
trees.  All  the  beds  are  surrounded  by  well-clipped  hedges,  so  that  the 
gardens,  to  my  eyes  and  those  of  the  prisoners  too,  look  like  royal  ones. 
We  keep  hogs  and  a  thrashing-barn  within  the  prison  walls.  To  a  prisoner 
working  here  I  sometimes  say  :  '  How  happy  you  seem,  Mr.  John  ! 1  Here 
is  a  very  good  smell, — a  home-smell,  as  if  you  were  not  in  a  prison.'  And 
then  he  smiles,  scrubbing  the  hogs  or  thrashing  with  might  and  main  ;  and 
I  make  my  round  to  my  heart's  content.  You  will  see  that  we  have  much 
work  to  do  in  our  yards.  All  these  things  I  lay  before  you  because  I 
explained  to  the  members  of  the  Scandinavian  meeting  in  Stockholm  that 
I  was  not  afraid  of  four  years  of  cellular  life  under  a  progressive  system 
such  as  mine.  Without  that,  I  would  agree  with  the  other  Scandinavian 
members  that  two  years'  isolation  ought  to  be  the  maximum.  In  our 
gardens  (yards)  I  sometimes  have  as  many  as  four  prisoners  working 
together  under  an  officer  and  in  silence,  but  as  a  rule  they  are  separated 
from  each  other.  You  know  that  our  prisoners  do  not  wear  the  mask  ;  of 
course  they  can  see  each  other  when  going  to  exercise,  church,  bath,  etc. 
Yet  the  prisoners  in  each  wing  are  quite  separated  from  those  of  the  other 
wings.  But  I  cannot  go  further  than  this.  I  am  not  an  idolater  of  system. 
Every  system  should  be  adapted  to  the  circumstances  of  the  country  and 
the  character  of  the  people  where  it  is  applied,  but  no  system  ought  to  be 
idolized.  I  am  decidedly  of  opinion  that  recidivists,  if  they  have  reached 
the  age  of  twenty-five,  ought  to  be  placed  in  an  associated  prison,  since  I 
feel  sure  that  the  repetition  of  the  cellular  punishment  is  injurious  to  the 
prisoner  in  all  respects,  bodily,  mentally,  and  morally.  The  cell  is  a  blessing 
to  prisoners  sentenced  to  it  for  the  first  time,  but  a  ruin  to  the  habitual 
thieves.  I  continue  my  correspondence  with  discharged  prisoners ;  but 
Mr.  Seiss,  our  head-teacher,  is  my  superior  in  that  regard.  Every  prisoner 
writes  to  him,  and  he  replies  to  all.  He  is  an  able  man,  and  one  of  the 
pillars  of  the  prison.  I  very  often  think  of  Mr.  Organ  in  connection  with 
him,  and  compare  the  two  in  thought.  Mr.  Seiss  tells  me  that  a  young 
prisoner,  who  finds  stealing  '  extremely  interesting,'  but  conducts  himself 
well  here,  said  to  him,  — '  I  should  like  to  be  a  Christian,  not  because  of 
what  you  tell  me,  but  because  you  look  so  happy  in  telling  it.'  " 


CHAPTER  CXLVII.  —  NORWAY  (continued).  —  FORTRESS 
PRISON  AT  CHRISTIANIA. 

THE  fortress  prison  at  Christiania  is  under  a  military  adminis- 
tration, as  are  also  the  other  two  in  other  localities.    It  has 
accommodations  for  four  hundred  inmates;  on  the  day  of  my  visit 
the  number  was  two  hundred  and  forty-three.     The  system  of 
imprisonment  here,  as  in  all  the  State-prisons  except  the  peni- 

1  The  personality  of  the  prisoner  does  not  disappear  in  a  number,  nor  does  Mr.  P. 
fear  to  put  a  prefix  to  his  name. 


52O  STATE   OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  IV. 

tentiary,  is  that  of  association,  with  common  dormitories.  This 
latter  feature  is  most  objectionable,  and  is  felt  to  be  so  by  the 
authorities.  It  is  one  of  the  chief  grounds  on  which  a  reform  of 
the  penitentiary  system  is  urged. 

Numerous  industries  are  carried  on  in  this  prison,  such  as 
weaving,  carpentry,  smithery,  shoe-making,  saddlery,  baking, 
book-binding,  painting,  basket-making,  and  stone-cutting,  —  this 
last  being  the  most  extensive,  as  it  engages  the  labor  of  nearly 
one  third  of  the  convicts.  It  is  not  simply  the  dressing  of  stone 
for  buildings  that  is  done  here,  but  works  of  art  are  produced  in 
this  department  as  well.  There  are  now  to  be  seen,  in  the  public 
square  in  front  of  the  parliament  house  at  Christiania,  two  granite 
lions  chiselled  some  years  ago  by  two  prisoners  (priests),  of  which 
the  execution  is  most  creditable  to  the  artistic  powers  of  the 
reverend  culprits. 

Ten  prisoners  (more  or  less)  are  constantly  employed  in  the 
bakery,  as  all  the  bread  used  in  the  penitentiary,  house  of  correc- 
tion, detention  prison,  and  military  establishment  at  Christiania 
is  made  here. 

All  male  criminals  sentenced  for  life  or  to  penal  labor  for  six 
years  and  over,  and  all  male  recidivists  for  not  less  than  three 
years,  are  committed  to  the  fortress  prisons.  Of  the  first  of  these 
classes  —  life-sentenced  men  —  the  number  at  the  date  of  my  visit 
was  twenty. 

Although  the  system  at  the  fortress  prison  of  Arkershuus  is 
that  of  association  both  day  and  night, — the  common  dormitories 
having  from  forty  to  sixty  beds  each, — yet  the  first  and  last 
months  of  the  imprisonment  are  passed  by  the  prisoners  in  cellu- 
lar separation. 

Although  only  one  prisoner  in  a  hundred  on  the  average  is 
wholly  illiterate,  yet  all  are  required  to  attend  school.  They 
come  by  workshops  daily  for  two  hours,  the  inmates  of  each  shop 
attending  in  succession  from  ten  A.M.  to  twelve  M.  Besides  the 
schoolmaster,  there  is  also  a  music-teacher,  who  gives  lessons  in 
singing  every  Saturday  afternoon  to  thirty  or  more  prisoners. 

Some  little  stimulus  is  held  out  to  insure  good  conduct  in  an 
extra  allowance  of  food  granted  to  the  best-behaved  prisoners. 
This  is  an  objectionable  sort  of  reward,  as  it  appeals  solely  to  a 
gross  animal  instinct.  The  authorities  themselves  acknowledge 
the  force  of  this  objection,  and  Director-general  Smith  spoke  of 
the  practice  in  terms  almost  of  disgust.  But  it  is  sure  soon  to  be 
swept  away,  with  much  else  that  is  objectionable,  and  to  be  re- 
placed by  a  system  in  which  the  appeal  will  be  to  the  higher  and 
better  impulses  of  humanity. 

I  was  much  impressed  with  the  intelligence,  good  feeling,  and 
courtesy  of  the  director  of  this  prison,  —  Colonel  Beichmann,  — 
who,  if  the  military  administration  of  prisons  is  to  be  tolerated  at 
all,  impressed  me  as  being  "  the  right  man  in  the  right  place." 


PART  xn.]  IN  NOR  WAY.  $21 


CHAPTER  CXLVIII.  —  NORWAY  (continued).  —  HOUSE  OF  COR- 
RECTION AT  CHRISTIANIA. 

THE  house  of  correction  is  an  old,  irregular,  tumble-down 
sort  of  building,  of  large  dimensions ;  but,  through  the 
enlightened  energy  and  efficient  zeal  of  its  admirable  director, 
Mr.  Jensen,  the  prison  is  kept  in  excellent  order,  every  part  of  it 
being  clean  as  a  new-made  pin,  and  the  whole  administration  and 
discipline  maintained  at  a  high  point  of  excellence  and  efficiency. 
The  two  departments,  male  and  female,  are  in  different  parts 
of  the  establishment,  between  which  there  is  no  communication. 
In  the  men's  department  there  are  accommodations  for  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty  ;  in  the  women's,  for  two  hundred.  The  number 
of  inmates,  on  the  occasion  of  my  inspection,  was,  of  males, 
one  hundred  and  twenty-six ;  of  females,  one  hundred  and  forty- 
eight. 

The  chief  industries  for  the  women,  besides  work  for  the 
establishment,  are  laundry-work  and  the  manufacture  from  the 
raw  material  of  cloths  of  all  sorts,  from  the  finest  broadcloths  to 
the  coarsest  satinets  and  horse-blankets.  About  two  thirds  of 
the  women  are  occupied  in  this  last-named  industry,  and  from 
it  the  chief  revenue  is  derived,  so  far  as  it  comes  from  female 
labor. 

The  male  prisoners  are  also  largely  employed  in  the  manu- 
facture of  cloths,  considerably  more  than  a  third  of  the  whole 
number  being  thus  occupied.  Other  industries  in  the  men's 
department  are  stone-cutting,  carpentry,  cabinet-work,  tailoring, 
shoe-making,  wood-chopping,  book-binding,  saddlery,  smithery, 
and  some  minor  employments. 

The  average  per  capita  earnings  of  the  prisoners  of  both  sexes 
are  seventy-five  specie  dollars  a  year,  equal  to  about  eighty-two 
dollars  and  fifty  cents  of  our  currency.  This  sum  is  nearly  suffi- 
cient to  cover  the  current  expenses  of  the  establishment. 


CHAPTER  CXLIX.  —  NORWAY  (continued),.  —  DETENTION 
PRISON  AT  CHRISTIANIA.  ' 

THE    prison   of    preliminary   detention   at   Christiania,   like 
most  others  of  its  class  throughout  the  kingdom,  is  upon 
the  cellular  plan,  having  one  hundred  cells  of   eight  hundred 
cubic  feet  each,  except  that  seven  of  them  are  of  double  size, 


522  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BooK  iv. 

and  intended  each  for  two  persons.  At  the  time  of  my  visit 
thirty-six  prisoners  were  confined  in  the  prison  awaiting  trial, 
and  twenty-seven  under  sentence  without  labor.  The  shortest 
term  of  imprisonment  here,  under  sentence,  is  four  days,  and  the 
longest  two  hundred  and  forty.  The  dietary  is  arranged  upon  a 
somewhat  complicated  scale,  according  to  the  length  of  sentence  ; 
but  it  seems  hardly  worth  while  to  go  into  a  detailed  explanation 
of  it. 

One  wing  of  the  prison  is  appropriated  to  persons  arrested  for 
intoxication  and  confined  for  a  night.  It  is  sad  to  record  that 
the  nightly  average  of  this  class  of  inmates  is  reported  at  thirty. 
The  night  previous  to  my  visit  it  was  thirty-six  ;  and  the  night 
following  the  fete  day,  on  which  the  equestrian  statue  of  Carl 
Johann  (Bernadotte)  was  inaugurated,  the  number  rose  to  fifty- 
nine. 

Being  a  detention  prison,  it  receives  women  as  well  as  men  ; 
but  the  two  sexes  are  completely  separated  from  each  other,  as 
each  prisoner  is  from  those  of  the  same  sex.  None  are  required 
to  work,  and  none  choose  work  at  this  prison.  The  prison  is  well- 
built,  well-lighted,  well-aired,  substantial,  and  secure :  and,  being 
cellular,  is  a  good  model  for  prisons  of  its  class  everywhere. 


CHAPTER  CL.  —  NORWAY  (continued).  —  PRISON  LABOR.  . 

I  LOOK  upon  prison  labor  as,  in  some  respects,  better  organ- 
ized in  Norway  than  under  any  other  prison  system  with 
which  I  am  acquainted;  though  in  others,  and  those  not  unim- 
portant, it  might  be  modified  to  great  advantage. 

The  labor  system  differs  materially  in  the  prisons  of  the  three 
Scandinavian  countries.  In  Denmark  the  prison  labor,  with  the 
exception  of  the  small  portion  of  it  needed  for  the  work  of  the 
penitentiary  establishments  themselves,  is  let  to  private  contract- 
ors ;  and  the  excellent  director-general  of  prisons,  Mr.  Bruun, 
strenuously  defends  the  system  as  the  best  yet  devised,  being 
there,  he  claims,  held  so  firmly  in  hand  by  the  prison  authorities 
as  to  prevent  all  interference  with  the  discipline,  and  exclude  all 
hurtful  outside  influences.  In  Sweden  the  labor  is  conducted 
upon  a  mixed  system,  partly  on  account  of  the  State  and  partly 
by  contractors,  —  the  latter  system  until  recently  having  greatly 
predominated  over  the  former.  Mr.  Almquist,  director-general 
of  prisons  for  Sweden,  a  gentleman  of  large  experience  and  ob- 
servation, is,  as  we  have  seen,  of  the  opinion  that  to  secure  the 
best  rqsults  of  prison  discipline,  so  far  at  least  as  the  moral  refor- 


PART  xn.]  IN  NORWAY,  523 

mation  of  the  prisoners  is  concerned,  all  the  industries  should  be 
under  the  direction  of  the  administration,  and  the  pressure,  as 
we  have  further  seen,  is  at  this  moment  strongly  in  that  direc- 
tion. Differing  in  this  respect  from  both  her  sister  kingdoms, 
Norway  manages  the  labor  of  her  prisons  exclusively  through 
their  respective  administrations. 

Now,  what  are  the  results  of  these  several  systems  ?  Finan- 
cially, that  of  Norway  is  the  most  satisfactory.  While  the  net 
earnings  of  the  Danish  prisons,  excepting  of  course  the  deten- 
tion prisons,  pay  only  forty-four  per  cent  of  the  expenses,  the 
earnings  of  the  Norwegian  prisons,  with  the  same  exception, 
meet  fifty-four  per  cent  of  the  total  cost,  while  the  house  of  cor- 
rection at  Christiania  comes  very  near  to  absolute  self-support. 
The  disposition  of  the  earnings  in  the  Swedish  prisons  is  pecul- 
iar, as  they  are  almost  wholly  divided  between  the  prisoners,  the 
officials,  and  the  savings  bank  in  aid  of  the  liberated. 

Morally,  the  Norwegian  system  cannot  possibly  be  less  satis- 
factory than  those  of  Denmark  and  Sweden,  unless  some  un- 
known factor  comes  in  to  make  it  so,  since  it  would  be  contrary 
to  all  experience  and  all  reason  to  suppose  that,  with  all  outside 
influences  eliminated,  an  equally  good  internal  administration 
should  not  yield  equally  good  moral  results  ;  while  the  presump- 
tion is  that  these  would  be  better,  for  the  reason  that  exterior 
influences,  intruding  themselves  within  a  prison,  are  generally 
found  to  be  a  disturbing  and  pernicious  element.  I  will  not 
undertake  in  the  present  case  to  say  in  which  of  these  three 
countries  the  prison  administration  yields  the  best  moral  results, 
because  my  intimate  conviction  is  that  in  all  of  them  the  great 
aim  and  effort  ot  the  authorities,  especially  those  at  the  head  of 
the  several  administrations,  is  to  effect  if  possible,  and  as  far  as 
possible,  the  moral  regeneration  of  the  prisoners  ;  and  there  are 
no  exact  statistics  within  my  reach  which  will  justify  a  decision 
as  regards  any  claim  of  precedence. 

But  there  is  one  objection  met,  one  fear  allayed,  by  the  experi- 
ence of  Norway  ;  namely,  that  prisons  managing  their  own  indus- 
tries could  scarcely  expect  to  find  a  ready  and  permanent  market 
for  the  products  of  their  labor.  Such  has  not  been  the  case  in 
Norway,  but  quite  the  reverse.  Each  of  the  three  State-prisons 
of  Christiania  has  a  sales-room  in  that  city,  where  its  industrial 
products  are  offered  to  all  comers,  at  the  same  prices  —  not  a  far- 
thing less  —  as  all  other  goods  of  the  same  description  and  qual- 
ity. With  what  result  ?  Why,  the  prison-made  goods  (and  we 
have  seen  how  varied  the  prison  industries  are)  meet  with  a  readier 
sale  than  goods  manufactured  elsewhere.  Such  a  fact  will  be  a 
puzzle  to  many.  Is  it  that  the  products  of  prison  labor  are  better 
made  than  those  of  other  manufactories  ?  Not  at  all.  What  then  ? 
Simply  that  customers  have  no  misgivings  as  to  the  absolute  hon- 


524  STATE   OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BooK  IV. 

esty  of  the  raw  material,  while  they  fear  some  sort  or  degree  of 
cheatery  in  that  of  private  establishments,  —  an  honorable  testi- 
mony to  the  integrity  of  the  men  whom  the  Government  has  put 
in  charge  of  the  penitentiaries  of  the  country. 


CHAPTER  CLI.  —  NORWAY  (continued).  —  RECENT 
IMPROVEMENTS. 

OTHER  ameliorations  have  been  introduced  into  the  prisons 
of  Norway,  which  are  by  no  means  of  an  unimportant  char- 
acter. For  example,  effort  has  been  made,  not  without  success, 
to  develop  and  improve  scholastic  instruction  in  the  prisons,  to 
enlarge  the  prison  libraries,  and  to  organize  the  labor  in  such 
manner  that  the  prisoners  may  as  far  as  possible  during  their  im- 
prisonment be  occupied  in  such  kinds  of  work  as  will  best  enable 
them  on  their  liberation  honestly  and  honorably  to  provide  for  the 
wants  of  life.  Progress  has  also  been  made  in  another  direction, 
and  that  of  much  importance.  Formerly  there  existed  but  one 
prisoners'-aid  society  in  Norway,  but  within  the  last  two  years 
several  such  have  been  organized.  A  warm  interest  is  given  to 
these  associations,  and  some  of  them  are  aided  by  the  State.  The 
number  of  liberated  prisoners  who  apply  to  them  for  help  in- 
creases daily. 


CHAPTER  CLII.  — NORWAY  (concluded}.  —  CHILD-SAVING  WORK. 

NOT  much  has  heretofore  been  done  in  Norway  in  the  way  of 
child-saving  work.  But  the  "  dry  bones "  begin  to  move 
even  in  that  field.  Mr.  Petersen,  official  delegate  from  Norway  to 
the  London  Congress,  in  his  report  to  his  Government,  said  : 
"  Toftes  gave  [the  gift  of  Tofte],  a  little  agricultural  colony  for 
vagrant  and  neglected  children,  is  a  foundation  on  which  it  may 
be  possible  to  build  ;  and  it  may  be  that  a  future  reform  will  first 
cast  its  eye  on  that  establishment."  These  words  have  proved  to 
be  prophetic.  The  little  establishment  for  the  education  and 
reformation  of  vicious  children  founded  many  years  ago  by  the 
generosity  of  Mr.  Tofte  has  just  been  considerably  enlarged,  and 
it  was  the  national  parliament  that  furnished  in  part  the  funds  for 
such  enlargement.  The  institution  has  been  removed  from  a  very 
poor  farm  to  a  very  excellent  one,  where  it  will  henceforth  be  con- 


PART  xii.]  IN  NORWAY.  525 

ducted  on  the  family  plan,  with  accommodations  for  one  hundred 
and  twenty  boys. 

This  may  be  regarded  as  an  entering-wedge,  and  Norway  within 
a  few  years  is  likely  to  be  well  supplied  with  a  system  of  preven- 
tive and  reformatory  institutions. 


526  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BooK  IV. 


PART  THIRTEENTH. 

SWITZERLAND. 

CHAPTER  CLIII.  —  EXTRAORDINARY  PROGRESS  REALIZED 
WITHIN  THE  LAST  FEW  YEARS. 

EXTRAORDINARY  progress  has  been  realized  in  Switzer- 
land within  the  last  few  years  in  the  penitentiary  domain. 
The  advance  has  been  so  great  that  I  cannot  venture  to  use  the 
statements  on  this  subject  communicated  officially  to  the  Con- 
gress of  London  in  1872,  lest  I  should  put  forth  error  instead  of 
truth,  and  do  injustice  to 'a  country  which  is  eminently  entitled 
to  justice  by  its  intelligence,  zeal,  and  activity  in  this  department 
of  social  reform.  That  I  should  be  without  the  necessary  data 
for  an  account  of  penitentiary  work  in  Switzerland  seems  so 
strange  that  some  explanation  of  the  fact  will  be  looked  for  as  a 
matter  of  course. 

My  friend  Dr.  Guillaume,  who  has  held  the  position  of  official 
delegate  from  the  Swiss  Confederation  to  the  congresses  of  Lon- 
don and  Stockholm,  and  that  of  secretary-in-chief  to  the  latter, 
prepared  and  placed  in  my  hands  a  report  on  the  Swiss  prisons 
brought  down  to  the  time  of  the  Stockholm  Congress  (1878). 
This  I  returned  to  him  for  publication  in  the  Transactions  of  the 
Congress,  with  a  request  that  he  would  cause  it  to  be  copied  out 
at  my  expense  and  the  copy  forwarded  to  me.  This  request  I 
have  since  renewed  by  letter,  but  without  effect ;  and  the  second 
volume  of  Transactions  in  which  it  will  no  doubt  appear  has  not 
yet  been  issued  from  the  press.  Why  the  report  has  not  been 
sent  to  me  in  manuscript  I  am  of  course  unable  to  say,  but  it  is 
probably  owing  to  the  pressure  of  more  important  duties.  Under 
these  circumstances  I  can  only  give  as  my  sketch  of  Swiss  prisons 
the  few  and  hasty  paragraphs  contained  in  my  opening  discourse 
as  follows :  — 

Few  countries  have  felt  the  influence  of  the  London  Congress 
more  strongly  or  more  beneficially  than  Switzerland.  Since  the 
date  of  that  gathering,  Switzerland  has  become  on  this  subject 
like  a  bee-hive  in  summer,  where  all  is  life  and  activity,  and  the 
hum  never  ceases.  The  progress  realized  has  been  remarkable. 
New  penal  codes  have  been  enacted ;  new  and  improved  prisons 


PART  xni.]  IN  SWITZERLAND.  527 

have  been  built ;  new  preventive  and  reformatory  institutions 
have  sprung  into  being ;  the  progressive  system  of  convict  treat- 
ment has  taken  firm  root ;  provisional  liberation  has  been  de- 
creed and  is  in  operation  in  a  number  of  cantons  ;  the  work  of 
patronage  has  been  largely  developed  ;  the  Swiss  prison-society 
has  displayed  an  extraordinary  fertility  of  initiative  and  an  equally 
extraordinary  activity  in  pushing  its  measures  through  to  their 
consummation,  whether  they  related  to  penal  legislation,  prison 
discipline,  or  preventive  and  reformatory  agencies.  Such  is  the 
short  history  of  six  years'  work  in  the  little  republic  which  forms 
the  centre  of  Europe. 

If  I  should  stop  here,  enough  would  have  been  said.  But  let 
me  add  a  fact  or  two  to  make  good  these  statements. 

It  has  been  said  that  the  work  of  patronage  has  been  much 
quickened  and  extended.  One  fact  in  support  of  that  assertion : 
The  canton  of  Neuchatel  has  a  population  of  100,000  souls.  It 
had  a  patronage  society  before  the  Congress  of  London,  but 
the  organization  was  small  in  numbers  and  feeble  in  action. 
Now  it  has  an  effective  membership  of  fifteen  hundred  persons. 
The  chaplain  of  the  penitentiary  went  from  house  to  house 
throughout  the  canton  soliciting  sympathy,  names,  and  money ; 
the  result  is  what  I  have  stated. 

It  has  been  said  that  preventive  and  reformatory  institutions  have 
been  multiplied  in  Switzerland.  Now  see  the  proof.  Some  years 
ago  a  citizen  of  Neuchatel, — a  M.  Borel,  —  dying,  bequeathed  to  the 
State  800,000  francs,  now  become  a  million,  to  be  devoted  to  such 
benevolent  object  as  the  legislative  council  of  the  canton  might 
direct.  The  council  named  a  commission  to  determine  the  object 
to  which  the  bequest  should  be  given.  Divers  institutions  sought 
the  generous  gift,  but  failed  to  obtain  it.  However,  after  the  Lon- 
'don  Congress,  the  commission,  informed  of  its  doings  and  its 
views,  decided  by  a  unanimous  vote  that  the  bequest  should  be 
devoted  to  the  founding  of  an  institution  for  saving  destitute, 
neglected,  and  exposed  boys  from  the  plunge  into  crime.  The 
London  Congress  obtained  that  money  for  this  work  as  really  as 
if  it  had  gone  to  Neuchatel  in  a  body,  and  made  application  for  it. 
The  buildings  for  the  institution,  which  is  to  be  on  the  family 
system,  are  well  advanced  towards  completion.  Some  years  later 
a  rich  citizen  of  the  canton  of  Neuchatel,  —  M.  Lambelet,  —  also 
enlightened  as  to  what  the  Congress  of  London  had  done  and 
thought,  and  inspired  by  the  example  of  the  legislative  council 
of  Neuchatel,  in  making  his  will  bequeathed  his  whole  fortune, 
nearly  equal  to  that  of  M.  Borel,  to  found  a  similar  institution  for 
girls.  He  has  since  died,  and  the  school,  also  on  the  family  plan, 
is  already  in  operation,  there  being  no  need  in  this  case  to  wait  for 
the  erection  of  buildings,  as  his  own  dwelling  was  by  the  terms 
of  the  will  to  serve  that  purpose.  The  London  Congress  got  that 


528  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  IV. 

money  also,  as  it  did  the  bequest  of  M.  Borel,  to  be  used  for  the 
prevention  of  crime. 

A  number  of  institutions  organized  on  the  family  idea,  like  the 
Boys'  Home  at  Farningham,  England,  and  the  Princess  Mary's 
Village  at  Addlestone,  near  London,  have  been  opened  in  Swit- 
zerland since  the  Congress  of  London.  Still  further,  as  a  large 
majority  of  child-saving  institutions  in  Switzerland,  owing  their 
existence  to  private  charity,  do  not  receive  children  beyond  a  cer- 
tain age,  and  as  consequently  the  young  offenders  from  fifteen  to 
twenty  years  of  age  are  either  abandoned  to  their  fate  or  sent  to 
adult  prisons,  —  therefore  the  several  cantons,  with  a  view  to  fill 
this  lacune,  are  at  the  present  moment  occupied  with  the  problem 
of  creating  a  reform  school  on  the  plan  of  Redhill,  near  London, 
for  juvenile  delinquents  of  the  class  just  named,  which  shall  serve 
for  the  use  of  the  whole  confederation. 

One  more  fact  I  mention,  not,  unhappily,  because  it  is  charac- 
teristic of  the  general  state  of  things  in  Switzerland  any  more 
than  in  other  parts  of  the  world,  but  because  it  may  prove  at 
once  an  example  and  an  inspiration.  A  pastor  in  the  canton  of 
Neuchatel,  dying,  bequeathed  all  his  little  fortune,  some  thirty 
thousand  francs,  to  endow  for  all  future  time  the  chaplaincy  of  a 
penitentiary  of  that  canton.  The  income  from  that  endowment 
added  to  the  salary  accorded  by  the  State  furnishes,  and  will  ever 
continue  to  furnish,  a  liberal  support  to  the  incumbent  of  the 
chaplaincy.  May  it  not  be  at  least  hinted  to  the  generous  among 
the  rich  that  they  "  go  and  do  likewise  ? "  —  for  there  are  few 
men  who  are  so  useful  and  worthy,  and  withal  who  work  so  hard, 
who  are  so  poorly  recompensed  for  their  services  as  the  chaplains 
of  prisons. 


PART  xiv.]  IN  GREECE.  529 


PART    FOURTEENTH. 

GREECE. 

CHAPTER  CLIV. — PENAL  LEGISLATION.  —  PRISON  SYSTEM 
AND  ADMINISTRATION. 

THE  first  penal  legislation  of  Greece,  after  the  separation  of 
that  country  from  Turkey  and  its  erection  into  an  independ- 
ent State,  was  introduced  by  the  Regency  in  1833.  The  code  thus 
established  was  a  translation  of  the  penal  laws  of  Bavaria  ;  but 
this  was  revised  and  essentially  modified  in  1835  by  a  commission 
of  Greek  jurists. 

This  modified  translation  constitutes,  according  to  a  decree  of 
the  5th  August,  1835,  the  actual  criminal  code  of  Greece.  The 
principles  on  which  the  code  is  based  are  deterrence  and  reforma- 
tion. The  penalties  established  by  it  are  of  three  kinds :  I.  Of 
police  ;  namely,  (i)  the  punishment  of  arrest ;  (2)  of  fines.  II. 
Correctional  punishments  ;  namely,  (i)  imprisonment ;  (2)  fines. 
III.  Criminal  penalties  ;  namely,  (i)  death  ;  (2)  hard  labor  for 
life  ;  (3)  hard  labor  for  a  term  of  years  ;  (4)  reclusion. 

The  prisons  are  divided  into  :  i.  Prisons  of  preliminary  deten- 
tion for  those  charged  with  crime  and  awaiting  trial ;  2.  Penal 
prisons  for  the  sentenced.  The  former  are  in  the  jurisdiction  of 
the  minister  of  justice,  the  latter  in  that  of  the  minister  of  the 
interior. 

The  immediate  supervision  of  the  prisons  of  preliminary  de- 
tention is  confided  to  the  royal  attorney-general,  that  of  the  latter 
to  the  prefects.  'The  personnel  (staff)  of  each  establishment  con- 
sists of  a  director  or  superintendent,  a  deputy,  a  medical  officer, 
a  chaplain,  and  guards  or  keepers.  In  the  house  of  correction 
at  Corfu  there  are,  besides,  as  foremen,  the  necessary  skilled 
artisans. 

The  support  of  the  prisoners  is  regulated  upon  a  mixed  system. 
Bread  is  furnished  by  contractors  ;  the  rest  of  the  food  is  prepared 
in  the  prisons  by  cooks  taken  from  among  the  prisoners  them- 
selves. The  cost  per  day  of  food,  clothing,  and  maintenance  in 
general  of  each  prisoner  amounts  to  ninety  leptas  (the  one-hun- 
dredth part  of  the  drachma,  —  a  drachma  being  equal  to  eighty- 
eight  centimes  of  a  franc).  The  general  expenses  of  the  direc- 
tion, rent  of  buildings,  etc.  are  1 10,000  drachmas  a  year. 

34 


53O  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  iv. 

There  are  seventeen  detention  prisons  in  which,  for  want  of 
room  elsewhere,  are  also  ordinarily  confined  those  sentenced  to 
the  correctional  punishment  of  imprisonment  not  exceeding  a 
year.  There  are  seven  convict  prisons.  The  average  number  of 
prisoners  in  all  the  prisons  is  3,600.  The  annual  movement 
of  the  prisons  indicates  a  population  of  about  9,000  during  the 
year. 

Only  the  prisoners  in  the  house  of  correction  at  Corfu  labor  in 
common  workshops,  in  different  sections,  during  fixed  hours.  In 
that  prison  are  carried  on  the  trades  of  shoe-making,  tailoring, 
brick  and  tile-making,  straw-hat-making,  and  the  manufacture  of 
terra-cotta  ware  for  domestic  use.  In  the  other  prisons,  notwith- 
standing that  the  decree  regulating  the  administration  of  prisons 
imposes  the  obligation  of  work,  it  has  been  found  impossible  for 
want  of  suitable  facilities  to  introduce  into  them  any  industrial  la- 
bor whatsoever.  In  certain  prisons  some  little  work  is  done  with 
the  needle.  In  the  prisons  of  Athens  the  prisoners  have  been 
taught  to  write,  and  have  been  occupied  in  copying  law  papers  ; 
but  such  occupation  is  not  systematic,  nor  does  it  deserve  the 
name  of  organized  labor. 

The  labor  of  the  prisoners  in  the  house  of  correction  at  Corfu 
produces  from  10,100  to  15,000  drachmas  a  year.  After  deduct- 
ing the  cost  of  the  raw  material,  this  amount  goes  to  the  profit 
of  the  prisoners  as  an  encouragement  to  industry.  The  portion 
belonging  to  each  prisoner  is  paid  to  him  on  his  discharge  un- 
less he  has  a  family  to  support,  in  which  case  a  part  is  paid  to 
his  family. 

The  prison  of  Corfu  is  the  only  one  in  which  the  prisoners 
are  confined  in  cells  at  night.  During  the  day  they  work  in 
association. 

For  some  time  public  opinion  has  been  seriously  occupied  with 
the  question  of  prison  reform  ;  but  the  limited  resources  of  the 
country  have  not  permitted  the  accomplishment  of  the  progress 
which  is  earnestly  desired.  Various  plans  have  been  considered ; 
but  the  only  improvement  undertaken,  which  was  commenced  a 
year  ago,  is  the  transformation  of  a  large  establishment,  —  situated 
on  the  island  of  Egina,  an  hour  and  a  half  from  the  Piraeus,  —  for- 
merly an  insane  hospital,  into  a  house  of  correction.  It  is  hoped 
that  within  a  brief  period  there  will  be  placed  at  the  disposition 
of  the  administration  of  prisons  a  house  that  will  be  capable  of 
accommodating  three  hundred  and  fifty  to  four  hundred  prisoners. 
There  will  be  in  the  new  prison  separate  wards  for  classification 
by  age  and  otherwise,  especially  with  a  view  to  the  moral  regene- 
ration of  the  prisoners.  This  will  be  a  first  step  in  prison  reform, 
and  Greece  waits  to  see  this  labor  completed  in  order  to  enter 
upon  measures  of  a  more  general  nature  demanded  by  public 
opinion. 


PART  xiv.]  IN  GREECE.  531 

Within  the  last  two  years  a  beginning  has  been  made  in  the 
direction  of  establishing  prison  libraries  by  the  gift  of  books  to 
certain  prisons,  and  to-day  are  counted  several  thousands  of  vol- 
umes on  the  shelves  of  the  different  penitentiary  establishments. 
It  has  been  observed  that  there,  as  elsewhere,  the  books  most 
sought  by  the  prisoners  are  works  of  an  historical  cast. 

Two-thirds  of  the  crimes  committed  belong  to  the  category  of 
crimes  against  the  person,  of  which  the  greater  part  are  unpre- 
meditated homicides,  assaults,  and  woundings.  As  to  crimes 
against  property,  the  most  frequent  are  thefts  of  animals. 

The  punishments  oftenest  pronounced  are  simple  imprisonment, 
reclusion,  and  hard  labor. 

As  regards  relapse  (rtcidive)  it  is  impossible  to  furnish  definite 
information,  for  the  reason  that  criminal  statistics  have  been  but 
recently  introduced. 


Booft  jFtftfj. 

MEXICO  AND   CENTRAL  AMERICA. 


PART    FIRST. 

MEXICO. 

CHAPTER  I.  —  No  CENTRAL  AUTHORITY.  —  PRISONS  IN  CAPI- 
TAL.—  REFORMATORY  INSTITUTIONS.  —  POLITICAL  OFFENDERS. 
—  PRISON  SYSTEM.  —  RESULTS. 

THERE  is  no  central  authority  in  Mexico  having  the  control 
and  direction  of  the  whole  penitentiary  system  of  the  coun- 
try. The  prisons  in  each  municipality  are  under  the  care  of  a 
special  commission,  but  are  subject  to  the  official  inspection  of  the 
governors  of  the  States,  who  exercise,  if  not  an  official  control,  at 
least  a  certain  degree  of  moral  influence  over  their  administration. 
In  the  city  and  district  of  Mexico,  called  the  Federal  District,  the 
governor  of  the  province  and  home  secretary  (ministro  de  gaber- 
nacion)  exercise  a  power  of  inspection. 

There  are  two  prisons  in  the  capital,  one  of  which  is  for  persons 
arrested  and  detained  on  a  suspicion  of  crime  ;  the  other  for  adult 
prisoners  who  are  under  indictment,  as  well  as  for  those  who  have 
been  tried  and  convicted  and  are  undergoing  their  punishment. 
Children  under  nine  years  of  age,  sentenced  to  a  term  of  imprison- 
ment, are  committed  to  the  poor-house  (hospicio  de  pobres\  certainly 
a  most  unfit  disposition  to  be  made  of  persons  of  their  tender  years. 
The  place  for  these  little  ones  who  thus  early  develop  a  propen- 
sity towards  crime  would  be  a  moral  sanitarium,  where  they  could 
receive  the  kindly  care  and  training  of  a  Christian  home,  and 
not  be  subject  to  the  necessarily  corrupting  influence  of  adult 
paupers. 

For  the  punishment  of  children  above  nine  but  under  eighteen, 
who  have  wilfully  transgressed,  there  is  a  special  establishment 
where  at  the  same  time  they  receive  an  elementary  education  and 
learn  a  trade.  This  would  seem  to  be  somewhat  of  the  nature 
of  an  industrial  and  reformatory  school  united  in  the  same  in- 
stitution. 


534  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  v. 

As  to  political  offences,  it  has  been  taken  into  consideration 
that,  if  in  some  cases  they  proceed  from  unruly  passions,  they  may 
in  others  be  the  result  of  errors  of  opinion,  yet  of  good  intentions. 
For  this  reason  the  offenders  of  this  class  are  not  placed  on  the 
same  level  as  ordinary  criminals,  but  are  simply  confined  in  a 
special  prison  used  for  this  object  alone. 

The  system  of  imprisonment  hitherto  practised  in  Mexico  is 
that  of  association.  The  results  of  the  system  are  reported  by 
the  commission  to  have  been  very  unsatisfactory,  the  offenders  as 
a  general  thing  leaving  the  prisons  worse  than  they  entered  them. 
Such  being  the  state  of  things,  the  new  penal  code  has  provided 
for  the  introduction  of  the  cellular  system.  Consequently,  peni- 
tentiaries on  that  plan  were,  at  the  date  of  the  report,  in  course 
of  erection  in  the  States  of  Jalisco,  Durango,  Puebla,  and  Mexico. 
Only  one  had  then  been  finished,  but  the  others  have  doubtless 
been  completed  since,  and  new  ones  added  to  their  number. 

While  the  cellular  system  has  thus  been  introduced  into  Mex- 
ico, the  commission  strongly  recommends  that  it  should  be  at 
once  softened  and  made  more  effective  by  allowing  the  visits  of 
judicious  persons  capable  of  instructing  the  inmates  in  religion 
and  morals. 

Three  kinds  of  imprisonment  formerly  existed  in  Mexico, — 
simple  imprisonment,  reclusion,  and  hard  labor.  The  last  named 
of  these  has  been  abolished  by  the  new  penal  code.  Between 
simple  imprisonment  and  reclusion  there  is  this  difference  :  the 
former  is  awarded  to  prisoners  over  eighteen  years  of  age  con- 
victed of  misdemeanors  ;  the  latter  to  those  of  like  age  convicted 
of  the  higher  crimes.  Insane  criminals  are  confined  in  a  hospital 
suited  to  the  nature  of  their  malady. 


CHAPTER  II.  —  ENCOURAGEMENT  TO  PRISONERS. 

BY  the  new  code  various  motives  are  held  out  to  good  conduct 
and  obedience  on  the  part  of  the  prisoners.  It  is  provided 
therein  that  persons  sentenced  to  simple  imprisonment  or  to 
reclusion  in  an  establishment  of  penal  repression  for  two  years 
or  more,  and  who  have  uniformly  behaved  well  during  a  period 
equal  to  half  the  time  their  confinement  is  to  last,  have  the 
remaining  period  of  imprisonment  remitted  conditionally.  This 
is  called  preparatory  liberty.  Offenders  can  not  only  obtain  by 
means  of  preparatory  liberty  a  diminution  of  their  punishment, 
but  they  can  even  receive  a  free  pardon  if  they  have  by  their 
good  conduct  shown  themselves  worthy  of  it.  Any  punishment 


PART  i.]  IN  MEXICO.  535 

of  ordinary  imprisonment  or  reclusion  in  an  establishment  of 
penal  repression  for  two  years  or  more  is  to  be  converted  into 
close  confinement  in  case  the  offender  should  have  misbehaved 
himself  during  the  last  half  of  his  time. 

All  proceeds  of  the  work  of  the  prisoners  is  given  to  them  if 
they  have  been  condemned  for  political  offences,  or  if  they  are 
detained  for  minor  offences  against  the  law ;  but  in  the  case  of 
those  condemned  for  misdemeanor  or  felony  to  imprisonment  or 
reclusion,  they  have  twenty-five  per  cent  of  their  earnings  if  the 
punishment  lasts  more  than  five  years,  and  twenty-eight  per  cent 
if  the  time  is  less.  To  the  above  percentages  five  per  cent  more 
is  added  when  a  criminal  has  obtained  by  good  conduct  his  pre- 
paratory liberty.  Moreover,  if  he  supports  himself  by  work 
obtained  outside  of  the  establishment  another  five  per  cent  is 
added  ;  and  this  may  be  increased  until  the  allowance  reaches 
seventy-five  per  cent  of  the  total  amount.  The  advantage  of  this 
system  is  that  prisoners  are  thus  encouraged  to  support  them- 
selves by  their  work,  and  that  they  maintain  with  free  persons  an 
intercourse  which  may  be  useful,  when  they  recover  their  liberty, 
in  enabling  them  to  earn  their  livelihood  without  returning  to  a 
career  of  crime. 

Besides  the  favors  above  enumerated,  prisoners  may  by  their 
good  conduct  obtain  others.  They  may  enjoy  during  the  days 
and  hours  of  rest  any  amusement  which  the  rules  of  the  establish- 
ment permits.  They  may  apply  one-tenth  of  their  reserve-fund 
to  the  purchase  of  any  articles  of  furniture  or  comfort  which  the 
rules  do  not  prohibit.  The  kind  of  work  which  their  sentence 
condemns  them  to  perform  may  be  commuted  into  one  better 
suited  to  their  education  and  habits. 


CHAPTER  III.  —  MORAL  AND  RELIGIOUS  AGENCIES. —  EDU- 
CATION. 

THERE  are  not  chaplains  in  all  the  prisons,  nor  ministers  of 
all  denominations  ;  and  when  chaplains  are  appointed  they 
have  no  well-defined  official  duties  to  perform  except  so  far  as 
their  ecclesiastical  functions  are  concerned  ;  and  their  duty  of 
course  is  always  to  advise  and  comfort  the  prisoner  and  direct 
him  towards  reformation.  Religion  is  believed  to  be  the  most 
valuable  means  of  reforming  the  prisoners. 

On  the  days  and  during  the  hours  allowed  by  the  rules  the 
doors  of  the  prison  are  open  not  only  to  the  members  of  the  pro- 
tective boards,  but  also  to  all  persons  who,  according  to  the  judg- 


536  STATE   OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  v. 

ment  of  the  council  of  vigilance  (junta  de  vigilancia),  are  capable 
of  contributing  to  the  moral  improvement  of  the  prisoners. 

Sunday-schools  exist  in  some  prisons,  in  others  not. 

The  favor  of  writing  and  receiving  letters  is  generally  limited. 
The  councils  of  vigilance  of  the  prisons,  to  which  it  belongs  to 
propose  the  reforms  it  deems  advisable,  have  the  power  to  deter- 
mine what  rules  are  to  be  followed  in  this  regard.  The  results  of 
this  correspondence  are  not  very  satisfactory ;  and  it  would  be 
desirable  that  prisoners  should  correspond  only  with  those  persons 
who  can  exert  a  beneficial  influence  upon  them. 

Formerly  prisoners  could  be  visited  by  all  their  friends ;  now 
only  those  persons  are  admitted  who  have  leave  of  the  council 
of  vigilance,  when  they  are  believed  by  the  members  of  that  body 
capable  of  improving  the  moral  condition  of  the  prisoners  by 
their  advice  and  their  example.  In  such  case  it  is  not  thought 
necessary  to  employ  any  one  to  listen  to  the  conversations. 

Schools  do  not  exist  in  all  the  prisons.  When  there  are  any 
they  are  generally  frequented  by  all  illiterate  prisoners.  The  edu- 
cation imparted  consists  of  the  various  branches  of  primary  in- 
struction and  of  religious  and  moral  teaching.  The  progress 
made  is  satisfactory.  There  are  no  libraries  in  Mexican  prisons. 
Generally  prisoners  do  not  read  much,  as  they  belong  for  the 
most  part  to  the  lower  classes  of  society,  where  education  is  sel- 
dom imparted.  A  large  proportion  are  not  able  to  read. 


CHAPTER  IV.  —  PRISON  LABOR. 

'T^HERE  is  no  penal  labor  in  the  prisons  of  Mexico,  neither  is 
JL  it  thought  desirable  that  there  should  be  any  ;  first,  because 
this  would  not  contribute  to  the  moral  improvement  of  the  pris- 
oners ;  and,  secondly,  because,  to  render  this  kind  of  punishment 
effectual,  it  would  often  be  necessary  to  use  actual  violence,  which 
humiliates  and  degrades  those  who  suffer  it.  On  this  is  based 
article  eighty  of  the  code,  which  prohibits  the  use  of  physical 
violence  to  compel  prisoners  to  work,  and  ordains  that  in  case  of 
refusal  on  their  part  they  should  be  placed  in  absolute  solitude 
for  a  space  of  time  double  that  during  which  their  refusal  lasts. 
It  is  believed  that  in  lieu  of  penal  labor  the  means  mentioned  by 
article  ninety-five  of  the  code  can  be  applied  by  way  of  punish- 
ment with  the  best  results  ;  namely,  fine,  privation  of  reading 
and  writing,  diminution  of  the  quantity  of  food,  increase  of  the 
hours  of  work  and  of  the  work  itself,  absolute  reclusion  with 
privation  of  tobacco. 


PART  i.]  IN  MEXICO.  537 

Contracts  for  prison  labor  are  forbidden  by  the  code  ;  the 
labor  is  managed  by  the  prison  administration. 

It  is  considered  very  important  that  during  their  confinement 
prisoners  should  learn  some  trade  that  may  enable  them  to  earn 
their  livelihood,  as  the  chief  reason  why  they  relapse  into  crime 
is  that  after  they  have  served  their  time  they  do  not  find  work, 
the  want  of  which  reduces  them  to  poverty  and  leads  them  to 
commit  fresh  offences. 

The  means  which  the  penal  code  has  adopted  to  avoid  this  are, 
first,  to  increase  the  percentage  granted  to  prisoners  out  of  the 
proceeds  of  their  work  when  they  support  themselves  by  labor 
done  for  persons  outside  of  the  prison  ;  this  has  for  result  that 
they  acquire  the  habit  of  self-support,  and  also  that  they  remain 
in  constant  intercourse  with  free  people,  which  is  of  great  use  to 
them  when  they  recover  their  liberty.  Secondly,  it  has  also  been 
decided  that  the  prisoners  to  whom  preparatory  liberty  has  been 
granted  are  to  be  transferred  six  months  before  to  a  special  estab- 
lishment designed  for  the  purpose  ;  that  during  this  period  they 
are  not  to  be  separated  from  their  fellow-prisoners ;  and  that  if 
their  conduct  is  good  they  are  to  be  allowed  to  go  out  on  errands 
or  to  seek  work  until  they  are  restored  to  liberty.  And,  lastly,  it 
has  been  ordained  that  the  members  of  the  protective  boards  are 
to  be  visited  by  the  offenders  after  they  have  recovered  their  lib- 
erty, and  are  to  procure  them  any  honest  work  suited  to  their 
circumstances.  This  is  provided  for  by  articles  eighty-five, 
eighty-six,  and  one  hundred  and  thirty-six  of  the  penal  code,  and 
in  the  ordinance  which  Government  has  enacted  in  addition  to 
article  twenty-four  of  the  transitory  law,  —  all  this  without  preju- 
dice to  the  protection  given  to  released  prisoners  by  the  various 
benevolent  societies,  whose  members  visit  the  prisons  for  the 
purpose  of  contributing  to  the  moral  regeneration  of  the  crimi- 
nals who  are  confined  in  them. 

In  the  Federal  District  and  Lower  California  the  proportion 
contributed  by  the  labor  of  the  prisoners  towards  defraying  the 
current  expense  of  the  prisons  is  about  one-half.  As  regards  the 
other  States,  no  information  has  been  obtained  on  this  point. 


CHAPTER  V.— AIM  OF  PUNISHMENT.  —  IMPRISONMENT  FOR  DEBT. 
—  CAUSES  OF  CRIME.  —  OBSTACLES  TO  REFORM. 

TAETERRENCE  has  heretofore  been  considered  the  primary 
*~f  aim  of  public  punishment,  though  the  moral  reform  of  the 
criminal  has  not  been  wholly  ignored.  So  far  the  prisoners  have 
left  the  prison-house  in  a  worse  state  morally  than  when  they 


538  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  v. 

entered  it.  However,  it  is  hoped  that  the  modifications  recently 
made  in  the  penal  code  will  improve  this  state  of  things. 

Imprisonment  for  debt  was  abolished  in  Mexico  in  1812,  and 
has  not  since  been  restored. 

Among  the  more  general  causes  of  crime  in  Mexico  are  re- 
ported want  of  education  in  the  lower  classes,  abuse  of  intoxicat- 
ing drinks,  and  misery.  Among  the  temporary  and  transitory 
causes  which  occasion  the  crimes  and  offences  committed  in  that 
country  the  most  active  are  thought  to  be  the  prolongation  of 
civil  war,  the  impressment  to  obtain  soldiers,  the  bad  state  of  the 
prisons,  the  commotion  created  in  the  religious  faith  of  society 
by  the  innovations  made  in  ecclesiastical  matters,  the  want  of 
preventive  police,  and  the  bad  administration  of  justice. 

Though  all  Mexican  statesmen  and  philanthropists  have  of  late 
become  aware  of  the  importance  and  utility  to  the  public  of  the 
establishment  of  the  penitentiary  system,  the  financial  difficulties, 
the  instability  of  the  Governments,  and  the  constant  necessity  in 
which  the  State  has  been  placed  to  defend  its  existence  against 
the  attempts  of  revolutionary  bands  —  an  object  which  has  almost 
exclusively  absorbed  the  public  attention  —  have  until  now  pre- 
vented the  realization  of  this  great  social  reform.  Consequently 
great  criminals  and  petty  offenders  being  indiscriminately  mixed 
in  the  prisons,  the  contact,  the  association,  and  the  example  of 
the  former  have  exercised  a  baneful  influence  on  the  latter  ;  and 
generally  those  who  having  offended  against  the  law  are  sent  to 
the  prisons  and  have  remained  some  time  in  them,  far  from  being 
reformed,  leave  the  jail  considerably  worse  than  when  they  first 
passed  under  its  gates.  The  improvement  of  the  political  State 
will  doubtless  contribute  to  do  away  with,  or  at  least  to  lessen, 
the  bad  effects  of  this  cause  ;  and  the  reform  of  the  prisons, 
directed  first  of  all  to  the  total  separation  of  prisoners,  must  be, 
according  to  public  opinion,  one  of  the  first  objects  to  which 
Government  ought  to  devote  its  attention  as  soon  as  the  people 
have  put  into  practice  the  principle  that  authority  cannot  be  re- 
formed by  any  other  means  than  the  pacific  action  of  the  laws, 
and  in  consequence  people  are  no  longer  exclusively  occupied 
with  the  care  of  their  own  preservation. 


PART  n.]  IN   GUATEMALA.  539 


PART  SECOND. 

CENTRAL  AMERICA. 

CHAPTER  VI.  —  GUATEMALA.  —  PRISONS.  —  POPULATION.  —  PRO- 
PORTION OF  WOMEN.  —  INSPECTION.  —  OFFICIALS.  —  APPOINT- 
MENT AND  QUALIFICATIONS.  —  DISCIPLINE. 

THERE  are  in  the  capital  of  the  Republic  the  following 
prisons :  the  detention  prison  for  males  (carcel\  the  house 
of  correction  for  women,  the  house  of  correction  for  men,  and  the 
military  prison  in  the  fortress  of  San  Jose.  For  each  of  the  other 
cities  in  the  department  of  the  capital  there  are  two  prisons, — 
one  for  men,  the  other  for  women.  In  the  remaining  nineteen 
departments  of  the  Republic,  not  counting  that  of  the  capital, 
there  is  a  prison  for  men  and  another  for  women  in  each  of  the 
chief  towns  of  the  several  departments  ;  that  is  to  say,  in  that 
which  has  the  greatest  population,  and  in  which  the  higher 
authorities  —  political,  judicial,  and  military — have  their  resi- 
dence. In  other  municipalities  there  are  also,  according  to  the 
importance  of  each,  two  prisons,  —  one  for  each  sex. 

Among  the  prisons  of  the  Republic,  those  of  greatest  impor- 
tance are  the  penitentiary  of  Quezaltenango  and  the  two  houses 
of  correction  in  the  capital.  The  first  is  nearly  finished  ;  and 
with  its  completion  will  be  met  an  urgent  need  of  the  adminis- 
tration in  the  western  departments  of  the  Republic.  The  other 
two  have  been  recently  established  at  the  capital  ;  and  with  them 
there  has  been  a  marked  amelioration  of  the  condition  of  the 
prisoners  who  are  received  and  treated  therein. 

To  determine  the  number  of  prisoners  contained  in  the  prisons, 
and  its  relation  to  the  number  of  inhabitants  in  the  Republic,  the 
supreme  court  (from  which  my  information  was  received)  took  the 
data  in  the  last  period  of  five  years,  and  the  result  is  that  within 
that  period  there  were  eleven  thousand  two  hundred  and  eighty- 
two  arrests  and  six  thousand  nine  hundred  and  eleven  convictions 
in  a  total  approximate  population  of  one  million  two  hundred 
thousand  in  the  whole  Republic, — which  gives  about  one  per  cent 
of  arrests  and  a  little  more  than  one  half  of  one  per  cent  of  con- 
victions to  the  whole  population. 

Of  these  a  small  fraction  over  ten  per  cent  were  women. 


54O  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  v. 

The  higher  inspection  of  the  prisons  is  in  the  supreme  court, 
which  exercises  its  supervision  through  the  departmental  judges. 
The  immediate  control  belongs  to  the  municipality  of  each  place, 
and  is  accomplished  by  means  of  a  superintendent  of  prisons. 
This  person  is  a  member  of  the  municipal  corporation,  which 
through  him  watches  over  the  internal  regime,  to  the  end  that 
the  buildings  may  be  kept  in  good  condition  and  that  the  food 
may  be  suitable  in  character  and  sufficient  in  quantity.  The 
inspection  thus  instituted  is  effective,  since  it  serves  to  remedy 
any  evils  that  may  arise,  and  at  the  same  time  to  put  in  operation 
the  measures  suited  to  accomplish  the  just  ends  of  the  penal  and 
correctional  establishments. 

The  superintendents  of  prisons  are  appointed  at  the  first  annual 
session  of  each  year  by  the  several  municipalities.  The  appoint- 
ment of  jailers  also  belongs  to  the  municipalities,  and  these 
officials  continue  in  their  charge  so  long  as  they  perform  their 
duties  satisfactorily.  To  be  appointed  jailer  there  are  required 
on  the  part  of  the  candidate  an  unblemished  character,  energy, 
and  a  knowledge  of  reading  and  writing.  These  officers  are  paid 
from  the  municipal  treasury. 

The  actual  discipline  of  the  prisons  has  for  its  object  that  due 
order  be  maintained  therein,  and  that  the  prisoners  do  not  vex 
one  another.  This  discipline  is  exercised  by  the  jailers,  and, 
when  occasion  arises,  by  the  superintendents  of  prisons.  The 
supreme  court  in  its  turn,  and  the  courts  of  appeal  in  their  visi- 
tation of  the  prisons  (which  they  practise  monthly),  suggest  all 
those  precautionary  measures  which  may  have  a  tendency  to 
maintain  order  and  morality  in  the  prisons.  In  the  departments 
this  duty  belongs  to  the  judges  of  primary  jurisdiction;  and  in 
Quezaltenango  to  the  court  of  appeals,  which  has  its  seat  there. 


CHAPTER  VII.  —  GUATEMALA  (continued).  —  MORAL  AND  RE- 
LIGIOUS INSTRUCTION.  —  CORRESPONDENCE  AND  VISITS.  —  EDU- 
CATION. —  PERCENTAGE  OF  FEMALES.  —  LABOR.  —  EXPENSES. 

IN  the  capital  the  house  of  correction  for  men  has  a  chaplain, 
who  attends  on  all  the  days  required  by  the  regulations,  says 
mass,  and  gives  instruction  to  the  prisoners  on  their  moral  and 
religious  duties.  The  prison  for  women  is  in  charge  of  Sisters  of 
Charity,  who  guide  the  prisoners  in  the  way  of  virtue,  without 
prejudice  to  the  priest,  who  says  mass  on  feast  days,  and  addresses 
to  them  instructive  discourses,  moral  and  religious.  The  same 
takes  place  in  the  correctional  prison  for  men.  In  the  depart- 
ments this  service  appertains  to  the  parish  priests. 


PART  n.]  IN  GUATEMALA.  541 

Correspondence  is  permitted  with  family  friends ;  and  once  a 
week  the  visits  of  such  friends  are  allowed,  but  the  parties  are 
separated  by  an  iron  grating.  No  inconvenience  has  resulted 
from  this  practice ;  but,  on  the  contrary,  it  is  believed  that  the 
visits  of  these  dear  ones  stimulate  the  prisoners  to  good  conduct. 

An  examination  of  the  statistical  tables  of  criminality  shows 
that  a  considerable  proportion  of  the  criminals  belong  to  the  class 
of  day-laborers  and  peasants,  —  persons  who  in  general  are  with- 
out education.  Another  part,  though  less  in  number,  belong  to 
the  manufacturing  and  mechanical  classes,  who  are  not  wholly 
illiterate. 

From  the  same  statistical  data  it  appears  that  from  twenty  to 
twenty-five  per  cent  is  the  proportion  of  prisoners  within  the  last 
five  years  who  knew  how  to  read  and  write.  With  a  view  of  pro- 
moting the  mental  progress  of  the  prisoners,  and  to  form  them  to 
habits  of  order  and  labor,  there  have  been  established  workshops 
and  primary  classes  in  the  correctional  prison  for  men,  —  an  im- 
portant reform,  which  it  is  proposed  to  extend  to  the  other  penal 
establishments  of  the  country. 

To  determine  the  proportion  between  male  and  female  prisoners, 
the  supreme  court  examined  the  statistics  for  twenty-three  years 
prior  to  and  including  1875  ;  and  the  result  was  that  within  that 
period  there  had  been  convicted  16,022  men  and  2,108  women, 
showing  that  the  latter  formed  about  fourteen  per  cent  of  the 
whole  prison  population. 

From  the  report  furnished  by  the  supreme  court  it  would 
appear  that  a  considerable  variety  of  trades  and  branches  of 
industry  have  been  introduced  into  the  prisons  of  the  Republic, 
such  as  carpentry,  shoemaking,  stone-cutting,  engraving,  weaving, 
sewing,  laundry-work,  etc. ;  and  that  the  prisoners  share  to  a 
considerable  extent  in  the  proceeds  of  their  labor,  though  the 
exact  proportion  of  earnings  accorded  to  them  is  not  stated,  nor 
the  principles  on  which  such  participation  is  regulated. 

The  expenses  of  the  minor  prisons  are  paid  by  the  municipal- 
ities ;  those  of  the  higher  or  convict  prisons  by  the  State. 


CHAPTER  VIII.  —  GUATEMALA  (continued).  —  HYGIENE.  —  SEN- 
TENCES. —  EXECUTIVE  CLEMENCY.  —  COMMUTATION.  —  RECID- 
IVISTS. 

THE  sanitary  state  of  the  prisons  is,  in  general,  satisfactory  ; 
more  especially,  the  houses  of  correction  both  for  men  and 
women  are  notable  for  their  excellent  hygienic  conditions.     The 
buildings  are  spacious,  and  the  yards  and  corridors  very  ample, 


542  STATE   OF  PRISONS,   ETC.  [BOOK    v. 

with  extensive  gardens  and  halls  well  ventilated.  Care  is  taken 
by  the  superintendents  of  prisons  that  the  prisoners'  food  be 
healthy  and  abundant,  and  in  their  monthly  visits  these  mat- 
ters are  looked  into,  and  a  remedy  applied  wherever  failures  are 
observed.  The  prisoners  are  supplied  with  two  meals  a  day. 
Breakfast  consists  of  a  ration  of  corn  bread.  For  dinner  they 
have  rice,  broth,  meat,  and  bread  ad  libitum.  In  the  correctional 
prisons  for  men  coffee  with  bread  is  given  in  the  early  morning, 
making  in  effect  three  meals  daily.  Great  vigilance  is  employed 
with  respect  to  the  neatness  and  cleanliness  of  the  prisons. 

Two  medical  practitioners,  named  by  the  supreme  court  and 
paid  from  the  fund  for  the  administration  of  justice,  are  charged 
with  the  medical  service  of  the  prisons  of  the  capital.  In  cases 
of  a  grave  character,  the  court  or  the  committing  magistrate 
orders  that  the  prisoners  be  removed  to  the  hospital  for  treat- 
ment. In  that  establishment  there  is  a  separate  ward,  made 
sufficiently  secure  for  the  reception  of  sick  prisoners.  The 
mortality  of  the  prisoners  so  transferred  is  insignificant,  and 
there  have  been  years  in  which  not  more  than  three  records  have 
been  ordered  to  be  made  by  the  court  in  the  several  causes,  in  con- 
sequence of  the  death  of  prisoners  undergoing  their  sentence. 

In  the  prisons  of  the  departments  the  medical  service  is  con- 
fided to  the  medical  officer  of  the  departmental  capital,  who  re- 
ceives his  appointment  from  the  supreme  government,  since  it 
is  the  general  treasury  that  pays  the  salaries  of  these  officials. 

The  approximate  average  duration  of  sentences  for  grave  crimes 
is  from  five  to  eight  years  in  a  convict  prison  {presidio).  A  sen- 
tence of  ten  years,  especially  with  the  reserve  of  extending  it  to 
a  greater  length,  is  limited  to  homicides  committed  under  miti- 
gating circumstances.  The  death-penalty  is  rarely  pronounced, 
and  is  reserved  for  the  homicide  who  in  the  commission  of  his 
crime  acts  under  the  conditions  of  premeditation,  treachery,  and 
security.  In  the  space  of  twenty-three  years,  before  referred  to 
for  another  purpose,  there  have  been  but  thirty-four  capital  con- 
demnations, and  of  this  number  not  more  than  half  were  executed, 
the  remainder  having  secured  a  commutation  of  this  punishment 
to  that  of  ten  years  in  a  convict  prison,  with  a  reserve  of  a  farther 
extension  of  the  time.  In  the  same  space  of  twenty-three  years, 
the  number  sentenced  to  convict  prisons  was  11,849;  to  public 
works,  9,567 ;  to  simple  imprisonment  6,700,  including  the  women 
so  sentenced. 

Executive  clemency  has  place  with  respect  to  those  condemned 
to  capital  punishment.  It  is  solicited  by  the  attorney-general,  as 
soon  as  he  receives  notice  of  the  decree  of  execution,  by  means 
of  a  memorial  which  he  presents  to  the  president  of  the  Republic. 
The  president,  in  the  exercise  of  his  prerogative  and  after  con- 
sultation with  the  minister  of  justice,  commutes,  almost  always, 


PART  n.J  IN  GUATEMALA.  543 

the  punishment  of  death  into  that  next  below  it  in  the  penal 
scale.  Executive  clemency  also  intervenes  when  there  occurs 
in  the  Republic  some  event  of  general  interest,  worthy  to  be 
commemorated.  On  such  occasions  the  chief  of  the  nation 
remits  to  prisoners  a  portion  of  their  sentences,  a  clemency  which 
is  sometimes,  though  not  often,  extended  in  case  of  remarkable 
services  rendered  by  a  prisoner  in  some  work  of  special  public 
utility.  The  latter  of  these  remissions  seems  just  and  wise ;  the 
reasonableness  of  the  former  is  not  so  apparent. 

The  supreme  court  has  also  by  law  the  power  of  remitting  to 
those  condemned  to  simple  imprisonment  or  to  public  works  one- 
fifth  part  of  their  sentences,  always  however  on  condition  that 
they  have  been  well  conducted  and  have  completed  the  other  four- 
fifths  of  the  sentence.  This  power  is  exercised  by  the  supreme 
court  on  occasion  of  its  general  visitation  of  the  prisons  on  palm 
Sunday  and  the  fourteenth  of  September  of  each  year,  which  is 
the  anniversary  of  the  national  independence. 

As  a  general  thing  the  prisoners  are  certainly  not  worse  on 
their  discharge  than  on  their  entrance,  since  they  acquire  a  cer- 
tain habit  of  labor,  and  receive  some  moral  lessons  during  their 
incarceration.  This  is  shown  by  the  comparatively  small  number 
of  recidivists  brought  up  for  trial.  The  supreme  administrative 
power  is  putting  forth  all  possible  effort  to  the  end  that  the  penal 
establishments  accomplish  the  object  for  which  they  have  been 
instituted. 


CHAPTER    IX.  —  GUATEMALA    (continued).  —  CHARACTER   AND 
CAUSES  OF  CRIME.  —  DEFECTS.  —  REFORMS  NEEDED. 

THE  crimes  of  most  frequent  occurrence  in  the  Republic  are 
those  of  blood,  that  is,  "  against  the  person,"  as  well  as  those 
against  property.     Atrocious  crimes  are  rare,  such  as  poisoning, 
parricide,  incendiarism ;  and  still  more  rare  is  it  to  encounter  in 
the  crimes  committed  a  character  of  ferocity. 

The  statistical  tables  for  the  five  years  from  1871  to  1875, 
inclusive,  confirm  the  above  opinion,  showing  as  they  do  the 
following  results :  Convictions  for  crimes  against  the  person, 
^S8;  against  property,  2,274.  For  the  five  years  preceding,  of 
11,282  crimes  committed  6,138  were  against  persons.  It  results 
that  fifty-four  per  cent  were  arraigned  for  crimes  of  this  charac- 
ter, principally  for  wounds  inflicted,  and  the  remaining  forty-six 
per  cent  for  other  offences.  The  proportion  of  crimes  against 
property  were  twenty  per  cent  of  the  total  number  of  convictions 
represented  by  the  preceding  figures. 


544  STATE   OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  v. 

The  principal  causes  of  crime  in  Guatemala  are  the  neglect 
of  parents  in  the  education  of  their  children,  popular  ignorance, 
and,  above  all,  intemperance  and  vagrancy.  Among  the  causes 
of  crime  may  also  be  considered  those  illicit  relations  which  give 
birth  to  children  who  lack  the  guidance  of  the  father,  and  some- 
times the  loving  protection  of  the  mother. 

Great  are  the  defects  which,  in  the  judgment  of  the  supreme 
court,  exist  in  the  prison  system  of  the  Republic.  The  mingling 
together  of  those  arrested  on  a  suspicion  of  crime  and  those  con- 
victed of  crime ;  the  constant  intercommunication  of  prisoners 
awaiting  trial  and  prisoners  sentenced  for  grave  crimes,  and  of 
these  latter  with  each  other ;  the  lack  of  organized  labor  as  a 
reformatory  element ;  the  want  of  instruction  and  of  intercourse 
with  persons  who,  by  their  lessons  and  counsels,  might  awaken 
in  the  prisoners  the  idea  of  duty  and  the  desire  of  amendment ; 
the  circumstance  that  there  is  not  implanted  and  kept  alive  in 
them  the  hope  of  improving  their  condition  and  shortening  their 
term  of  sentence  by  means  of  repentance  well  attested  and  an 
irreproachable  conduct,  —  these  are  the  principal  deficiencies  of 
the  actual  prison  system  of  Guatemala. 

To  secure  in  the  prisons  the  necessary  separation  of  those  sim- 
ply suspected  of  crime  from  those  whom  a  formal  judgment  has 
pronounced  guilty  and  sentenced  to  undergo  the  punishment  of 
their  crimes  ;  to  guard  against  communication  between  criminals 
to  prevent  the  contagion  of  criminality ;  to  establish  workshops 
in  the  prisons  and  so  organize  labor  that  the  prisoner  shall  have 
some  interest  in  the  fruit  of  his  toil ;  to  introduce  into  the  pris- 
ons a  well  regulated  plan  of  instruction  and  a  complete  system 
of  reformatory  agencies,  —  in  one  word,  to  establish  therein  the 
penitentiary  system  of  Sir  Walter  Crofton,  with  its  principle  of 
progressive  classification,  which  has  produced  such  excellent  re- 
sults in  other  countries,  or  some  other  of  the  systems  which, 
based  on  organized  labor  and  instruction,  are  adapted  to  effect 
the  moral  regeneration  of  the  prisoners,  are,  in  the  opinion  of  the 
supreme  court,  the  only  effectual  means  of  filling  the  voids  and 
remedying  the  defects  pointed  out  in  the  preceding  paragraph. 

The  creation  of  one  of  these  penitentiary  systems,  the  com- 
munication of  moral  instruction  to  the  peasant  population  in 
their  cottage  homes,  the  introduction  of  public  instruction  in  the 
workshop  as  well  as  in  the  school,  the  opening  of  new  hopes  and 
aspirations  to  human  activity,  with  a  view  to  the  extinction  of 
vagrancy  and  the  repression  of  intemperance  will  be  powerful 
means  to  prevent  the  commission  of  crime. 


PART  n.]  IN  GUATEMALA.  545 


CHAPTER    X.  —  GUATEMALA    (concluded}.  —  EFFORTS    TOWARD 
REFORM.  —  PROGRESS  REALIZED.  —  CRIMINAL  JUSTICE.  —  No 

NEEDLESS     DELAYS.  APPARENT     INCREASE      OF      CRIME. 

HAPPILY,  the  supreme  Government  is  putting  forth  all  its 
energies  for  the  accomplishment  of  these  important  objects. 
In  Quezaltenango  the  penitentiary  is  near  its  completion,  and 
within  a  very  short  time  the  prosperous  departments  of  the  west 
will  be  in  the  enjoyment  of  the  incontestable  advantages  of  that 
reform.  In  the  capital  of  the  Republic,  in  a  locality  of  ample 
extent  and  every  way  suited  to  the  purpose,  has  already  been  laid 
the  corner-stone  of  a  new  penitentiary  by  the  chief  of  the  nation. 

The  commission  on  codification  is  actively  engaged  in  the  re- 
form of  the  criminal  law,  basing  such  reform  on  scientific  prin- 
ciples, and  bringing  it  into  accord  with  the  penitentiary  system. 

Public  instruction  is  spreading  to  all  parts  of  the  country, 
mechanical  industry  is  fostered,  and  agriculture  receives  decided 
protection. 

Criminal  justice  is  administere4  by  justices  of  the  peace,  who 
take  cognizance,  in  verbal  process,  of  minor  offences ;  by  the 
judges  of  primary  jurisdiction,  who  try  causes  of  a  graver  char- 
acter, and  review  the  judgments  of  justices  of  the  peace  ;  by  the 
court  of  appeals  which,  subject  to  a  review  by  the  supreme  court, 
tries  in  first  instance  suits  against  public  functionaries  which 
are  privileged,  and  reviews  by  way  of  consultation  or  appeal 
sentences  pronounced  by  the  judges  of  primary  jurisdiction  ; 
and,  lastly,  by  the  supreme  court,  which,  in  third  instance  and  in 
cases  in  which  is  issued  according  to  law  the  recourse  of  petition, 
concludes  criminal  causes  as  the  court  of  last  resort. 

If  the  accused  is  principal  defendant  and  belongs  to  the  mili- 
tary order,  he  is  tried  in  first  instance  by  a  military  court,  either 
by  verbal  process  or  in  writing,  according  to  the  lighter  or  graver 
character  of  the  offence. 

Criminal  procedure,  divided  into  its  two  natural  periods  of  sum- 
mary and  plenary,  or  preliminary  inquiry  and  trial,  is  sufficiently 
expeditious,  and  causes  do  not  suffer  from  unnecessary  delay. 

From  the  official  statistics  it  would  appear  that  the  number 
of  inmates  of  the  prisons  notably  increased  from  the  year  1871 
to  1876.  This  however  is  due  not  to  any  increase  of  criminality, 
but  to  the  fact  that  the  action  of  justice  has  been  made  more 
effective,  and  crimes  do  not  now  go  unpunished  as  happened  for- 
merly. As  a  matter  of  fact,  since  the  first  named  of  those  years 
there  have  been  created  six  additional  departmental  tribunals, 
and  a  court  of  appeals  has  been  established  in  the  western  part  of 
the  Republic. 

35 


Booft  Sixtfj. 

SOUTH   AMERICA. 


PART   FIRST. 

UNITED   STATES   OF  COLUMBIA.! 

CHAPTER  I.  —  STATE  OF  PRISONS  IN  1870.  —  EFFORTS 
TOWARD  REFORM. 

SENOR  CORTES,  secretary  of  legation  for  the  Republic  of 
Columbia,  was  a  member,  by  special  invitation,  of  the  Na- 
tional Prison  Congress  of  Cincinnati  in  1870.  He  was  among 
the  most  constant,  attentive,  and  interested  attendants  upon  its 
sessions  from  the  opening  to  the  close.  He  broke  silence  but 
once  during  its  continuance,  and  then  only  in  response  to  a  special 
request  from  the  president  of  the  congress,  Hon.  R.  B.  Hayes,  to 
address  the  body.  The  following  is  the  substance  of  what  he 
said  on  that  occasion  :  — 

"  MR.  PRESIDENT,  LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN,  —  Availing  myself  of  the 
privilege  you  have  been  good  enough  to  grant  me  of  addressing  you,  I 
beg  to  do  so  in  order  to  express  my  deep  sense  of  gratitude  for  the  kind- 
ness and  regard  shown  to  me  during  my  visit  to  this  congress  in  which  you 
have  admitted  me  as  a  member. 

"  Very  little  light  could  I  bring  to  your  deliberations  regarding  the  organ- 
ization and  management  of  the  prisons  in  my  native  country.  The  iron 
rule  of  Spain  left  us  as  a  legacy  the  most  tyrannical  ideas  regarding  the 
management  of  prisons.  A  criminal  was  an  outlaw ;  and  hunger,  filth, 
nudity,  and  insult  were  his  lot.  Philanthropists  have  been  struggling  for  a 
long  time  past  to  change  this  order  of  things  ;  and  the  movement,  although 
slow,  is  gaining  ground.  The  punishment  of  death  has  been  abolished  for 
the  last  nine  years,  and  our  national  constitution  puts  a  limit  to  the  num- 
ber of  years  that  a  person  may  be  sentenced  to  imprisonment.  The  sleep- 
ing in  separate  cells  has  lately  been  introduced,  and  attempts  are  being 
made  to  introduce  labor  in  common.  But  as  a  rule  our  city  prisons  and 
country  jails  are  kept  in  a  lamentable  state ;  and  if  I  had  time,  I  could 

1  Colombia  is  the  customary  mode  of  spelling  with  us  ;  but  this  is  really  a  Spanish 
word,  and  as  "  United  States  "  is  English,  the  name  of  the  country  should  be  so  also. 


548  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  vi. 

relate  to  you  cases  and  scenes  which  would  revolt  your  ideas  of  enlight- 
ened benevolence,  and  painfully  horrify  your  feelings.  In  so  doing 
my  aim  would  be  to  rouse  your  pity  and  your  interest,  that  you  might 
secure  means  to  extend  to  us  in  a  more  effective  way  the  advantages  of 
your  luminous  debates  and  noble  conclusions.  Your  movement  is  by  its 
nature  cosmopolitan ;  and  you  must  throw  most  light  in  places  where 
darkness  is  most  complete.  It  was  in  search  of  light  and  knowledge  in 
this  matter  that  I  came  to  hear  your  deliberations  and  partake  of  your 
social  gatherings.  I  come  as  a  student,  not  as  a  teacher.  And  I  hope  to 
tell  my  countrymen  of  your  good,  unselfish  deeds.  I  hope  to  translate 
into  my  native  language,  and  make  public,  the  essays  which  have  been  read 
in  this  congress,  and  its  debates  and  its  declaration  of  principles ;  and 
if  after  the  reading  of  them  a  blow  is  spared  to  a  poor  wretch,  more  un- 
fortunate than  criminal ;  or  if  the  hardened  heart  of  a  brutal  jailer  is  for 
a  moment  softened  into  pity,  —  then  you  will  acknowledge  that  my  visit  to 
you  has  not  been  without  its  fruit." 

M.  Cortes  carried  out  the  purpose  expressed  in  the  closing  sen- 
tence of  his  address  by  translating  and  publishing  in  Spanish  the 
more  important  papers  and  proceedings  of  the  Cincinnati  Con- 
gress, including  a  full  account  of  the  Irish  Crofton  system  of 
prison  management.  The  work  was  extensively  circulated,  not 
only  in  the  Republic  of  Columbia,  but  in  other  South  American 
States.  The  fruit  borne  by  the  Cincinnati  Congress  in  M.  Cortes's 
own  country  will  be  apparent  in  the  next  chapter,  and  in  other 
parts  of  South  America  from  those  which  will  follow. 


CHAPTER  II.  —  DEATH-PENALTY.  —  MODEL  PRISON  AT  BOGOTA. 
- —  LABOR.  —  EDUCATION.  —  ENCOURAGEMENTS  TO  PRISONERS. 
—  ORPHAN  ASYLUM. 

THE  Republic  of  Columbia  consists  of  a  number  of  States 
united  into  one  Confederation. 

The  death-penalty  is  abolished  by  a  provision  of  the  funda- 
mental law.  The  longest  period  of  imprisonment  is  ten  years. 
Solitary  confinement  is  not  practised,  except  in  the  enforcement 
of  discipline  and  as  an  initial  stage  in  a  progressive  system  of 
imprisonment,  to  be  hereafter  described.  Each  State  has  a  peni- 
tentiary with  workshops,  in  which  the  prisoners  work  in  associa- 
tion, without  conversation,  at  the  various  trades  which  are  taught 
and  practised  in  the  prisons. 

A  model  institution  of  this  kind  has  been  erected  in  the  State 
of  Cundinamarca,  at  Bogota.  It  is  called  a. panopticon,  being  built, 
like  the  eastern  penitentiary  at  Philadelphia,  in  wings  radiating 
from  a  centre.  It  is  a  truly  noble  work  for  a  country  that  cannot 


PART  i.]  IN  UNITED  STATES  OF  COLUMBIA.  549 

be  accounted  rich.  It  is  well  situated,  very  spacious,  thoroughly 
ventilated,  with  high  ceilings,  plenty  of  light,  and  other  requisites 
of  a  well-planned  and  healthy  public  building.  The  convicts  are 
kept  in  cells  during  the  night,  and  are  kindly  treated.  Chains 
and  handcuffs  are  dispensed  with. 

The  prisoners  go  daily  to  the  workshops,  where  they  learn  and 
practise  carpentry,  hat-making  (straw  and  palm-leaf),  the  weaving 
of  carpets  from  the  fibre  of  the  century-plant,  and  alpargatas,  a 
kind  of  slipper  or  sandal  of  the  same  material  worn  by  the  peas- 
ants and  the  laboring  poor.  The  articles  so  manufactured  are 
sold,  and  part  of  the  proceeds  (proportion  not  stated)  reserved 
for  the  prisoners,  who  receive  their  allotment  on  leaving  the 
prison. 

A  prison  school  is  maintained,  in  which  the  illiterate  among  the 
prisoners  (the  larger  moiety)  learn  reading,  writing,  and  arithme- 
tic, with  some  notions  of  morality.  On  Sunday  they  hear  mass 
in  the  chapel. 

The  governor  has  power  to  shorten  the  convict's  term  of  im- 
prisonment by  remitting  one  or  more  years  of  his  sentence  when 
he  has  observed  good  conduct,  worked  diligently,  and  been  other- 
wise obedient  during  the  first  three  or  four  years. 

The  orphan  asylum  in  Bogota  is  under  the  care  of  Sisters  of 
Charity.  It  is  admirably  organized  and  managed  as  regards  order, 
cleanliness,  and  the  treatment  of  the  children.  These  are  re- 
ceived from  the  earliest  infancy  up  to  fourteen  years.  The  girls 
are  taught  the  elementary  branches  of  secular  learning,  and  are 
instructed  in  the  religion  of  the  country  as  well  as  in  the  duties 
of  house-servants,  which  most  of  them  become  on  leaving  the 
asylum.  The  boys  are  taught  the  same  branches  as  the  girls, 
and  when  of  a  suitable  age  are  apprenticed  to  learn  various  trades. 
The  building  can  accommodate  two  hundred  children.  It  is  al- 
ways full,  and  the  authorities  are  enlarging  it  for  the  reception  of 
a  still  greater  number  of  these  dependent  and  helpless  little 
ones. 


CHAPTER  III.  —  PENAL  LEGISLATION.  —  STATE  PENITENTIARY 
OF  BOYACA.  —  INSTRUCTION,  SCHOLASTIC  AND  RELIGIOUS.  — 
UNDER-OFFICERS.  —  DISCHARGED  CONVICTS. 

THE  object  of  public  punishment,  as  defined  by  the  law  es- 
tablishing the  State  penitentiary  of  Boyaca,  is  to  protect 
society,  prevent  crime,  and  reform  the  criminal,  which  latter  is  to 
be  effected  by  the  use  of  the  following  means  :   imprisonment, 
instruction,  self-control,  labor,  silence,  disciplinary  punishments, 


55O  STATE   OF  PRISONS,   ETC.  [BooK  VI. 

and  rewards  to  well-behaved,  industrious  prisoners.  Irons  can 
be  used  only  to  prevent  or  to  punish  sedition. 

A  schoolmaster  is  employed  whose  duty  it  is  to  instruct  the 
prisoners  at  fixed  hours,  and,  in  addition,  he  acts  as  assistant- 
superintendent  and  book-keeper.  The  chaplain  must  keep  in 
view,  in  his  instructions,  that  society  in  inflicting  punishment 
has  for  its  primary  aim  the  moral  and  intellectual  improvement 
of  the  convict. 

The  keepers  of  the  prisoners  must  be  artisans  capable  of  teach- 
ing some  trade  in  the  workshops. 

The  conduct  of  the  convict  is  to  be  watched,  as  far  as  possi- 
ble, after  he  leaves  the  institution,  and  the  result  noted  in  the 
books.  When  a  convict  is  discharged,  a  note  must  be  sent  to  the 
secretary  of  state  informing  him  of  the  fact,  and  stating  what 
conduct  he  has  observed  and  what  improvements  have  been  noted 
in  him  during  his  incarceration.  This  note  must  be  published, 
so  that  the  alcalde  of  the  district  to  which  he  belongs  may  report 
every  six  months  to  the  prison  authorities  how  he  is  going  on. 
It  is,  however,  to  be  noted  that  the  publication  of  the  note  to  the 
secretary  of  state  and  the  reports  of  the  alcalde  refer  only  to  those 
who  have  been  conditionally  discharged,  prior  to  the  expiration  of 
their  sentence,  as  a  reward  of  good  conduct,  and  whom  therefore, 
on  misbehavior,  the  authorities  may  cause  to  be  returned  to  prison 
to  serve  out  their  full  term. 


CHAPTER  IV.  —  PROGRESSIVE  SYSTEM  DESCRIBED. 

THE  convicts  in  the  State  penitentiary  of  Boyaca  are  divided 
into  three  classes,  as  follows  :  — 

i.  Prisons  in  the  first  class  are  kept  in  cellular  separation.  On 
entering,  every  prisoner  is  locked  up  in  a  cell,  with  a  board  for  a 
bed,  a  block  of  wood  for  a  pillow,  and  a  single  blanket.  He  is  al- 
lowed to  leave  the  cell  to  go  to  the  dining-room  and  chapel,  and, 
if  necessary,  for  exercise  and  employment  in  cleaning  rooms,  etc. 
The  chaplain  and  superintendent  must  visit  him  three  times  a 
week,  and  strive  to  impress  on  his  mind  the  necessity  and  advan- 
tages of  good  conduct  and  permanent  reform.  This  treatment 
by  cellular  separation  must  continue  one  month,  at  least,  for  those 
condemned  to  eight  months'  imprisonment,  and  four  months  for 
those  sentenced  for  a  longer  time.  At  the  expiration  of  this 
period,  if  the  prisoner's  conduct  warrant  it,  he  may  pass  to  the 
third  grade  in  class  second.  While  in  the  first  class  he  wears  a 
blue  coat,  and  may  be  distinguished  from  the  other  prisoners  in 


PART  i.]  IN  UNITED  STATES  OF  COLUMBIA.  551 

the  dining-room  by  the  meanness  of  his  table  accommodations  and 
food. 

2.  The  prisoners  in  the  second  class  are  treated  on  the  pro- 
gressive principle,  and  are  subdivided  into  three  sections,  —  grade 
third,  grade  second,  grade  first. 

On  reaching  the  second  class  the  prisoner  puts  on  a  black  coat 
with  a  conspicuous  light-colored  cross  on  the  back.  In  the  third 
grade  the  cross  is  entire  ;  in  the  second  it  loses  the  lower  arm  ; 
in  the  first  it  loses  the  upper  arm  also,  becoming  a  horizontal  bar. 
Notes  are  taken  every  day,  and  read  aloud  at  the  dinner-table, 
of  all  who  deserve  good  marks  for  the  day  in  conduct,  labor,  and 
attention  to  studies.  To  pass  to  the  second  grade  the  prisoner 
must  have  three  hundred  good  marks  in  each  particular. 

The  second  grade  of  class  second  offers  nothing  special,  except 
that  it  is  an  advance  on  the  third.  Gaining  three  hundred  more 
good  marks  in  the  three  particulars,  he  passes  to  the  first  grade. 

In  the  first  grade  he  can  engage  in  conversation  in  the  dining- 
room.  Six  hundred  marks  all  round  are  necessary  to  put  him 
into  the  — 

3.  Third  class,  called  exemplary.     Scoring  his  six  hundred  days 
of  good  behavior,  he  is  enrolled  in  the  exemplary  class  and  puts 
on  a  white  coat. 

He  now  takes  a  higher  seat  in  the  dining-room  and  chapel, 
sleeps  no  longer  in  a  cell  but  in  a  dormitory  with  his  entire  class  ; 
is  permitted  to  converse  in  the  dining-room  and  workshops ;  may 
be  employed  as  guard  or  in  other  offices  about  the  prison,  or  even 
be  sent  out  on  errands  or  to  work,  carrying  a  passport.  When  the 
time  he  serves  in  this  class  amounts  to  the  third  part  of  his  term 
of  imprisonment,  he  may  be  recommended  for  pardon,  but  not 
before.  On  leaving  the  establishment,  he  receives  a  sum  esti- 
mated on  a  basis  of  fifteen  cents  for  every  week  he  has  served  in 
this  class.1  He  receives  now  special  instruction  in  the  school. 

Serious  misconduct  involves,  with  other  punishment,  degrada- 
tion to  an  inferior  grade,  loss  of  good  marks,  and  in  the  third 
class  loss  of  the  sums  gained  to  date. 

A  large  board  is  provided  and  kept  in  sight  of  the  prisoners, 
on  which,  by  differently  colored  fields  and  pegs,  the  progress  of 
each  man  is  noted  and  made  apparent. 

All  this  constitutes  a  noteworthy  result  of  the  Cincinnati 
Congress. 

1  A  laborer's  wages  amount  to  forty  cents  a  day  in  Columbia. 


552  STATE   OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  vi. 


PART    SECOND. 

BRAZIL. 

CHAPTER  V.  — POLITICAL  CONSTITUTION.  —  JUDICIARY  SYSTEM. 
— GENERAL  ADMINISTRATION.  —  INSPECTION.  —  INTERNAL  AD- 
MINISTRATION. 

THE  Empire  of  Brazil  is  an  hereditary,  constitutional,  and  rep- 
resentative monarchy.  Its  constitution  dates  from  the  24th 
March,  1824.  The  parliament  is  composed  of  two  chambers, 
—  the  chamber  of  deputies  whose  members  are  chosen  for  four 
years,  and  the  senate  whose  members  hold  office  for  life.  This 
body  is  recruited  by  provincial  election.  The  ballots  contain 
three  names  for  each  vacancy ;  and  the  emperor  chooses  from 
among  the  three  candidates  the  one  whom  he  prefers. 

The  judiciary  power  is  independent,  and  is  composed  of  judges 
and  juries,  the  former  holding  office  for  life. 

The  empire  is  divided  into  twenty  provinces.  The  administra- 
tion of  each  province  is  confided  to  a  president,  representing  the 
central  Government.  Every  province  has  a  legislative  assembly, 
elected  every  two  years  in  the  same  manner  as  the  chamber  of 
deputies.  This  body  legislates  on  matters  purely  provincial ;  its 
decisions  are,  in  general,  subordinated  to  the  sanction  of  the 
president,  who  may  confirm  or  veto  them. 

In  respect  to  the  organization  of  the  judiciary,  Brazil  is  divided 
into  four  hundred  and  eighty  jurisdictions  (termos),  corresponding 
to  the  same  number  of  municipal  judges.  Each  termo  comprises 
one  or  more  municipalities ;  and  one  or  more  termos  form  a  co- 
marca.  There  are,  in  the  empire,  four  hundred  comarcas,  corre- 
sponding to  as  many  judges  of  primary  jurisdiction,  above  which 
are  the  courts  of  appeal  (relates).  These  courts  of  secondary 
jurisdiction  are  eleven  in  number.  Their  members  are  chosen  by 
the  Government  from  a  list  of  fifteen  of  the  older  judges  of  pri- 
mary jurisdiction,  and  have  the  title  of  desembargadores.  Finally, 
above  the  courts  of  appeal  is  the  supreme  tribunal  of  justice, 
whose  members  review  on  appeal  the  proceedings  of  the  lower 
courts,  settle  questions  of  jurisdiction,  and  take  cognizance  of 
misdemeanors  and  crimes  committed  by  the  ministers,  by  the 
desembargadores^  the  employes  of  the  diplomatic  corps,  and  the 
bishops  and  archbishops  in  matters  not  special. 


\ 

PART  IL]  IN  BRAZIL.  553 

Connected  with  each  court  of  appeal  is  an  attorney  of  the  crown, 
and  with  each  judge  of  primary  jurisdiction  a  promoter,  named  by 
the  president  of  the  province. 

The  penitentiary  establishments  are  in  the  jurisdiction  of  the 
ministry  of  justice,  except  those  in  which  punishment  for  military 
offences  is  inflicted.  However,  the  cost  of  construction  and  re- 
pairs of  the  buildings  and  the  maintenance  of  the  prisoners  is  a 
charge  upon  the  respective  provinces. 

There  is  no  general  inspection  of  the  penitentiaries  of  the 
whole  empire.  The  chief  of  police,  who  is  the  authority  immedi- 
ately under  the  president  of  the  province,  is  inspector  of  the  pris- 
ons of  that  province. 

The  agents  of  the  internal  administration  of  the  prisons  are 
proposed  by  the  chiefs  of  the  police  and  approved  provisionally 
by  the  provincial  presidents,  but  definitively  by  the  minister  of 
justice. 


CHAPTER  VI.  —  CONVICT  PRISON.  —  LABOR.  —  MORAL  AND  RE- 
LIGIOUS AGENCIES.  —  PENITENTIARY  SYSTEM.  —  PROGRESSIVE 
PLAN  PROPOSED.  —  HARD-LABOR  PRISONS. 

THE  only  central  prison  in  the  whole  country  is  the  convict 
establishment  of  Fernando  de  Noronha,  on  an  island  two 
hundred  and  ninety  miles  northeast  of  Recife,  capital  of  the  prov- 
ince of  Pernambuco.  This  establishment  contains  sixteen  hun- 
dred prisoners,  sentenced  to  hard  labor  (travaux  forces]  from  all 
the  provinces. 

They  are  divided  into  twelve  large  companies  or  sections,  of 
which  eight  are  engaged  in  agricultural  labors  ;  one  at  the  trades 
of  cooperage,  smithery,  carpentry,  and  shoe-making ;  and  the  re- 
maining three  are  employed  in  the  police  of  the  island  and  the 
domestic  service  of  the  establishment. 

All  the  prisoners  receive  moral  and  religious  instruction,  and 
have  a' share  in  the  product  of  their  labor,  which  is  designed  to 
enable  them  to  meet  the  first  expenses  of  their  re-entrance  into 
society  after  their  discharge  from  prison. 

The  island  is  remarkable  for  the  fertility  of  its  soil.  The  pro- 
duction of  Indian  corn  is  prodigious,  and  the  cotton  grown  there 
is  not  inferior  to  the  best  sea-island  cotton  of  Georgia  and  South 
Carolina. 

This  great  convict  establishment  was  in  the  jurisdiction  of  the 
ministry  of  war,  but  by  a  law  of  1877  it  was  transferred  to  the 
ministry  of  justice,  and  to-day  it  is  in  course  of  reorganization 
upon  an  improved  plan.  It  will  continue  to  be  a  State-prison, 
but  it  will  lose  the  military  character  formerly  given  to  it. 


554  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  vi. 

The  other  penitentiary  establishments  are  not  central  or  State- 
prisons,  they  are  intended  to  receive  the  convicts  of  the  locality 
or  of  the  province.  Among  these  establishments  are  the  peni- 
tentiaries of  Rio  de  Janeiro  and  of  San  Paulo,  —  the  first  with 
two  hundred  cells,  and  the  second  with  one  hundred  and  sixty  for 
separation  at  night,  —  the  workhouse  of  Bahia,  and  the  detention 
prison  of  Recife,  capital  of  the  province  of  Pernambuco.  This 
last  contains  one  hundred  and  ten  cells  for  three  hundred  and 
seventy  prisoners,  —  that  is  to  say,  sixty  cells  for  two  convicts 
each  and  fifty  chambers,  of  which  each  can  accommodate  five 
prisoners.  Yet  this  edifice  has  cost  the  province  $500,000  (1,000 
contos  de  rets). 

The  system  provisionally  adopted  is  that  of  separation  at  night 
and  associated  labor  during  the  day,  under  a  rigid  law  of  silence. 
There  is  not  a  cellular  prison  in  all  the  empire. 

In  1874  the  commission  of  inspection  of  the  penitentiary  of 
Rio  de  Janeiro  proposed  the  adoption  of  a  progressive  system 
with  the  intermediate  prison  on  the  Irish  plan.  These  ideas 
were  well  received  by  public  opinion,  and  were  even  adopted  by 
the  minister  of  justice  in  his  annual  report  addressed  to  the  gen- 
eral legislative  assembly. 

In  Brazil,  as  elsewhere,  the  punishment  of  hard  labor  (gales]  is 
badly  organized.  To  its  inefficiency,  from  the  discipline  not 
being  rigorously  enforced,  is  attributed  the  number  (lately  in- 
creased) of  assassinations  and  other  crimes  of  violence  commit- 
ted by  the  liberated  slaves  against  their  masters  and  against  the 
superintendents  of  the  plantations  (feltores).1 


CHAPTER  VII.  —  IMPRISONMENT  OF  SLAVES.  —  APPOINTMENT 
OF  EMPLOYES.  —  DISCIPLINE.  —  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION.  — 
PRISON  LABOR. 

T  TRGED  by  public  opinion,  which  begins  to  be  directed  to  this 
^J  subject,  the  minister  of  justice  in  the  month  of  February 
of  this  year  (1879)  proposed  to  the  chamber  of  deputies  a  penal 
reform  as  regards  the  slaves,  by  replacing  hard  labor  for  life  (gatis 
perpetuas)  with  the  prison  for  fifteen  years,  —  five  years  of  abso- 

1  Slavery  was  abolished  in  principle  by  the  law  of  the  28th  September,  1871.  All 
the  children  born  of  slaves  after  that  date  are  free  ipso  jure.  The  old  slaves  may 
be  freed  by  the  generous  will  of  the  masters,  as  often  happens,  or  by  means  of  a 
national  emancipation  fund  constantly  employed  to  that  effect,  or  through  a  peculium 
which  the  slave  has  been  able  to  lay  by  for  himself,  or  by  contracting  their  services 
to  third  parties.  It  is  hoped  that  through  these  several  agencies  slavery  will  be  com- 
pletely extinguished  in  a  few  years. 


PART  ii.]  IK  BRAZIL.  555 

lute  and  continual  separation,  and  ten  years  of  separation  at  night 
and  associated  labor  by  day. 

But  it  is  believed  that  this  proposition  will  not  be  enacted  into 
law.  It  is  incomplete  and  illogical,  in  that  it  leaves  under  the  old 
and  vicious  regime  the  criminal  population  of  free  condition,  and 
also  in  that  it  follows  neither  the  progressive  system  nor  that  of 
individual  separation.  The  new  plan  proposed  would  be  ineffica- 
cious as  applied  to  the  slaves,  and  even  incapable  of  execution,  both 
on  account  of  the  expense  and  because  of  the  time  that  would  be 
required  in  the  construction  of  the  buildings,  for  the  reason  that 
by  the  time  such  edifices  were  finished  there  would  be  no  more 
criminals  of  this  class. 

However,  by  proposing  the  new  penitentiary  method  the  min- 
ister of  justice  would  seem  to  have  resolved  the  question  of  the 
competence  of  the  General  Government  to  establish  a  uniform 
discipline  for  all  the  prisons  of  the  empire,  against  the  opinion  of 
those  who  hold  that  it  belongs  to  each  province  to  adopt  the  pen- 
itentiary system  which  may  have  been  approved  by  its  own  legis- 
lative assembly.  It  is  beyond  question  that  the  unity  of  the  penal 
law  demands  as  its  logical  sequence  uniformity  in  the  peniten- 
tiary system  of  the  country  where  there  is  but  a  single  criminal 
code,  since  the  execution  of  the  penalty  is  a  part  of  the  penalty 
itself. 

The  employes  of  the  prisons  are  named  by  the  provincial  presi- 
dents, except  the  director  of  the  penitentiary  at  the  capital  of  the 
empire  and  that  of  the  central  establishment  on  the  island  of  Fer- 
nando Noronha,  whose  appointment  belongs  to  the  minister  of 
justice. 

The  appointment  of  these  employes  does  not  depend  upon 
political  influence,  nor  is  any  professional  education  required  of 
them.  Their  tenure  of  office  is  during  good  behavior. 

The  discipline  is  intended  to  be  both  deterrent  and  reforma- 
tory. The  convicts  are  divided  into  three  classes  according  to 
their  conduct.  The  hope  of  promotion  to  a  higher  class,  and  of 
being  recommended  to  the  clemency  of  the  emperor,  has  a  strong 
influence  on  the  larger  part  of  the  prisoners  to  hold  them  to  a 
right  conduct. 

The  disciplinary  punishments  are  confinement  in  a  cell,  light 
or  darkened,  reduction  of  rations,  degradation  to  a  lower  class, 
privation  of  visits  and  correspondence,  and  the  application  of 
irons. 

Religious  instruction  is  given  by  chaplains.  Ministers  of  all 
religions  are  admitted.  The  visits  of  relatives,  friends,  and 
charitable  persons  are  permitted.  The  effect  of  these  several 
agencies  is  found  in  general  to  be  good.1 

1  The  constitution  recognizes  the  Catholic  religion  as  the  religion  of  the  State. 
Nevertheless,  all  other  religions  are  permitted,  but  the  buildings  designed  for  their 


556  STATE   OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  VI. 

Intellectual  instruction  is  limited  to  reading,  writing,  and  the 
elements  of  arithmetic  and  of  the  national  language.  To  the 
prisoners  is  permitted  the  reading  of  books  which  are  found  in 
the  prison  libraries. 

The  number  of  female  convicts  is  greatly  below  that  of  male 
prisoners. 

There  is  no  penal  labor  in  the  Brazilian  prisons.  Whether  op- 
tional or  obligatory  according  to  the  sentence,  the  labor  is  always 
industrial.  In  general  it  is  not  "  hard  labor  "  in  the  sense  of  being 
painful.  It  is  employed  in  the  trades  of  shoemaking,  smithery, 
tin-ware,  marble-polishing,  tailoring,  book-binding,  carpentry,  join- 
ery, lock-smithery,  etc.  The  convicts  are  also  employed  on  public 
works,  in  quarrying  and  stone-cutting,  in  the  labor  of  the  fields, 
and  in  fishing,  —  as  on  the  island  of  Fernando  de  Noronha.  All 
this  labor  is  directed  by  the  administration.  The  contract  system 
is  unknown  in  Brazil.  The  labor  is  productive,  especially  in  the 
penitentiary  of  Rio  de  Janeiro ;  but  the  product  is  never  sufficient 
to  meet  the  expense. 


CHAPTER  VIII.  —  HYGIENE.  —  SENTENCES   AND  THEIR   CONSE- 
QUENTS.—  DEATH-PENALTY. — AID  TO  LIBERATED  PRISONERS. 

AS  a  general  thing  the  health  of  the  convicts  is  good.  The 
food,  clothing,  ventilation,  and  cleanliness  of  person  and 
buildings  vary  in  different  provinces.  There  is  no  uniformity  in 
these  conditions.  The  climate  does  not  require  any  artificial 
heating.  The  method  of  lighting  the  prisons  varies,  —  gas,  ker- 
osene, and  oil  being  all  employed  therein. 

Life-penalties  are  hard  labor  (gales}  and  reclusion  (prisao  com- 
trabatho).  Temporary  punishments  are  hard  labor  for  one  year  to 
twenty  years,  reclusion  from  two  months  to  twenty  years,  and 
simple  imprisonment  from  five  days  to  two  years. 

Prisoners  sentenced  to  hard  labor  for  life  are  employed  on 
public  works  at  the  discretion  of  the  president  of  the  province. 
Those  sentenced  to  reclusion  for  life  are  held  to  labor  in  the 
interior  of  the  prisons.  Persons  sentenced  to  simple  imprison- 
ment work  if  they  wish  it ;  otherwise,  not.  It  is  to  be  presumed 
that  if  they  work,  the  entire  net  profit  of  their  labor  inures  to 
their  own  profit. 

The  punishment  of  reclusion  for  life  or  of  imprisonment  with 
obligation  to  labor  is  applied  to  certain  crimes  against  the  inde- 

worship  must  not  take  on  the  exterior  form  of  churches.  Nobody  can  be  persecuted 
on  religious  grounds,  and  the  marriages  of  non-Catholics  are  respected  in  all  their 
legal  effects. 


PART  n.]  IN  BRAZIL.  557 

pendence  of  the  nation,  against  the  constitution  of  the  empire, 
against  the  head  of  the  Government,  or  against  the  public  safety 
and  tranquillity. 

The  penalty  of  hard  labor  for  life  (gaits  perpetttas)  is  applied  to 
the  crimes  of  insurrection,  of  homicide,  of  piracy,  and  of  perjury 
in  a  case  where  conviction  would  involve  capital  punishment.  A 
reconviction  for  the  crime  of  counterfeiting  is  punished  with  a 
sentence  of  hard  labor  for  life,  to  be  undergone  in  the  convict 
prison  of  Fernando  de  Noronha. 

Short  sentences  are  often  given  in  punishment  of  trivial  of- 
fences ;  but  it  has  been  observed  that  the  frequent  repetition  of 
such  sentences,  so  far  from  having  any  tendency  to  improve  those 
to  whom  they  are  given,  on  the  contrary  tend  to  habituate  them 
to  criminal  acts,  and  to  dispose  them  to  the  commission  of  graver 
offences. 

As  a  general  rule,  sentences  for  life -are  not  terminated  by  the 
death  of  those  so  condemned.  Very  often  they  are  reduced  to 
twenty  or  even  to  fifteen  years  by  the  clemency  of  the  emperor. 
These  reductions  are  not  subject  to  fixed  rules.  They  are  par- 
dons which  have  been  long  in  use,  and  are  granted  according  to 
the  judgment  of  the  executive  power,  which  is  exercised  by  the 
emperor  exclusively. 

The  death-penalty  is,  by  the  code,  applicable  in  cases  of  insur- 
rection, of  homicide  in  the  commission  of  theft  or  aggravated  by 
circumstances,  of  incendiarism,  of  poisoning,  of  abuse  of  trust,  of 
lying  in  wait,  of  breaking  into  or  even  attempting  to  break  into 
the  house  of  the  injured  party,  or  when  this  latter  was  father  or 
had  some  other  ground  of  pre-eminence  and  authority  over  the 
offender.  But  in  order  to  convict  in  such  cases  an  absolute  una- 
nimity is  required  on  the  part  of  the  twelve  jurors  who  form  the 
jury  tribunal. 

It  is  long  since  this  penalty  has  been  executed,  and  it  is  never 
pronounced  upon  persons  under  twenty-one  years.  In  no  case  is 
it  executed  without  a  previous  application  for  pardon,  officially 
presented  by  the  president  of  the  tribunal  which  pronounced  the 
sentence. 

As  a  general  and  indeed  almost  invariable  rule,  the  death- 
penalty  is  commuted  by  the  emperor  into  that  of  hard  labor  for 
life  (gatis  perpetuas). 

Patronage  societies  do  not  exist  in  Brazil ;  but  mention  is  made 
of  special  cases  of  charitable  intervention  by  individuals,  or  of 
successful  efforts  on  the  part  of  prison  directors  in  securing  places 
for  liberated  prisoners. 


STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BooK  vi. 


CHAPTER  IX.  —  TYPE  OF  CRIME.  —  PREVENTIVE  INSTITUTIONS. 
—  No  PRISON  CODE.  —  No  GENERAL  SYSTEM.  —  PROGRES- 
SIVE SYSTEM  FAVORED. 

THE  prevailing  type  of  crime  in  Brazil  is  that  against  the 
person  ;  thefts  and  other  crimes  against  property  are 
much  fewer  in  number.  The  principal  causes  of  crime  are  want 
of  education  and  bad  passions.  Quite  the  reverse  of  what  is 
observed  in  countries  thickly  peopled,  misery  has  little  to  do 
with  it. 

According  to  the  penal  code,  minors  under  fourteen  years  are 
not  found  guilty  ;  but  if  they  have  committed  crime  with  knowl- 
edge they  are  to  be  sent  to  correctional  establishments  till  the 
age  of  eighteen  years.  If  the  delinquent  is  more  than  fourteen 
and  less  than  seventeen,  the  judge  may  apply  to  him  the  ordinary 
punishment  with  a  diminution  of  one  third  of  its  duration.  In 
any  case,  minors  under  twenty-one  years  are  always  considered  as 
acting  under  mitigating  circumstances. 

But  there  are  in  Brazil  no  correctional  establishments  for  those 
of  the  first  category  mentioned  in  the  preceding  paragraph,  though 
their  existence  is  presupposed  by  the  penal  law.  Special  prisons 
are  also  wanting  for  delinquents  under  seventeen  years,  who  ought 
not  to  be  placed  with  old  convicts. 

There  are,  however,  professional  schools  for  deserted  or  unfor- 
tunate children,  some  of  which  establishments  are  maintained  by 
the  State,  as  the  asylum  founded  in  1875  at  the  Villa  Isabel  (Rio 
de  Janeiro)  for  three  hundred  children,  where  they  receive  intel- 
lectual, professional,  moral,  and  religious  instruction.  They  learn 
the  trades  of  tailor,  shoemaker,  joiner,  locksmith,  and  also  instru- 
mental music.  In  the  environs  of  Rio  de  Janeiro  there  is  like- 
wise an  agricultural  asylum  for  deserted  children  founded  by  the 
Agricultural  Institute  ;  and  in  the  province  of  Pernambuco,  the 
Colony  Isabel.  There  are  other  similar  institutions  due  wholly  to 
private  initiative, — as  the  asylum  of  Dona  Anna  Rosa  in  the  city 
of  San  Paulo,  and  the  domestic  school  in  the  city  of  Petropolis, — 
the  last  an  important  establishment  for  the  professional,  moral, 
and  religious  education  of  poor  young  girls,  due  to  the  Christian 
zeal  of  a  Brazilian  priest.  There  have  been  established  in  differ- 
ent parts  of  the  country  a  number  of  agricultural  colonies  for 
destitute  orphans. 

As  regards  the  young  vagrants  who  infested  the  populous  city 
of  Rio  de  Janeiro,  measures  have  recently  been  taken  to  place 
them  with  the  superintendents  of  plantations,  who  employ  them 
in  the  labors  of  their  establishments,  requiring  them  at  the  same 
time  to  form  zpeculium, — a  little  fund  for  themselves  against  the 


PART  n.]  IN  BRAZIL.  559 

time  of  need.  More  than  five  hundred  of  these  little  vagabonds 
have  thus,  within  the  space  of  a  year,  been  sent  on  to  the  planta- 
tions by  the  orphans'  court  of  Rio  de  Janeiro. 

There  is  a  class  of  unfortunate  little  children  who  require  all 
the  protection  of  the  powers  of  the  State,  —  it  is  the  children  of 
the  slaves  who  since  the  law  of  1871  are  free.  Some  members 
of  the  chamber  of  deputies  have  introduced  a  bill,  which  has  had 
its  first  reading,  authorizing  the  Government  to  establish  in  all 
the  provinces  agricultural  colonies,  and  to  aid  those  which  may 
have  been  founded  by  private  initiative  for  the  education  of 
these  minors.  But  in  none  of  the  establishments  just  mentioned 
-a  circumstance  to  be  much  regretted  —  has  there  been  any 
attempt  to  introduce  the  family  system  or  the  division  into 
groups. 

Brazil  has  no  prison  code.  The  penitentiaries  of  Rio  de  Janeiro 
and  of  San  Paulo  are  conducted  upon  the  Auburn  system  ;  that 
is,  of  separation  by  night  and  associated  labor  during  the  day. 
This  system,  adopted  provisionally  and  by  way  of  experiment,  has 
not  given  satisfaction.  '  , 

The  idea  is  entertained  in  Brazil  that  for  trival  offences  (contra- 
ventions} it  would  be  better  to  adopt  the  system  of  pecuniary 
penalties  or  fines  ;  for  offences  of  which  the  punishment  does  not 
exceed  a  year  in  duration,  cellular  separation  in  all  its  rigors,  thus 
giving  prominence  to  the  element  of  intimidation  ;  and  for  the 
graver  crimes,  the  progressive  system  agreeably  to  the  Irish 
method. 

In  1874  the  board  of  inspectors  of  the  penitentiary  of  Rio  de 
Janeiro  proposed  that  the  punishment  of  privation  of  liberty 
should  be  divided  into  different  stages  according  to  the  conduct 
of  the  prisoner,  from  the  greatest  severity  to  conditional  liberty  ; 
that  is  to  say,  a  penal  stage  of  cellular  separation,  a  reformatory 
stage  subdivided  into  classes  to  be  regulated  by  good  marks,  a 
probationary  or  testing  stage  between  the  prison  and  society,  and 
a  stage  of  conditional  but  revocable  pardon,  to  be  the  final  stage 
if  the  conduct  of  the  prisoner  remains  always  irreproachable. 

The  penal  code  of  Brazil,  though  adopted  in  1830,  does  not  in 
the  least  oppose  itself  to  the  introduction  of  the  system  outlined 
in  the  preceding  paragraph.  It  is  well  known  and  appreciated 
even  by  foreigners,  and  has  undergone  but  few  modifications 
since  its  original  adoption,  especially  in  that  part  which  relates  to 
general  principles. 


560  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  VI. 


PART    THIRD. 

PERU. 

CHAPTER  X .  —  HISTORICAL  RESUME. 

VERY  soon  after  her  emancipation  from  Spain,  Peru  began  to 
think  of  establishing  a  penitentiary  system  in  harmony  with 
her  new  civil  constitution. 

On  the  Qth  November,  1825,  the  Council  of  State  (executive 
power)  resolved  to  establish  a  house  of  correction  at  Lima,  in 
which  should  be  erected  workshops  for  the  exercise  of  divers  arts 
and  trades.  The  idea  however  remained  dormant, — a  mere  con- 
ception,—  till  the  year  1853.  Taking  advantage  of  a  visit  made 
that  year  to  the  United  States  by  M.  Felipe  Paz-Soldan,  the  Peru- 
vian Government  commissioned  him  to  visit  the  prisons  of  that 
country  and  to  make  a  general  report  on  its  penitentiary  system. 

On  his  return  to  Peru,  M.  Paz-Soldan  presented  to  the  Govern- 
ment a  report  in  which  he  passed  in  review  whatever,  far  or  near, 
had  relation  to  penitentiary  establishments.  The  illustrious  Pres- 
ident of  the  Republic,  General  Ramon  Castillo,  gave  orders  with- 
out delay  to  carry  into  effect  the  plans  proposed  by  M.  Paz-Soldan 
in  his  report.  On  the  2Oth  October,  1855,  the  president  confided 
to  the  author  of  the  report  the  task  of  erecting  a  penitentiary, 
which  was  completed  and  inaugurated  with  much  solemnity  in  the 
month  of  July,  1862.  In  August  following,  the  first  prisoners 
were  committed  to  the  establishment. 

The  rules  and  regulations  of  this  institution,  drawn  up  by  M. 
Paz-Soldan,  received  the  sanction  of  the  executive  power  in  1863. 
This  gentleman,  named  director  of  the  penitentiary,  continued  to 
discharge  the  duties  of  that  office  till  the  year  1867,  when  he  was 
succeeded  therein  by  Dr.  Thomas  Lama. 

On  assuming  his  new  charge,  Dr.  Lama  expressed  himself  as 
not  satisfied  with  the  condition  of  the  penitentiary.  In  a  report 
made  thereupon,  he  declared  it  as  his  opinion  that  the  larger 
part  of  the  prisoners  there  undergoing  their  punishment  were 
more  unfortunate  than  criminal,  and  that  their  offences  against 
society  were  to  be  ascribed  rather  to  bad  education  than  to  any 
deep  corruption  or  vicious  instincts.  Dr.  Lama  was  so  convinced 
of  this  that  he  recommended  the  use  of  a  mild  discipline  towards 
them,  believing  that  it  would  be  more  efficacious  than  a  rigorous 


PART  in.]  IN  PERU.  561 

one;  though,  at  the  same  time,  excepting  from  this  treatment  a 
certain  number  of  prisoners  whom  he  thought  it  necessary  to 
separate  absolutely  from  the  others. 

At  the  opening  of  the  penitentiary  there  were  received  thirty- 
three  prisoners,  and  by  the  end  of  the  same  year  the  number  had 
risen  to  sixty-three. 

Since  then  the  maximum  number  of  prisoners  at  any  one  time 
has  been  three  hundred  and  seven.  It  must  be  borne  in  mind 
that  there  is  in  Peru  no  other  penitentiary  than  that  of  Lima. 
Prior  to  the  completion  of  this  establishment,  convicts  had  been 
sent  to  the  municipal  prison  of  Guadaloupe,  where  they  were  kept 
during  the  whole  time  of  their  imprisonment. 

As  regards  the  nationality  of  .the  convicts,  it  is  generally  in 
exact  proportion  to  the  number  of  the  different  foreign  popula- 
tions resident  in  Peru.  Of  course,  Peruvians  are  much  the  most 
numerous. 

Of  the  crimes  committed  in  Peru  homicide,  unhappily,  occu- 
pies the  first  place  in  her  criminal  statistics  ;  but  it  is  to  be  re- 
membered that  it  is  also  the  crime  most  easily  proved. 

In  resume,  it  may  be  said  that  Peru  has  a  penitentiary  build- 
ing of  the  first  order,  which  is  recognized  as  being  one  of  the  best 
of  its  kind  to  be  anywhere  found.  The  system  of  associated  labor 
by  day  and  cellular  separation  at  night  is  claimed  to  be  the  only 
one  that  can  be  successfully  applied  in  Peru.  If  her  penitentiary 
system  leaves  something  to  be  desired  in  regard  of  its  discipline, 
it  is  none  the  less  superior  in  all  respects  to  that  which  existed 
in  that  country  prior  to  1862,  and  to  all  that  South  America  had 
inherited  from  its  conquerors. 


CHAPTER  XI.  —  PENITENTIARY  OF  LIMA.  —  PRISON  SYSTEM. 
—  LABOR.  —  RESULTS. 

IT  has  been  seen  that  when  Peru  had  once  entered  upon  the 
path  of  penitentiary  reform,  she  pursued  it  with  intelligence 
and  zeal.  M.  Paz-Soldan,  founder  and  organizer  of  the  peniten- 
tiary of  Lima  —  a  very  able  man  —  was  placed  and  continued  in 
charge  of  its  administration  from  1862  to  1867,  when,  being  re- 
moved to  a  higher  post  in  the  Government,  he  was  succeeded  by 
Dr.  Thomas  Lama,  a  most  excellent  man  and  competent  adminis- 
trator, who  put  not  only  head  and  hand,  but  also  his  whole  heart 
into  the  work.  It  has  been  stated  that,  notwithstanding  the  abil- 
ity of  his  predecessor,  he  did  not  find  the  state  of  things  altogether 
to  his  mind  on  his  accession  to  the  directorship.  Above  all,  he 

36 


562  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  vi. 

sought  to  introduce  more  of  the  moral  element  into  the  discipline 
of  the  prison,  and  to  make  moral  forces  effective  in  the  mainte- 
nance of  order  and  the  promotion  of  industry.  His  study  of  the 
prisoners  produced  in  him  the  conviction,  as  stated  in  the  last 
chapter,  that  the  greater  part  of  the  convicts  had  fallen  into  crime 
more  from  the  lack  of  a  proper  education  than  from  an  inborn 
proclivity  in  that  direction.  In  a  report  made  to  the  Government 
in  1870  he  declared  that  he  found  a  proof  of  the  correctness  of 
this  opinion  in  the  fact  that,  during  the  two-and-a-half  years  of 
his  administration,  he  had  so  far  had  occasion  to  punish  few 
offences  of  a  grave  character ;  but  that,  on  the  contrary,  he  had 
had  occasion  to  observe  in  many  of  the  prisoners  acts  which 
showed  them  to  be  men  of  heart,  —  men  susceptible  to  good  as  well 
as  evil  impressions  ;  men  capable  of  becoming  good  fathers  and 
good  citizens.  He  further  attests  it  as  a  noteworthy  fact,  that  the 
prisoners  are  moved  to  this  good  and  obedient  conduct  far  less  by 
the  rigors  of  repression  and  the  severities  of  discipline  than  by 
the  docility  of  their  nature  and  the  confidence  inspired  in  them 
by  his  own  disposition  to  alleviate  their  situation  so  far  as  might 
be  compatible  with  the  stern  duties  of  the  position  which  he  held. 
In  that  view,  he  says,  his  habit  was  to  visit  them  as  often  as  pos- 
sible in  the  workshops,  in  their  cells,  or  wherever  else  they  might 
be  employed,  to  afford  them  the  opportunity  of  making  known 
their  necessities  and  complaints,  to  which  he  always  endeavored 
to  apply  a  remedy  so  far  as  in  him  lay. 

The  report  of  Dr.  Lama  bears  date  July  13,  1870  ;  but  a  later 
report,  dated  June  16,  1876,  and  signed  by  M.  Aurelio  Villaran  as 
director,  was  also  sent  me  by  the  Peruvian  Government.  In  my 
further  account  of  the  penitentiary  at  Lima,  I  shall  feel  at  liberty 
to  draw  indiscriminately  upon  both  these  reports  without  special 
citation. 

Both  the  gentlemen  named  agree  in  regarding  skilled  labor, 
certainly  without  excluding  other  essential  agencies,  as  lying  at 
the  root  of  the  individual  reformation  of  criminals ;  and  to  the 
effective  organization  of  such  labor  their  most  earnest  efforts 
were  directed.  These  exertions  have  been  so  wisely  and  success- 
fully employed,  that  M.  Villaran  expresses  the  confident  hope  that 
within  a  period  not  far  distant  the  income  from  the  labor  of  the 
convicts  will  be  sufficient  to  meet  all  current  expenses.  In  each 
workshop  the  labor  has  been  thoroughly  organized  ;  for  each  a 
tariff  has  been  prepared  in  which  is  set  down  the  remuneration 
that  every  prisoner  is  to  receive  for  every  piece  or  object  made 
by  him,  —  so  that  he  knows  what  is  coming  to  him,  as  well  by  the 
tariff  as  by  a  little  book  which  is  given  to  him,  showing  his  share 
of  the  product  of  his  labor  month  by  month.  This  plan  has 
proved  of  the  greatest  utility  in  stimulating  the  prisoners  to  in- 
dustry and  in  augmenting  the  product  of  their  labor.  While  work 


PART  in.]  IN  PERU.  563 

is  thus  regarded  as  a  most  effective  agency  in  the  moral  improve- 
ment of  the  prisoner,  it  is  considered  no  less  necessary  that  he 
have  the  stimulus  of  profit  to  be  derived  from  it,  thus  assuring 
him  of  some  provision  against  the  time  of  his  discharge,  and  pro- 
tecting him  from  that  utter  destitution  which  is  so  often  the  occa- 
sion of  crime.  Several  exhibitions  of  the  product  of  the  prisoners' 
labor  have  been  held, — one  of  which,  celebrated  on  the  anniversary 
of  the  national  independence,  is  quite  fully  described  by  Dr.  Lama. 
Among  the  articles  on  exhibition  were  several  pieces  of  furniture, 
some  carved  and  others  inlaid,  of  exquisite  taste  and  finish  ;  cloth- 
ing of  all  kinds,  suited  to  the  use  of  gentlemen  as  well  as  laborers  ; 
shoes  of  every  pattern  ;  tin  and  pewter  ware  for  domestic  use, 
some  articles  of  which  were  invented  by  the  prisoners,  as  for  ex- 
ample a  vessel  for  boiling  milk  without  risk  of  spilling  it ;  straw 
hats  that  would  rival  those  of  Guayaquil ;  bouquets  of  artificial 
flowers  admirably  wrought  ;  and  a  thousand  other  articles  and 
curiosities  which  afforded  the  best  proof  of  the  intelligence  and 
industry  of  the  prisoners.  There  was  also  placed  on  exhibition 
the  chapel  of  the  penitentiary,  which  had  just  been  painted  in  fresco 
by  two  of  the 'prisoners,  whose  work  won  the  approval  of  the  best 
artists. 

In  concluding  his  description,  Dr.  Lama  remarks  that  the 
opponents  of  the  penitentiary  system,  who  have  so  little  faith  in 
the  moral  regeneration  of  the  criminal,  would  have  found  potent 
reasons  for  changing  their  opinion  in  presence  of  the  articles  so 
exquisitely  wrought  by  these  wretched  beings  snatched  perhaps 
from  the  gibbet,  or  at  least  from  the  chain  of  the  galleys,  and 
who,  regenerated  by  means  of  labor  and  converted  into  useful 
and  industrious  men,  will  for  the  most  part  return  as  worthy 
citizens  to  the  society  which  cast  them  out  from  her  bosom  in 
punishment  of  their  crimes. 

After  the  retirement  of  Dr.  Lama,  the  order  and  discipline 
of  the  penitentiary  fell  into  confusion  ;  but  on  the  accession  of 
Dr.  Gadea  to  the  directorship  an  important  reform  was  effected 
therein,  though  such  reform  was  not  complete,  owing  especially 
to  the  easy  communication  between  the  prison  yards,  which  were 
afterwards  absolutely  separated,  so  that  no  communication  could 
be  had  between  them.  In  1876  M.  Villaran  reported,  that  in  so 
far  as  the  prisoners  were  concerned  complete  subordination  and 
obedience  to  rule  had  been  assured,  and  that  in  respect  of  the 
staff  such  reforms  had  been  effected  as  to  secure  a  more  regular 
movement  and  a  more  active  and  efficacious  supervision. 

In  the  department  of  instruction  constant  effort  has  been  made 
for  the  intellectual  advancement  of  the  prisoners.  An  employe, 
who  had  previously  discharged  the  function  of  professor,  together 
with  one  of  the  guards,  is  exclusively  employed  in  giving  instruc- 
tion. He  has  also  two  assistants,  taken  from  among  the  prison- 


564  STATE   OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BooK  vr. 

ers,  to  aid  in  the  department  of  primary  instruction,  who  are 
rewarded  with  a  moderate  gratification. 

Instruction  is  both  obligatory  and  voluntary.  It  is  obligatory 
for  those  prisoners  who  enter  the  establishment  with  little  or  no 
education  ;  voluntary  for  those  who  come  to  it  with  the  requisite 
instruction.  The  average  number  of  attendants  at  school  is 
about  fifty,  who  have  an  hour  in  the  morning  and  another  in  the 
evening.  Besides  this,  on  festival  days  they  are  in  attendance 
from  mid-day  to  three  in  the  afternoon,  when  they  receive  les- 
sons on  special  subjects.  The  obligatory  branches  are  reading, 
writing,  arithmetic,  and  the  Spanish  grammar.  The  voluntary 
are  moral  science,  geography,  natural  history,  the  history  of 
Peru,  and  some  other  courses.  As  regards  the  female  prisoners, 
instruction  is  made  obligatory.  They  are  taught  by  the  matron 
reading,  writing,  and  Christian  doctrine,  dedicating  to  such  in- 
struction Sundays  and  feast  days,  as  the  nature  of  their  work 
does  not  permit  them  to  do  it  daily.  In  requital,  various  oral 
lessons  are  daily  given  to  them  after  prayers  and  before  being 
shut  up  separately  in  their  cells. 

The  sanitary  state  of  the  prison  is  reported  as  good. 

The  staff  is  considered  by  M.  Villaran  as  a  branch  of  the 
highest  significance  in  a  penitentiary,  since  if  prison  employe's 
must  in  general  unite  very  special  conditions  and  be  subjected 
to  an  apprenticeship  and  attain  to  a  knowledge  which  only  prac- 
tice can  give  them,  they  must  in  particular  have  in  Peru  quali- 
ties rarely  found  united  in  a  single  individual,  since  it  is  very 
seldom  that  a  person  robust,  educated,  and  of  the  proper  age  is 
willing  to  become  an  employe"  in  a  penitentiary.  Therefore,  to 
secure  the  right  men  for  this  service  and  retain  them  therein, 
M.  Villaran  thinks  that  the  supreme  government  should  not 
only  increase  their  compensation,  but  also  establish  for  them  a 
system  of  pensions,  as  in  the  case  of  officers  in  other  departments 
of  the  public  service. 

A  large  proportion  of  the  prisoners  discharged  are  reported  as 
reformed,  and  the  number  of  relapses  and  reconvictions  as  pro- 
portionably  small ;  at  least  Dr.  Lama  reports  such  to  have  been 
the  case  under  his  administration. 


PART  IV.]  IN  THE  ARGENTINE  REPUBLIC.  56$ 


PART    FOURTH. 

• 

ARGENTINE     REPUBLIC. 

CHAPTER  XII.  —  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CRIMINAL  JUSTICE. 

I  HAVE  received  a  communication  from  an  American  gentle- 
man of  high  intelligence  and  culture,  who  has  been  for 
many  years  a  resident  of  the  Republic  under  circumstances  which 
afforded  him  large  opportunity  for  studying  its  institutions  of  all 
kinds  ;  and  he  would  seem  to  have  improved  his  opportunity  to 
the  utmost.  His  essay  is  largely  taken  up  with  an  exposition  of 
the  judicial  system  of  the  country,  both  civil  and  criminal,  —  an 
exposition  at  once  broadly  comprehensive  and  profoundly  inter- 
esting, but  not  quite  suited  to  the  nature  and  design  of  this  work. 
I  must  therefore  confine  myself  to  the  briefest  analysis,  and  that 
only  in  one  of  its  relations,  —  the  administration  of  criminal 
justice. 

The  courts  that  deal  with  criminality  are  of  three  kinds, — 
criminal,  correctional,  and  police.  The  first  have  to  do  with  the 
graver  crimes  ;  the  second  with  minor  offences  ;  the  third  with 
peccadilloes  that  may  be  dealt  with  summarily,  being  punished  by 
small  fines  or  short  detentions.  There  are  numerous  police  offi- 
cers in  the  cities  and  justices  of  the  peace  in  the  country,  who 
rule  with  almost  despotic  sway,  and  are  as  so  many  satraps  ap- 
pointed by  the  executive  government  more  for  political  purposes 
than  for  their  merits  or  abilities  as  criminal  officers. 

My  correspondent  goes  into  an  extended  detail  of  the  sumario, 
or  preliminary  proceedings  in  criminal  cases,  and  the  plenario,  or 
final  proceedings  on  the  trial,  with  the  subsequent  conviction  and 
judgment.  The  result  is  that  criminal  procedure  is  slow  and  vex- 
atious in  the  extreme,  often  in  a  given  case  lasting  for  years  ;  so 
that  not  unfrequently  the  preliminary  detention  is  of  longer  dura- 
tion than  the  penal  imprisonment.  The  constitution  of  the 
Republic  provides  for  habeas  corpus,  trial  by  jury,  and  a  speedy 
administration  of  justice ;  but  the  national  legislature  has  failed 
to  enact  the  necessary  laws  to  carry  these  provisions  into  effect. 
My  correspondent  cites  an  article  from  a  Buenos  Ayres  journal, 
under  the  heading,  "  Is  Justice  a  Farce  with  us  ? "  in  which  the 
editor  remarks  :  4<  The  most  glaring  defect  of  the  Argentine  Re- 
public is  its  judiciary.  We  do  not  mean  that  its  personnel  is  cor- 


566  STATE   OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  VI. 

rupt,  but  that  its  administration  is  inexcusably  tedious,  unequal, 
cruel,  and  unjust ;  that  it  tramples  upon  the  constitution  of  the 
Republic  and  on  the  commonest  rights  of  man,"  —  with  much 
more  to  the  like  effect. 

Imprisonment  for  debt  still  exists  under  certain  limitations; 
but  these  are  not  so  stringent  but  that  grave  wrong  is  often  done 
to  the  bankrupt  debtor  under  the  administration  of  the  law  as  it 
exists. 

My  informant  goes  into  a  detailed  statement  of  the  acts  made 
criminal  by  the  Argentine  code,  which  is  largely  copied  from  that 
of  Edward  Livingston,  together  with  the  penalties  annexed  to 
each.  However  interesting  to  criminalists,  these  details  would  be 
wearying  to  the  general  reader ;  nor  do  they  exactly  fall  in  with 
the  main  purpose  of  the  present  work.  The  death-penalty  is 
awarded  for  murder  and  parricide. 


CHAPTER  XIII.  —  DETENTION  PRISONS. 

THERE  are  two  classes  of  prisons  in  the  Argentine  Repub- 
lic, —  detention  prisons  and  penitentiaries,  which  are  also, 
under  certain  circumstances,  prisons  of  detention.  Words  are 
almost  inadequate  to  characterize  the  horrible  dens  which  are 
used  for  those  who  are  detained  pending  an  inquiry,  or  who  are 
sentenced  for  a  few  days'  detention  for  the  infringement  of  police 
or  municipal  regulations.  In  these  the  prisoners  are  herded  to- 
gether like  cattle  in  a  corral,  and  there  is  hardly  a  more  pitiable 
sight  than  the  unfortunates  who  are  incarcerated  therein.  Foul 
and  blasphemous  language,  indecent  exposures,  all  sorts  of  pollu- 
tion, offend  the  eye  and  the  ear  on  every  side ;  and,  what  adds  to 
the  horror,  the  innocent  under  accusation  and  the  young  in  crime 
are  compelled  to  associate  with  the  most  reckless  and  abandoned 
characters.  One  can  readily  imagine  the  result. 

The  prison  connected  with  the  correctional  court  of  Buenos 
Ayres  exhibits  a  little  more  tidiness,  but  the  apartments  into 
which  the  criminals  are  crowded  are  arranged  with  huge  iron 
bars  in  front,  like  cages  for  wild  animals ;  and  one  cannot  look 
at  the  haggard  faces  behind  these  latticed  railings  without  shud- 
dering at  the  inhumanity  with  which  the  inmates  are  treated.  It 
can  well  be  believed  that  "  who  enters  here  may  leave  hope  be- 
hind." It  is  into  these  dens  also  that  bankrupt  traders,  if  bail 
is  not  forthcoming  within  three  days,  are  transferred,  and  where, 
by  paying  smartly  for  the  privilege,  a  share  of  a  room  can  be 
obtained,  —  in  which,  perhaps,  half-a-dozen  others  are  also  locked 


PART  iv.]  IN  THE  ARGENTINE  REPUBLIC.  567 

up.  The  food  of  the  prisoners  consists  generally  of  a  soup  or 
caldo  with  bread  for  breakfast,  and  a  pochero  (meat  stewed  with 
vegetables)  for  dinner. 

I  could  wish  that  there  were  no  common  jails  in  the  United 
States  which  might  serve  as  companion-pieces  to  these  prisons  ; 
but,  alas  !  there  are  too  many  to  which  the  above  description 
would  substantially  apply,  —  even  in  some  cases  including  the 
iron  cage  similar  to  those  which  one  sees  in  a  menagerie. 


CHAPTER  XIV.  —  PENITENTIARY  OF  BUENOS  AYRES. 

IN  striking  contrast  with  the  prisons  described  in  the  last  chap- 
ter is  the  penitentiary  of  the  province  of  Buenos  Ayres,  located 
about  two  miles  north  of  that  city.  In  size,  architecture,  ar- 
rangements, general  completeness,  comfort,  and  administration 
it  will  compare  favorably  with  any  prison  of  its  class  in  the 
United  States.  It  is  really  a  model  prison,  and  its  discipline  is 
all  that  could  be  desired.  Prisoners  under  sentence  are  obliged 
to  learn  a  trade  or  work  at  some  handicraft,  and  the  work  turned 
out  by  them  is  generally  of  excellent  quality.  Those  who  are 
detained  here  awaiting  trial  are  subject  to  the  general  prison  dis- 
cipline, but  are  well  treated  and  have  no  tasks  to  perform.  The 
cells  are  neatly  and  comfortably  furnished,  capable  of  holding 
two  persons  if  necessary,  and  are  so  arranged  that  the  guards 
stationed  at  the  central  "  chapel,1'  from  which  the  several  corri- 
dors radiate,  have  a  complete  view  of  the  entire  prison. 


Booft  Srbcntfj. 
OTHER    COUNTRIES. 


PART    FIRST. 

HAWAII. 

CHAPTER  I.  —  HISTORICAL  SKETCH. 

THE  kingdom  of  Hawaii,  —  originally  known  to  civilized  na- 
tions as  the  Sandwich  Islands,  a  large  and  important  group 
in  the  Pacific  Ocean,  —  is  one  of  the  youngest  among  the  family 
of  States  ;  yet  to-day  it  is  not  the  least  advanced  of  the  sister- 
hood in  penitentiary  science  and  practice.  When  the  writer  was 
a  youth  in  college  the  Sandwich  Islanders  were  still  a  community 
of  savage  idolaters  ;  though,  strange  to  say,  when  the  first  Chris- 
tian missionaries  reached  their  shores  (about  1820)  they  had 
already,  doubtless  through  a  divine  impulse,  renounced  idolatry, 
destroyed  their  idols,  and  were  prepared  for  the  announcement 
of  the  true  religion  which  reveals  the  one  supreme  and  only 
God.  There  are  now  lying  on  my  table  four  distinct  prison 
Acts,  passed  within  the  last  few  years  by  the  Hawaiian  Govern- 
ment and  approved  by  the  king,  which,  though  containing  some 
things  not  sanctioned  by  penitentiary  science  (as  night-cells  for 
two  prisoners  instead  of  one)  are  yet  in  the  main  the  result  of  an 
earnest  and  wise  study  of  the  penitentiary  question.  Considering 
that  Hawaii  has  had  an  organized  government  only  thirty-six 
years,  her  prison  administration  may  be  said  to  compare  favor- 
ably with  those  of  older  and  more  experienced  States. 

Special  credit  is  due  to  the  Hawaiian  Government  for  the  zeal 
and  energy  of  its  efforts  to  save  the  children  and  youth  of  the 
country  from  a  first  plunge  into  crime.  In  these  efforts  it  has 
acted  upon  the  avowed  principle  that  the  best  way  to  provide  for 
the  State  a  body  of  upright  and  laborious  citizens  is  to  train  the 
children  in  the  ways  of  virtue  and  industry.  That  this  is  true 
will  be  readily  seen  in  what  follows. 


5/O  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  VII. 


CHAPTER  II.  —  PRISON  SYSTEM. 

THERE  is  a  State-prison  at  Honolulu,  on  the  island  of  Oahu, 
built  of  stone,  two  stories  in  height,  each  cell  being  intended 
for  the  occupancy  of  two  inmates.  To  this  are  sent  all  prisoners 
convicted  of  serious  offences.  There  is  also  at  Honolulu  a  lock- 
up for  the  detention  of  deserters  from  ships  of  foreign  countries 
having  treaty  stipulations  with  Hawaii. 

Small  prisons  are  found  in  Oahu  and  all  the  other  islands, 
to  which  persons  are  committed  for  minor  offences  on  short 
sentences. 

The  Auburn  system  of  imprisonment  is  the  one  practised  at 
the  State  penitentiary,  —  associated  labor  by  day  and  cellular 
separation  at  night,  —  with  two  convicts  however  in  each  cell. 
The  principle  of  progressive  classification  is  not  in  use.  The 
daily  average  number  of  prisoners  in  1877  was  forty-four  males 
and  three  females,  of  whom  twelve  were  Chinamen  and  seven 
Europeans. 


CHAPTER  III.  —  PRISON  ADMINISTRATION. 

THE  penitentiary  administration  is  in  the  hands  of  the  mar- 
shal of  the  kingdom,  who  appoints  all  officers  with  the  ap- 
proval of  the  minister  of  the  interior.  The  employe's  hold  office 
at  the  pleasure  of  the  marshal.  Political  influence  has  nothing  to 
do  with  their  appointment  or  dismissal.  They  are  selected  solely 
on  the  ground  of  qualification  and  merit.  The  qualification  re- 
quired is  that  the  appointee  be  a  man  of  sobriety,  honesty,  and 
good  moral  habits  ;  also,  that  he  be  able  to  speak  the  Hawaiian 
as  well  as  the  English  language.  No  school  exists  for  the  pro- 
fessional education  of  prison  officers,  but  the  marshal  is  of  opin- 
ion that  such  special  education  is  necessary  to  the  full  success 
of  the  penal  administration.  The  prisons  in  Honolulu  are  in- 
spected weekly  by  the  marshal,  and  on  the  several  islands  by 
their  respective  sheriffs. 

The  chief  of  the  administration  appears  to  be  a  gentleman 
thoroughly  devoted  to  his  work  and  every  way  equal  to  its  du- 
ties. The  inspection  of  the  Honolulu  prisons  is  faithful  and 
effective,  and  on  the  other  islands  seems  fairly  good. 


PARTI.]  IN  HAWAII.  571 


CHAPTER  IV.  —  DISCIPLINE. 

THE  discipline  is  intended  to  be  both  deterrent  and  reforma- 
tory,—  the  latter  more  than  the  former.  Encouragements 
and  rewards  are  most  relied  upon  in  its  administration.  It  is 
sought  to  implant  hope  in  the  breast  of  the  criminal  through 
benefits  to  be  obtained  by  his  observance  of  the  rules  of  the 
prison. '  By  this  means  each  prisoner  can  earn  a  certain  diminu- 
tion of  his  sentence.  It  is  seldom  necessary  to  administer  pun- 
ishment. Attempts  to  escape  are  not  frequent.  The  prisoner 
after  breaking  jail  cannot  get  away  from  the  islands,  and  cannot 
find  subsistence  on  the  mountains. 


CHAPTER  V.  —  RELIGIOUS,  MORAL,  AND  EDUCATIONAL 
AGENCIES. 

THE  prisons  are  provided  with  chaplains  who  hold  religious 
services  for  the  benefit  of  the  prisoners.  Discreet  Christian 
persons,  irrespective  of  creeds,  are  permitted  to  visit  the  peni- 
tentiary in  Honolulu  on  Sunday  and  hold  conversation  with  the 
prisoners  on  moral  and  religious  subjects.  The  prisoners  are 
also  allowed,  under  surveillance,  to  correspond  with  and  receive 
visits  from  their  friends.  The  moral  effect  of  both  is  found 
beneficial. 

In  point  of  education  the  criminals  compare  favorably  with  the 
non-criminal  population  ;  and  it  is  stated  regretfully  that  some  of 
the  best  educated  Hawaiians  are  occasionally  found  in  the  peni- 
tentiary. The  prisoners  are  supplied  with  books  and  news- 
papers ;  but  there  are  no  schools  for  those  over  fifteen  years  of 
age,  and  those  under  that  age  are  sent  to  the  reformatory  to  be 
hereafter  noticed. 


CHAPTER  VI.  —  PRISON  LABOR.  —  PRISON  HYGIENE. 

THERE  is  no  penal  labor  in  the  technical  sense  in  the  Ha- 
waiian prisons.     All  male  prisoners  are  employed  on  the 
roads  or  on  other  government  works.     No  trades  are  carried  on 
in  the  prisons,  and  no  prisoners  are  put  out  to  contractors  ;  the 


572  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  VIL 

administration  manages  the  labor.  The  labor  of  the  prisoners 
does  not  pay  the  expenses  of  the  prisons,  but  it  would  do  so  if  it 
were  paid  for  at  current  wages. 

The  health  of  the  prisoners  is  good.  The  diet  is  the  native 
food  of  the  kingdom, — kalo,  with  fish,  bread,  and  tea,  and  to  for- 
eigners beef,  bread,  rice,  and  tea,  with  vegetables  and  soup. 
Each  person  is  obliged  to  bathe  in  cold  water  every  day.  As  the 
climate  is  tropical,  no  heating  of  the  buildings  is  required.  The 
penitentiary  is  kept  thoroughly  clean,  and  the  cells  are  white- 
washed every  three  months.  The  death-rate  is  about  two  per 
cent  per  annum.  No  sickness  of  any  kind  is  prevalent.  The 
ventilation  is  perfect.  The  prison  stands  on  a  slight  elevation 
and  is  open  to  the  full  force  of  the  trade  or  north-east  winds,  so 
that  a  perfect  ventilation  is  kept  up  throughout  the  building. 


CHAPTER  VII.  —  SENTENCES.  —  EXECUTIVE  CLEMENCY.  — 
DEATH-PENALTY.  —  IMPRISONMENT  FOR  DEBT. 

VERY  few  persons  are  sentenced  for  life,  —  only  about  one 
per  cent.  There  have  been  but  three  cases  in  the  past 
twenty-seven  years,  and  in  each  death  occurred  after  fifteen  years 
of  imprisonment. 

It  is  not  the  practice  to  give  repeated  short  sentences  for  minor 
offences ;  but  when  persons  are  convicted  for  the  second  time  the 
punishment  is  increased,  and  this  practice  it  is  found  tends  to 
diminish  crime.  Executive  clemency  is  exercised  by  and  with 
the  advice  of  the  privy  council  of  State.  Life-sentences  have 
never  been  commuted,  and  only  in  one  or  two  instances  has  the 
death-penalty  been  commuted  to  life-imprisonment.  Minor  of- 
fences have  been  frequently  pardoned.  General  considerations 
and  the  recommendation  of  the  judges  and  of  the  prison  authori- 
ties are  the  potential  reasons  which  move  the  king  and  privy 
council  to  the  exercise  of  clemency. 

The  death-penalty  is  in  force  for  murder ;  and  the  criminal 
code  authorizes  it  for  arson  of  a  dwelling-house  having  inmates  at 
the  time  of  firing  said  dwelling,  and  for  rape  committed  on  a  fe- 
male under  ten  years  of  age.  Public  opinion  is  in  favor  of  this 
penalty.  It  has  never  been  inflicted  except  in  flagrant  cases  of 
murder. 

Imprisonment  for  debt  exists  under  the  following  circumstan- 
ces :  If  any  person  undertakes  to  leave  the  kingdom  without 
paying  his  just  debts,  he  can  be  arrested  and  committed  to  prison 
until  he  give  bonds  not  to  leave  until  he  has  satisfied  his  creditor. 


PARTI.]  IN  HAWAII.  573 

During  his  imprisonment  he  is  not  treated  as  a  criminal,  but  has 
good  quarters  and  such  food  found  him  as  he  wishes.  There  is 
no  imprisonment  for  debt  under  any  other  circumstances. 


CHAPTER  VIII.  —  RECIDIVISTS.  —  DISCHARGED    PRISONERS.  — 

WITNESSES. 

ONLY  about  five  per  cent  of  the  prisoners  discharged  from 
the  penitentiary  ever  return  to  it.  Every  thing  is  done 
that  can  be  to  bring  them  to  a  better  mind  and  a  better  life 
during  their  incarceration,  by  lessening  their  term  of  imprison- 
ment for  good  behavior,  and  by  religious  and  moral  influences 
brought  to  bear  upon  them. 

No  prisoners'-aid  societies  exist ;  but  on  their  release  the  au- 
thorities of  the  prison  endeavor  to  find  for  them  remunerative 
employment. 

Witnesses  in  criminal  cases  are  committed  to  prison,  unless 
-they  find  bail  to  appear  at  the  trial ;  but  they  are  not  treated  as 
criminals.  They  are  allowed  to  go  out  every  day  in  charge  of  an 
officer. 


CHAPTER  IX.  —  REFORMATORY  INSTITUTION. 

A  BOYS'  industrial  reformatory  was  established  some  years 
ago,  under  an  Act  of  the  legislature  passed  in  1865.  It  is 
administered  by  the  board  of  education.  It  is  the  only  institu- 
tion of  the  kind  in  the  kingdom.  Its  object  is  to  provide  for  the 
maintenance  and  education  of  helpless  and  neglected  children, 
and  the  reformation  of  juvenile  offenders.  The  inmates  are 
instructed  in  all  the  elementary  branches  of  education ;  and 
are  put  out  to  learn  trades  as  opportunity  offers.  They  remain 
under  the  care  and  supervision  of  the  board  of  education  during 
their  apprenticeship.  That  the  institution  has  conduced  mate- 
rially to  ameliorate  the  condition  and  promote  the  welfare  of 
many  whose  circumstances  would  otherwise  have  doomed  them 
to  a  deplorable  and  perhaps  criminal  existence,  there  is  no  doubt. 
Yet,  owing  perhaps  to  its  limited  accommodations  and  the  scanty 
means  at  the  disposal  of  the  Government,  the  benefit  hoped  for 
has  only  in  part  been  realized  ;  but  it  is  confidently  expected  that 
as  experience  in  its  management  shall  be  gained,  its  usefulness 


5/4  STATE   OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  vn. 

as  a  public  institution  wHl  be  enhanced.     So  far  only  boys  have 
been  provided  for. 

Since  the  establishment  of  this  reformatory  at  Kapalama,  two 
hundred  and  fifty-six  inmates  have  been  committed,  and  fifty  boys 
are  there  at  the  present  time. 


CHAPTER  X.  —  PREVENTIVE  AGENCIES. 

THE  whole  common-school  system  of  the  kingdom,  it  is 
claimed,  is  strongly  preventive  of  crime,  both  in  operation 
and  effect,  in  principle  and  fact.  Schooling  is  compulsory.  All 
children,  native  and  foreign,  are  obliged  to  attend  school.  The 
policy  of  the  Government  is,  through  the  public  schools,  to  im- 
plant and  foster  industrious  habits,  and  by  that  means  to  prevent 
crime  as  much  as  possible.  The  Government  itself  formally 
avows  that  it  knows  no  better  way  to  bring  up  the  young  than  to 
teach  them  to  earn  an  honest  living ;  no  surer  method  to  train 
them  to  virtue  than  that  of  training  them  to  industry.  To  this 
end  a  liberal  Act  was  passed  by  the  legislature  in  1874  entitled: 
u  An  Act  to  promote  agricultural  and  industrial  pursuits  in  the 
public  schools  of  the  kingdom."  This  Act  requires  :  I.  That  such 
pursuits  be  introduced  among  the  branches  to  be  taught  in  these 
schools.  2.  It  charges  the  board  of  education  with  the  execution 
of  this  intent  3.  It  authorizes  the  board  to  use,  free  of  rent,  as 
much  of  the  government  land  as  may  be  advantageously  culti- 
vated by  the  teachers  and  pupils  of  any  public  school.  4.  When- 
ever it  shall  think  best,  the  board  is  authorized  to  acquire  other 
than  government  land  for  the  same  purpose.  5.  All  profits 
accruing  from  such  labor  the  board  must  cause  to  be  equitably 
divided  among  the  teachers  and  pupils  by  whose  labor  they  were 
produced.  6.  All  laws,  now  in  force  or  hereafter  enacted,  relat- 
ing to  the  public  schools  of  the  kingdom,  are,  in  their  operation, 
to  be  construed  to  include  the  enforcement  of  this  Act  in  relation 
to  agricultural  and  industrial  pursuits  in  said  schools. 

Verily,  the  oldest  nations  in  the  world  have  something  to  learn 
from  the  youngest,  —  a  nation  which  only  sixty  years  ago,  less 
than  two  generations,  was  but  a  horde  of  wild  and  degraded 
savages ! 


PART  n.]  IN  LIBERIA.  575 


PART    SECOND. 

LIBERIA. 

CHAPTER  XL  — COMMON  JAIL.  —  RELIGIOUS  AGENCIES.  —  CHAR- 
ACTER OF  CRIME.  —  No  PRISON  SCHOOLS  OR  LIBRARIES.  — 
LECTURES. 

LIBERIA  has  a  common  jail  at  Monrovia  on  the  cellular  plan, 
under  the  direction  of  the  sheriff.  The  sheriff  and  jailer 
are  appointed  by  the  President  of  the  Republic  biennially,  the 
senate  consenting. 

There  is  no  prescribed  discipline,  but  clergymen  and  others 
endeavor  to  inspire  the  prisoners  with  hope,  and  produce  re- 
ligious impressions.  Visits  from  friends  are  freely  allowed  and 
with  salutary  results. 

The  large  majority  of  prisoners  are  aborigines,  and  are  incar- 
cerated for  theft.  More  than  nine-tenths  are  males.  The  pris- 
on has  neither  schools  nor  libraries.  In  some  instances  regular, 
but  mostly  occasional,  voluntary  lectures  are  delivered. 


CHAPTER  XII.  —  LABOR.  —  HYGIENE.  —  SENTENCES. 

ONLY  industrial  labor  is  employed,  penal  labor  being  unknown. 
The  labor  has  generally  been  managed  by  the  administra- 
tion, though  the  system  of  letting  out  to  contractors  has  been 
employed  to  advantage,  and  found  more  remunerative.  The 
prison  labor  is  less  than  fifty  per  cent  of  the  current  expenses 
of  the  prison. 

Notwithstanding  the  prison  lacks  efficiency  in  sanitary  pro- 
visions, the  prisoners,  are  provided  when  sick  with  medical  at- 
tention, and  are  furnished  with  plain  and  substantial  food.  A 
sympathetic  public  also  provides  many  comforts  for  the  inmates. 
The  prisoners  are  generally  admitted  in  tolerably  good  health, 
and  when  the  confinement  becomes  very  deleterious  they  are 
commonly  discharged  ;  so  that  despite  the  deficiency  in  sanitary 
regulations  a  death  in  prison  or  soon  after  release  therefrom 


576  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  vn. 

is  a  rare  occurrence.  Five  years  is  the  average  sentence  less 
than  life. 

As  most  of  the  imprisonment  is  for  larceny,  the  convicts  are 
required,  in  default  of  the  payment  of  twofold  the  property  stolen 
and  cost  of  suit,  to  liquidate  the  amount  by  penal  servitude  at 
the  rate  of  twenty-five  cents  per  diem,  the  exact  amount  allowed 
the  sheriff  for  his  ordinary  expenses,  so  that  from  six  to  eighteen 
months  is  the  average  duration  of  imprisonment.  Occasionally 
there  is  a  case  of  murder,  manslaughter,  forgery,  or  rape,  as  well 
as  breaches  of  the  peace  and  violation  of  the  license  law. 

The  punishment  is  increased  for  repeated  violations  of  law. 
Life-sentences  are  usually  ended  by  death,  unless  there  are  ex- 
tenuating circumstances,  to  which  the  attention  of  the  executive 
is  usually  called  by  the  court  or  community,  or  both,  when  it  is 
commuted  to  imprisonment  for  life,  or  a  full  pardon  is  granted. 

The  death-penalty  is  pronounced  in  cases  of  murder ;  public 
opinion  approves  it  in  clear  cases. 


CHAPTER   XIII.  —  IMPRISONMENT   FOR  DEBT.  —  REFORMATION. 
—  DETERRENCE.  —  No  AID  SOCIETIES.  —  WITNESSES. 

IMPRISONMENT  for  debt  is  de  facto  a  dead  letter.  Public 
opinion  is  against  the  practice. 

It  cannot  be  asserted  that  reformatory  treatment  is  made  a 
primary  object  in  the  prison  administration,  though  that  is  the 
expressed  object  of  the  law.  A  goodly  proportion  of  the  Amer- 
ico-Liberian  prisoners  are  restored  to  citizenship,  and  the  majority 
of  all  classes  become  more  cautious  after  incarceration,  and  some 
become  worthy  members  of  society. 

There  are  no  societies  for  liberated  prisoners ;  but  there  is  a 
public  feeling  to  encourage  the  erring  to  reform. 

There  is  seldom  any  necessity  to  use  compulsory  process  to 
secure  the  attendance  of  witnesses.  When  necessity  requires, 
depositions  are  taken,  both  parties  being  present.  A  contuma- 
cious witness  may  be  imprisoned  in  the  discretion  of  the  judge. 


PART  IL]  IN  LIBERIA.  577 


CHAPTER  XIV.  —  CHARACTER  OF  CRIME.  —  No  REFORMATORY 
INSTITUTIONS.  —  GOVERNMENT  NOT  SATISFIED.  —  ADMINIS- 
TRATION OF  CRIMINAL  JUSTICE. 

THE  prevailing  crime  is  larceny,  consequent  upon  heathenism. 
A  heathen  thinks  it  no  harm  to  steal,  provided  he  escapes 
detection. 

There  is  nothing  in  the  way  of  preventive  and  reformatory 
institutions  further  than  the  day  and  Sunday  schools,  and  the 
apprentice  system  exercised  by  the  probate  court. 

The  Government  is  not  satisfied  with  the  present  state  of  things. 
It  desires  a  more  general  diffusion  of  knowledge,  greater  incen- 
tives to  industry,  and  a  better  system  of  prison  administration  ; 
but  these  things  demand  more  means  than  it  has  at  command. 

Criminal  justice  is  administered  according  to  statute  law,  sup- 
plemented by  the  common  law  in  its  proceedings  and  practices, 
with  a  view  to  supply  all  deficiencies  in  the  statutes,  so  far  as  the 
common  law  is  applicable  according  to  the  Constitution. 


CHAPTER  XV.  —  ADDITIONAL  ITEMS  ON  LIBERIAN 
PRISONS. 

THE  information  contained  in  the  preceding  chapters  was  fur- 
nished by  the  secretary  of  state  ;  what  follows  was  commu- 
nicated by  the  attorney-general.  As  a  general  rule  the  penalties 
in  force  in  Liberia  are  those  laid  down  in  Blackstone,  by  Chitty 
or  Wendell ;  but  there  are  special  statutes  passed  by  the  legisla- 
ture for  the  punishment  of  piracy,  grand  and  petit  larceny,  and 
setting  spring-guns,  as  well  as  those  relating  to  the  revenue  and 
postal  departments. 

The  penalty  of  death  is  inflicted  for  homicide,  piracy,  and  trea- 
son. Corporal  punishment  is  inflicted  for  both  degrees  of 
larceny. 

The  courts  of  quarter-sessions  and  common  pleas  have  juris- 
diction in  all  criminal  cases  above  petit  larceny,  which  is  dealt 
with  by  the  justice's  court.  There  is  a  supreme  court,  consist- 
ing of  three  judges. 

The  most  common  crimes  are  homicide  and  larceny  ;  the 
former  is  on  the  increase  compared  with  colonial  times,  but  other 
crimes  are  not  more  frequent. 

There  are  four  structures  in  Liberia  called  prisons,  but  the 
only  one  deserving  the  name  is  that  at  Monrovia,  which,  although 
a  rough-looking  structure,  is  kept  in  good  condition. 

37 


578  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BooK  vn. 


PART   THIRD. 

EMPIRE    OF    MOROCCO. 

CHAPTER  XVI.  —  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CRIMINAL  JUSTICE. 

~D  EFORMATORY  institutions  for  the  prevention  of  crime 
•fv.  in  the  young  have  no  existence  in  Morocco. 

The  administration  of  criminal  justice  is  radically  bad,  and  is 
conducted  on  no  principle  of  improving  the  moral  character  of 
either  the  prisoners  or  the  people.  Owing  to  the  injustice  of  the 
executive,  and  the  fact  that  the  innocent  are  punished  almost  as 
often  as  the  guilty,  punishment  loses  much  of  its  influence  as  a 
deterrent  from  the  commission  of  crime. 

A  criminal  who  has  the  means  of  purchasing  his  liberation 
from  prison  finds  greater  facility  in  obtaining  his  freedom  than  a 
poor  innocent  man  who  has  been  unjustly  condemned  to  impris- 
onment. 


CHAPTER  XVII.  —  ADMINISTRATION  OF  PRISONS. 

THE  prisons  in  Morocco  are  in  the  most  lamentable  condition 
of  barbarism.  No  care  or  attention  whatever  is  bestowed 
upon  the  prisoners.  No  medical  assistance  is  afforded  them  when 
sick,  and  they  are  left  dependent  on  the  charity  of  their  friends 
for  their  subsistence,  —  a  small  ration  of  the  poorest  bread  being 
all  that  is  supplied  to  those  who  would  perish  were  it  withheld 
from  them. 

There  is  one  useful  custom,  however,  which  obtains  generally 
in  Moorish  prisons,  and  that  is  that  poor  prisoners  have  facilities 
afforded  them  by  their  jailers  to  learn  or  practise  some  trade  by 
which  they  may  maintain  themselves.  Basket  and  rope  making 
are  the  industries  most  commonly  practised.  The  jailer  gives 
them  instructions,  and  often  supplies  material ;  and  he  is  paid  by 
a  part  profit  when  the  articles  are  manufactured  and  sold. 


PART  in.]  IN  MOROCCO.  579 


CHAPTER  XVIII.  —  PRISONS  IN  THE  INTERIOR.  —  AT  TAN- 
GIER.—  AT  FEZ. 

T  ITTLE  is  known  by  outsiders  of  the  state  of  the  prisons  in 
-I—'  the  interior  of  Morocco.  The  prison  at  Tangier  (that  town 
being  the  seat  of  the  foreign  representatives)  is  situated  in  the 
Rasbah  or  Citadel.  Part  of  the  interior  can  be  seen  from  an 
aperture  in  the  den,  from  which  at  all  times  issues  an  effluvium 
that  makes  a  long  inspection  undesirable.  It  is  a  damp,  dark 
chamber,  as  dreary  and  dreadful  a  place  of  confinement  as  can 
ever  be  conceived. 

The  prison  at  Fez,  the  capital,  although  not  very  extensive,  is 
always  much  crowded, 'at  times  containing  over  a  thousand  in- 
mates. As  the  food  supplied  to  those  who  have  no  friends  is  very 
limited  in  quantity  and  very  bad  in  quality,  and  as  the  sanitary 
condition  of  the  place  is  bad  in  the  extreme,  the  mortality  among 
the  prisoners  is  appalling. 

Little  is  to  be  learned  from  the  prison  system  —  or  more  prop- 
erly want  of  system  —  in  such  a  country  as  Morocco,  unless  it  be 
the  experience  of  what  a  wretched  state  of  things  can  exist  in 
uncivilized  and  barbarous  countries,  and  under  an  intensely  arbi- 
trary and  despotic  system  of  government. 


CHAPTER  XIX.  —  JUSTICE  ADMINISTERED  BY  A  RELIGIOUS 

CODE. 

HPHERE  is  no  criminal  code  of  laws  in  the  Empire  of  Morocco, 
J-  but  instead  they  have  a  religious  one.  The  practice  of 
jurisprudence  is  reduced  to  the  application  of  certain  principles 
found  in  the  Koran,  and  is  the  practical  knowledge  of  the  prece- 
dents established  in  the  various  jurisdictions. 


CHAPTER  XX.  —  OFFICIALS.  —  ABUSES. 

"'HERE  are  kadis  and  governors  in  the  cities  and  rural  dis- 
;*-     tricts  for  the  administration  of  justice  ;  and  notaries  to  cer- 
tify deeds  and  all  that  relates  to  the  security  of  property.     The 
laws  of  the  Koran  admit  no  evidence  but  from  those  professing 
the  Mahometan  religion. 


580 


STATE   OF  PRISONS,   ETC. 


[BOOK  vii. 


All  litigations  concerning  property,  succession,  and  the  various 
claims  of  interest  are  brought  before  the  kadi  of  each  town  or 
district  of  the  province. 

The  kadis  are  appointed  by  the  sultan,  with  a  salary  barely 
enough  for  subsistence. 

The  governors  of  cities  are  also  appointed  by  the  sultan,  and 
are  entirely  unpaid  by  the  State.  It  is  their  duty  to  maintain 
order  ;  and  they  can  punish  by  fine,  imprisonment,  and  the  bas- 
tinado. 

Capital  punishment  is  inflicted  only  by  direct  order  of  the  sul- 
tan. The  governor  levies  taxes  for  the  imperial  treasury  ;  and 
it  is  in  connection  with  this  part  of  his  duties  that  he  is  in- 
duced to  exercise  his  functions  of  inflicting  fines  in  a  most  arbi- 
trary and  irregular  fashion.  Sheikhs  and  umkadams  are  also 
unpaid  officials.  The  result  of  such  a  state  of  things  is  that  the 
unpaid  governors  and  sheikhs  squeeze  the  people  committed  to 
their  charge  as  much  as  lies  within  their  power.  Pillage,  extor- 
tion, corruption,  and  injustice  are  universal.  So  it  happens  that, 
with  the  almost  unpaid  kadis,  the  longest  purse  invariably  pre- 
vails. Justice  is  not  administered,  —  it  is  sold.  Even  the  police 
are  unpaid,  or  receive  only  a  slender  allowance,  which  is  supple- 
mented by  what  they  can  extract  from  those  who  come  within 
their  clutches.  The  judgments  of  the  governors  are  always  ar- 
bitrary, and  generally  consist  in  distributing  the  bastinado  with 
equal  liberality  to  the  guilty  and  innocent,  committing  them  to 
some  days'  imprisonment,  whence  they  are  released  by  money. 
The  rich  therefore  rarely  suffer  any  great  punishment,  though 
they  may  have  been  concerned  in  criminal  acts. 

To  this  wretched  system  of  administration  the  chronic  state  of 
disorder,  which  always  exists,  is  in  great  part  to  be  attributed. 


PART  iv.]  IN  SI  AM.  581 


PART   FOURTH. 

SIAM. 

CHAPTER  XXI.  —  SIAMESE  JAILS.  —  CRUELTIES  PRACTISED. 

TNCARCERATION  in  punishment  of  crime  is  unusual  in 
JL  Siam,  in  consequence  of  the  excessive  and  long-continued 
heats  of  the  climate.  The  jails  are  generally  mere  bamboo  cages 
guarded  by  an  officer  with  a  drawn  sword.  If  the  criminal  at- 
tempts to  escape,  he  is  run  through  without  ceremony.  If  he 
succeeds  in  his  attempt,  the  officer  on  guard  is  severely  punished, 
—  sometimes  beheaded.  The  severity  of  the  penalty  depends, 
however,  upon  the  nature  of  the  offence  with  which  the  prisoner 
stands  charged. 


CHAPTER  XXII.  —  PUNISHMENTS.  —  ABUSES.  —  INOFFEN- 

SIVENESS    OF    THE    SIAMESE. 

THE  usual  methods  of  punishment  for  petty  offences  are  the 
chain-gang,  in  which  criminals  are  fastened  together  by 
fetters  and  compelled  to  work  on  the  public  highway  or  in  the 
paddy  fields,  the  bastinado,  flogging  on  the  bare  back  with  bam- 
boo rods,  and  confinement  in  a  prison  or  walled  enclosure  till 
bailed  out  by  relatives  or  friends. 

As  the  courts  are  hot-beds  of  corruption  and  the  judges  thrive 
on  the  bribes  paid  to  them,  any  prisoner  can  purchase  his  freedom 
if  his  relatives  possess  the  means,  —  that  is,  the  sum  demanded 
by  the  judges. 

The  Siamese  are  an  inoffensive,  law-abiding,  even-tempered 
people.  Hence  most  of  the  crimes  committed  by  them  are  too 
insignificant  to  merit  punishments  of  great  severity.  The  Chi- 
nese residents  in  Siam  are  the  greatest  criminals,  and  receive,  as 
they  deserve,  the  severest  penalties. 


582  STATE   OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK    vn. 


PART   FIFTH. 

PERSIA. 

CHAPTER  XXIII.  —  FIXITY  OF  KORANIC  LAW.  —  MODIFIED 
INTERPRETATIONS  AND  APPLICATIONS. 

/CRIMINAL  law  and  criminal  justice  are  essentially  the  same 
V_x  in  this  country  as  everywhere  else  under  the  dominion  of 
Islamism.  The  fixity  of  Koranic  law  allows  little  diversity  in 
the  treatment  of  crime,  so  far  as  the  principle  of  the  law  is  con- 
cerned, though  there  may  be,  and  is,  considerable  variation  in  the 
interpretation  of  it,  and  especially  in  its  practical  application  by 
the  agents  charged  with  those  functions.  Therefore  what  pre- 
vails in  respect  of  penal  law  and  penal  administration  in  Turkey 
and  other  Mussulman  countries  may  be  said,  in  the  main,  to  have 
its  counterpart  in  Persia.  But  when  it  comes  to  the  application 
of  the  law,  there  is  apt  to  be  a  riding  rough-shod  over  all  that  is 
written,  to  suit  the  caprice  and  the  interest  of  despotic  and  irre- 
sponsible officials. 


CHAPTER  XXIV.  —  PROMPTNESS  OF  PERSIAN  JUSTICE.  — 
PENALTIES.  —  CRUELTIES.  —  LYNCH  LAW. 

HOWEVER,  there  is  this  at  least  to  be  said  in  favor  of  Persian 
justice,  —  that  it  is  prompt.  A  man  charged  with  crime  is 
quickly  tried,  and  if  found  guilty  quickly  punished,  or  if  declared 
not  guilty  quickly  released,  —  that  is  to  say,  in  the  latter  case,  if  the 
consideration  for  release  is  speedily  made  over  to  the  governor. 
There  is  seldom  a  long  trial  with  a  long  prior  detention  in  prison. 
Imprisonment  is  not  employed  as  a  punishment  in  Persia. 

The  penalties  inflicted  on  criminals  are  the  bastinado  (which  is 
given  for  all  sorts  of  wrong-doing  and  often  on  mere  suspicion), 
maiming,  and  death.  Thieves  who  have  become  habitual  offend- 
ers are  usually  punished  by  the  loss  of  an  ear  or  a  hand  ;  and  if 
they  still  continue  in  their  old  habit,  they  are  likely  to  lose  another 
of  those  members.  The  execution  of  these  maiming  punish- 
ments, as  well  as  that  of  decapitation,  is  often  attended  with  very 
revolting  circumstances.  Except  at  one  or  two  principal  cities 
the  executioner  is  commonly  another  criminal  hired  for  the  occa- 
sion, who  first  drinks  himself  drunk.  As  a  matter  of  course,  he 


PART  v.]  IN  PERSIA.  583 

does  his  job  in  the  rough  and  bungling  manner  that  would  natu- 
rally be  expected  under  such  circumstances.  If  a  hand  is  cut  off, 
the  bleeding  stump  is  plunged  in  boiling  oil,  and  the  brutal  officer 
of  the  law  parades  the  excised  member  through  the  public  markets 
with  maudlin  jokes,  begging  money  as  he  goes.  The  sensibilities 
of  the  more  refined  and  cultivated  Persians  condemn  such  inhu- 
manities, but  they  are  powerless  to  effect  a  change.  Persian 
officials  tolerate  them,  and  they  continue  to  be  practised. 

When  it  is  desired  to  strike  a  community  with  special  terror, 
gross  offenders  are  sometimes  put  to  death  by  being  built  up  in 
mortar  at  the  principal  entrance  of  the  city,  where  they  are  left 
to  die  of  suffocation.  At  other  times  boiling  mortar  is  poured 
down  their  throats.  Occasionally  men  are  blown  to  atoms  from 
the  cannon's  mouth.  But  these  more  shocking  forms  of  capital 
punishment  are  less  common  now  than  formerly.  It  is  a  number 
of  years  since  an  execution  in  either  of  the  ways  mentioned  has 
taken  place  at  Oroomiah.  It  may  be  stated  here  that  the  execu- 
tion of  a  woman  is  almost  an  unheard-of  event  in  Persia.  Women 
are  sometimes  beaten,  though  always  prior  to  the  infliction  of 
that  penalty  they  are  considerately  enveloped  in  a  coarse  bag. 
For  crimes  against  their  sex  they  are  subjected  to  the  penalty  of 
having  their  hair  cut  off. 

The  authority  to  punish  with  the  bastinado  is  supposed  to 
reside  with  the  governor  of  the  province  alone ;  but  in  point  of 
fact  almost  every  landlord  exercises  it  in  regard  to  his  own  ten- 
ants. The  right  to  inflict  the  death-penalty  belongs  only  to  such 
governors  as  it  is  specially  conferred  upon.  Before  leaving  this 
branch  of  the  subject,  it  may  be  of  interest  to  mention  an  incident 
which  quite  recently  happened  at  Oroomiah.  A  Mussulman  was 
convicted  of  having  murdered  his  brother,  and  of  concealing  the 
remains  in  a  pit  where  they  were  found.  The  city  was  without 
a  governor  who  possessed  the  necessary  authority  to  inflict  capital 
punishment.  But  the  outraged  sentiment  of  the  community  would 
not  suffer  the  man  to  escape  the  just  punishment  of  his  crime. 
He  was  taken  by  the  mollahs,  or  clergy,  brought  to  the  same  pit 
where  his  brother's  body  had  been  found,  was  cast  into  it,  and 
then  and  there  stoned  to  death. 


CHAPTER  XXV.  —  PRISONS  OF  PERSIA.  —  ABUSES  BY 
JAILERS. 

OF  the  prisons  of  Persia  a  short  account  will  suffice.     For  the 
most  part  they  have  but  one  apartment.     This  furnishes 
quarters  for  all  classes  of  persons  under  arrest  for  whatever  cause. 
No  difference  is  made  between  the  worst  offenders  and  those 


584  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  vii. 

merely  suspected  of  crime.  The  jail  is  one  common  lock-up. 
And  what  sort  of  place  is  it  ?  A  dark,  dank,  gloomy  room,  bare 
of  all  furniture,  without  even  the  common  reed-mats  on  the  damp 
earth  floor.  Prisoners  or  their  friends  may  furnish  mats,  but  the 
Government  does  not.  The  whole  internal  management  of  the 
prison  is  in  the  hands  of  a  jailer  selected  because  of  his  physical 
strength  and  obdurate  nature,  often  deeply  depraved,  always  irre- 
sponsible. It  is  in  his  power  to  treat  the  inmates  as  roughly  as 
he  pleases,  and  to  squeeze  money  out  of  them  at  his  will,  so  long 
as  they  have  it  or  can  command  it.  The  stocks  and  other  instru- 
ments of  torture  are  his  resort.  The  stocks  are  so  constructed 
as  to  allow  a  varying  degree  of  torture.  The  prisoner  is  chained 
upright  to  the  wall,  so  that  it  is  impossible  for  him  to  lie  down 
or  in  any  way  change  his  position.  Money  alone  will  arrest  the 
tightening  pressure  of  the  jailer's  screws,  with  the  agonizing 
pain  inflicted  by  them. 

But  even  when  the  inmate  is  fortunate  enough  to  satisfy  the 
greed  of  his  tormentor,  there  remain  always  the  tortures  of  the 
place  itself.  The  prisoners  never  go  outside  of  their  prison-house 
day  or  night,  but  meet  all  the  necessities  of  nature  in  a  corner  of 
their  one  apartment ;  and  this  is  purified  only  at  irregular  inter- 
vals. One  can  imagine  the  filth,  vermin,  stench,  and  horror  of 
these  dismal  dungeons.  When  the  number  of  prisoners  becomes 
large,  they  are  sometimes  removed  in  a  body  to  the  outside  for  a 
few  hours,  until  their  noisome  abode  may  be  partially  cleansed 
and  renovated.  Such  is  the  condition  of  the  main  prison  in 
Tabriz  that  the  citizens  have  urgently  petitioned  the  crown-prince, 
who  is  governor  of  the  town,  to  have  it  improved  ;  but  my  corre- 
spondent has  been  unable  to  learn  whether  any  good  has  come  of 
their  representations. 

The  inmates  of  the  prisons  are  wholly  dependent  on  their 
friends  or  their  own  means  for  support  during  their  incarcera- 
tion ;  the  Government  provides  nothing  but  the  dungeon  and  its 
instruments  of  torture. 

In  Teheran  the  condition  of  the  prisons  is  in  some  respects 
a  little  better.  There  is  at  least  an  upper  room  much  superior 
in  its  appointments,  designed  for  political  offenders  and  for  crimi- 
nals from  the  higher  ranks  of  society.  In  the  prison  at  Tabriz, 
also,  there  is  an  apartment  for  the  same  classes. 

Of  child-saving  institutions  or  reformatory  establishments  there 
are  none  whatever  in  the  country. 


PART  VL]  IN  CHINA.  585 


PART  SIXTH. 

.CHINA. 

CHAPTER  XXVI.  —  CRIMINAL  LAWS  OF  CHINA. 

/CONCERNING  the  criminal  laws  of  the  Chinese  Empire  an 
V-x  able  writer  in  the  "  Edinburgh  Review "  some  years  ago 
held  this  language  :  "  The  most  remarkable  thing  in  the  criminal 
code  of  China  is  its  great  reasonableness,  clearness,  and  consis- 
tency, the  business-like  brevity  and  directness  of  its  various  pro- 
visions, and  the  plainness  and  moderation  of  the  language  in 
which  they  are  expressed.  It  is  a  clear,  concise,  and  distinct 
series  of  enactments,  savoring  throughout  of  practical  judgment 
and  European  good  sense.  When  we  turn  from  the  ravings  of 
the  Zendavesta  or  the  Puranas  to  the  tone  of  sense  and  business 
of  this  Chinese  collection,  we  seem  to  be  passing  from  darkness 
to  light,  from  the  drivellings  of  dotage  to  the  exercise  of  an  im- 
proved understanding ;  and,  redundant  and  minute  as  these  laws 
are  in  many  particulars,  we  scarcely  know  any  European  code 
that  is  at  once  so  copious  and  so  consistent,  or  that  is  so  free  from 
intricacy,  bigotry,  and  fiction." 

This,  if  other  authorities  are  to  be  trusted,  is  rather  a  rose- 
colored  view  of  the  matter.  Mr.  Davis,  a  very  competent  and 
judicious  writer  on  China,  points  out  three  principal  defects  of  the 
code:  I.  A  constant  meddling  with  those  relative  duties  which 
might  better  be  left  to  other  sanctions  than  positive  laws.  2.  A 
minute  attention  to  trifles,  contrary  to  the  Roman  and  European 
maxim,  De  minimis  non  curat  lex.1  3.  An  occasional  indulgence 
in  those  vague  generalities  by  which  the  benefits  of  a  written 
code  are  in  a  great  measure  annulled. 

But  the  Chinese  code  is  open  to  two  graver  impeachments  than 
either  of  the  foregoing:  i.  Its  contravention  of  the  immutable 
principles  of  justice.  A  marked  feature  of  the  Chinese  criminal 
law  is  the  unrelenting  severity  with  which  it  punishes  the  crime  of 
treason,  not  only  in  the  person  of  the  traitor,  but  in  those  of  his 
unoffending  offspring,  even  the  infant  at  the  breast.  The  whole 
are  cut  off  at  one  fell  blow.  It  is  impossible  to  read  the  recital  of 
some  of  these  punishments,  so  abhorrent  to  humanity  and  justice, 
without  a  sentiment  of  indignation  as  well  as  pity.  2.  The  cruelty 


i  « 


The  law  does  not  expend  itself  on  trifles.' 


586  STATE   OF  PRISONS,   ETC.  [BOOK  VII. 

of  its  punishments.  The  most  common  instrument  of  punishment 
is  the  bamboo.  The  next  punishment  is  the  kea  or  cangue,  which 
has  been  called  the  wooden  collar,  being  a  species  of  walking 
pillory,  in  which  the  prisoner  is  paraded,  with  his  offence  inscribed 
upon  it.  It  is  sometimes  worn  for  a  month  together;  and  as  the 
hand  cannot  be  put  to  the  mouth  while  it  is  on,  the  wearer  must 
be  fed  by  others.  After  this  comes  banishment  to  some  place  in 
China,  and  then  exile  beyond  the  Chinese  frontier  either  for  a 
term  of  years  or  for  life. 

There  are  three  kinds  of  capital  punishment  :  strangulation, 
decollation,  and  for  treason  tingchy,  —  a  disgraceful  and  lingering 
death,  called  by  Europeans  "  cutting  into  ten  thousand  pieces." 

A  debtor  who  does  not  "  pay  up  "  after  the  expiration  of  a 
specified  period  becomes  liable  to  the  bamboo. 


CHAPTER  XXVII.  —  PRISONS  AND  PRISON  ADMINISTRATION 

IN  CANTON. 

PRIOR  to  1856  no  foreigner  had  access  to  the  prisons  of  Can- 
ton, or  was  allowed  to  visit  and  inspect  their  interior.  Since 
1860,  however,  they  have  been  open  to  such  examination.  During 
the  interval  named,  a  period  of  five  years,  the  city  of  Canton  was 
in  the  joint  occupancy  of  the  British  and  Chinese  Governments. 
So  long  as  this  joint  occupancy  lasted,  the  British  Commissioners 
prohibited  all  torture  in  the  examination  of  criminals  or  of  wit- 
nesses at  the  trial,  as  well  as  of  prisoners  confined  in  the  jails ; 
so  that,  to-day,  the  prisons  of  Canton  are  in  a  better  condition 
materially  than  any  other  large  prisons  in  China,  and  the  treat- 
ment applied  to  their  inmates  more  humane. 

In  considering  the  condition  of  Chinese  prisons,  it  is  to  be 
noted  that  they  are  chiefly  places  of  detention  during  the  legal 
processes  connected  with  the  trial,  which  are  merely  preliminary 
to  the  infliction  of  the  punishment.  Their  purpose  and  function 
do  not  therefore  correspond  to  those  of  the  penitentiaries  of 
western  countries.  The  fact  that  a  fixed  period  of  detention  is 
the  rule  in  western  prisons  is  often  referred  to  by  Chinese  pris- 
oners with  lamentations  over  the  contrast  to  their  own  condition, 
since  they  have  no  time  in  the  future  to  which  they  can  look  for- 
ward with  any  certain  hope  of  release. 

As  Canton  is  situated  in  two  districts,  —  the  Pwan-yii  and  Nan- 
hai,  —  it  contains  two  sets  of  prisons,  one  under  the  magistrate  of 
each  district.  These  prisons  are  the  same  in  every  respect,  except 
that  those  in  Pwan-yu  are  all  within  the  limits  of  the  magistrate's 


PART  vi.]  IN  CHINA.  587 

official  residence,  while  those  belonging  to  Nan-hai  are  partly  with- 
in such  official  residence  and  partly  in  neighboring  streets. 

Chinese  prisons  may  be  divided  into  three  classes.  :  I.  The 
great  prisons.  2.  The  inferior  prisons.  3.  The  police  prisons. 

1.  The  great  prison  is  designed  for  the  confinement  of  such  as 
are  guilty  of  capital  crimes.     It  is  always  situated  within  the  en- 
closure of  the  official  residence,  and  is  surrounded  by  a  high  wall, 
with  only  a  single  entrance  through  the  keepers'  rooms.    Inside  of 
this  high  wall,  and  separated  from  it  by  a  paved  alley  six  feet  wide, 
is  the  wall  of  the  prison  proper.    This  alley  entirely  surrounds  the 
prison,  and  from  it  are  doorways  which  lead  into  the  wards. 

In  the  Nan-hai  there  are  five  wards,  four  of  which  are  for  men 
and  one  for  women  ;  while  the  Pwan-yii  consists  of  only  three, 
one  of  which  (a  small  one)  is  for  women.  Each  ward  consists 
of  an  open  quadrangle,  on  the  east  and  west  sides  of  which  are 
rooms  for  prisoners,  and  on  the  north  an  altar  or  temple  for  an 
idol.  The  area  is  forty  to  fifty  feet  long  by  twenty  to  twenty-five 
wide,  paved  with  stone,  and  in  the  centre  of  it  is  a  pavilion 
or  covered  space,  the  roof  of  which  rests  on  four  posts.  On  each 
side  of  the  quadrangle  are  two  rooms  which  are  separated  from 
each  other  and  from  the  open  area  by  upright  beams,  like  pali- 
sades, a  few  inches  apart,  leaving  space  for  the  admission  of  light 
and  air.  The  prisoners  are  admitted  by  day  to  the  open  area,  but 
are  locked  up  in  their  rooms  at  night.  There  are  wooden  floors, 
which  extend  partly  over  the  rooms  on  which  the  prisoners  sleep. 
Pots,  furnaces,  a  few  stools,  and  one  or  two  beds  make  up  the 
scanty  supply  of  furniture. 

For  prisoners  confined  in  the  great  prison  there  are  several 
grades  of  punishment ;  namely,  (i)  Ling-chi,  or  cutting  up  alive 
on  the  cross  ;  (2)  Beheading  ;  (3)  Strangulation  on  the  cross  ; 
(4)  Banishment  4000  li  (1300  miles)  for  life  ;  (5)  Banishment  for 
shorter  distances  and  periods. 

2.  The  inferior  prisons.    In  these  are  confined  persons  charged 
with  minor  offences,  such  as  theft,  swindling,  debt,  etc.     In  the 
Pwan-yu,  this  prison  is  arranged  on  the  same  plan  as  a  ward  of 
the  great  prison  above  described,  but  on  a  larger  scale.     The 
central  area  is  about  one  hundred  feet  square,  and  has  rooms  on 
three  sides,  while  the  altar  for  the  idol  occupies  a  place  on  one 
side  of  the  covered  pavilion  in  the  centre  of  the  area. 

There  are  three  inferior  prisons  belonging  to  Nan-hai,  one  of 
which  is  within  the  magistrate's  official  residence,  and  the  other  two 
in  streets  a  few  minutes'  walk  distant.  The  first  consists  of  three 
dark,  dingy  rooms  closed  in  without  a  window  on  three  sides,  but 
opening  through  palisades  on  the  south  side  into  a  space  six  or 
eight  feet  wide  and  uncovered,  whence  light  and  air  can  be  en- 
joyed by  the  inmates.  These  rooms  are  often  crowded,  there 
being  in  them  so  many  persons  that  there  is  not  room  for  them 


588  STATE   OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  vn. 

all  to  lie  down  at  one  time.  The  air  even  in  the  daytime  is  not 
salubrious,  but  at  night,  especially  in  hot  weather,  it  must  be 
horrible  indeed  to  be  compelled  to  inhale  the  effluvia  from  so 
many  bodies. 

The  other  two  prisons  of  this  class  belonging  to  Nan-hai  are 
better  arranged,  —  not  so  close  and  dark  ;  but,  on  the  other 
hand,  they  have  not  so  large  an  open  area  for  air  and  exercise 
as  is  found  in  the  Pwan-yii  prison.  The  buildings  occupied  are 
ordinary  houses  converted  into  prisons. 

There  is  a  prison  in  another  place  called  the  Nan-Pwan  Kung 
Kam,  which,  as  its  name  implies,  is  used  by  the  magistrates  of 
both  districts.  It  is  partly  in  ruins,  and  about  half  the  rooms  are 
not  in  use. 

3.  The  third  class  is  the  Cohai-kun  or  police  prisons.  There 
are  many  of  these,  and  they  are  divided  into  two  classes,  —  the 
legal  and  the  non-legal.  The  police  prisons  are  for  the  detention 
of  persons  charged  with  debt  or  the  lighter  criminal  offences,  and 
for  the  purpose  of  squeezing  the  innocent  or  guilty  who  fall  into 
the  hands  of  the  police.  The  rooms  used  for  these  prisons  are  in 
ordinary  Chinese  houses,  —  small,  dark,  close,  and  ill-ventilated. 
When  crowded  in  hot  weather,  they  are  most  disagreeable  habita- 
tions for  human  beings. 

In  connection  with  the  police  prisons  are  the  Ho-fong,  or  rooms 
for  the  detention  of  persons  of  respectability  or  wealth,  and  where 
certain  liberties  are  allowed  them,  for  a  consideration  of  course. 

In  addition  to  the  above  there  are  two  rooms  for  the  confine- 
ment of  persons  condemned  to  wear  the  cangue,  or  wooden  collar ; 
and  opposite  to  the  entrance  to  the  Nan-hai  office  are  some  dark 
narrow  rooms  for  culprits  who  are  chained  to  a  rod  of  iron  or 
a  stone,  and  who  are  allowed  to  frequent  the  streets  about  the 
Ya-mun. 

In    the  great  prisons    there   are    six  wards,   and 

forty  to  sixty  prisoners  in  each  ward  (say)  .     .     240  to  360 

Inferior  prisons,  Pwan-yti 120  "  250 

"  "          Nan-hai  (four  wards)    ....     350  "  500 

"          Nan-Pwan  Kung  Kam  ....       75  "  125 

Police  prisons  (indefinite) ,.100"  ooo 

885     1235 

Having  noticed  the  different  grades  of  prisons,  their  construc- 
tion and  location,  we  now  come  to  the  condition  of  the  prisoners, 
their  treatment,  etc. 

In  the  great  and  inferior  prisons  the  food  is  supplied  by  the 
Government.  The  legal  allowance  of  rice  is  about  two  pounds, 
with  (say)  two  cents  to  buy  meat,  vegetables,  etc.  Rice  of  an  in- 
ferior quality  is  supplied  by  the  keepers,  and  generally  in  sufficient 


PART  vr.]  IN  CHINA.  589 

quantity ;  but  no  meat  or  vegetables,  unless  the  prisoner  or  his 
friends  pay  for  such  luxuries.  There  are  stalls  kept  at  some  of 
the  prison  doors,  where  food,  tobacco,  and  other  articles  are  kept 
for  sale  to  the  inmates. 

In  the  Ngoi  Ki,  or  inferior  prison  of  the  Pwan-yii,  where  there 
are  from  one  hundred  to  three  hundred  men  confined,  there  is 
a  shop  within  the  enclosure.  This  shows  that  a  considerable 
number  have  command  of  cash  with  which  to  supply  their  neces- 
sities. There  are  some  in  the  prisons  who  indulge  in  opium 
which,  it  is  well  known,  is  a  luxury  requiring  money.  All  this 
traffic  of  the  prisoners  is  of  course  controlled  by  the  keepers,  and 
inures  to  their  benefit.  The  prices  paid  are  higher  than  if  direct 
access  could  be  had  to  the  market  in  the  street  outside  the  walls. 
In  all  the  large  prisons  there  are  wells  within  the  enclosures, 
and  the  supply  of  water  is  abundant. 

In  winter  a  wadded  jacket  should,  by  the  rules,  be  furnished  to 
each  prisoner.  This  is  the  only  provision  made  in  the  way  of 
clothing,  and  it  may  be  doubted  whether  it  is  always  faithfully 
carried  out.  In  summer  little  clothing  is  needed,  but  in  winter 
many  of  the  prisoners  suffer  greatly  from  the  cold. 

In  the  police  prisons  the  Government  does  not  supply  food,  but 
this  is  done  by  the  police  officers  in  rotation,  —  two  having  the 
charge  of  a  prison  for  five  days,  and  then  other  two  until  all  the 
head-men  at  a  given  station  have  had  their  turn.  The  object  of 
this  is  no  doubt  to  divide  the  burdens  as  well  as  the  profits 
equally  among  the  fraternity.  These  police  officers  have  no  sal- 
ary, and  they  depend  for  their  income  on  three  sources  :  I.  Fees 
for  services  ;  2.  Fees  from  prisoners  ;  3.  Fees  from  gambling- 
houses  and  brothels.  If  we  take  into  consideration  that  each 
police  officer  has  to  pay  for  his  position,  and  that  he  has  to  em- 
ploy assistants  and  provide  food  for  the  prisoners  in  his  turn,  we 
shall  not  go  far  wrong  in  guessing  that  each  source  of  income  will 
be  worked  to  its  utmost  limit,  and  that  among  others  the  prison- 
ers and  their  friends  will  have  to  contribute  a  fair  quota  for  the 
support  of  the  officers  who  preserve  the  public  peace. 

To  facilitate  this  object  each  police  prison  has  two  apartments, 
one  of  which  is  a  small,  close,  filthy,  badly-ventilated  room,  where 
prisoners  are  crowded  together  with  nothing  whatever  in  the  way 
of  furniture,  and  only  the  bare  floor  on  which  they  all  sit  and 
sleep  like  cattle.  Those  in  this  room  get  nothing  to  eat  but 
cooked  rice,  with  a  cup  of  the  commonest  tea  to  drink ;  for  every 
thing  else  they  must  pay  cash.  In  the  other  apartment  beds, 
stools,  tables,  and  mosquito  curtains  are  furnished,  but  at  what 
rate  no  public  notice  is  given.  As  to  food,  the  quality  and  quan- 
tity depend  on  the  price  agreed  upon.  For  the  admission  of 
friends  the  terms  are ,  the  same  ;  they  are  admitted  by  special 
agreement.  For  a  sum  varying  from  one  to  several  dollars  a 


5QO  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  vn. 

father,  or  mother,  or  wife  may  have  access  at  all  times  to  the 
prison,  and  the  visitors  frequently  witness  affecting  interviews 
and  hear  sad  stones  of  wrong  and  oppression.  Recently  an  old 
man  partly  blind,  sitting  at  the  prison  door,  was  seen  by  a  visitor 
conversing  with  his  son  who  had  been  confined  there  for  several 
years,  undergoing  terrible  tortures  because  he  persisted  in  assert- 
ing his  innocence  of  the  crime  charged  against  him.  The  scars 
on  one  of  his  son's  ankles  showed  that  it  had  been  beaten  until 
the  bones  were  broken  and  the  prominence  of  the  ankle  joint 
was  gone,  proving  that  the  bone  had  been  discharged  in  frag- 
ments. In  answer  to  the  question  whether  many  of  the  prisoners 
had  such  scars,  the  young  man  said  that  persons  thus  afflicted 
generally  died,  but  he  having  obtained  favor  from  Heaven  had 
survived. 

In  the  great  prison  the  comforts  of  bed,  mosquito  curtain,  etc. 
cannot  be  had  except  in  the  common  ward. 

The  inmates  of  all  the  prisons  have  the  privilege  of  working  at 
any  handicraft  they  choose,  and  they  enjoy  the  proceeds  of  their 
work.  The  most  common  employment  is  the  making  of  a  kind  of 
net  jacket,  much  used  for  summer  wear.  Such  as  can  read  have 
a  few  books  with  which  they  while  away  the  time.  But  the  occu- 
pation which  one  constantly  sees  on  entering  a  prison  is  gambling. 
Besides  those  engaged  in  the  game  there  are  others  looking  on 
with  interest ;  and  no  doubt  many  thus  spend  their  time  until  the 
fatal  hour  arrives  when  they  are  hurried  away  to  execution. 

The  only  fastening  with  which  the  inmates  of  the  prison  are 
secured  is  a  short  chain  between  the  ankles.  This  is  sufficient  to 
prevent  their  escape,  while  it  does  not  interfere  with  locomotion. 
It  is  seldom  that  one  is  seen  with  the  hands  chained,  and  this  is 
only  in  case  of  dangerous  persons,  or  of  criminals  newly  arrived 
from  the  country. 

Torture  is  not  practised  in  the  prisons,  and  is  inflicted  only  in 
the  judgment  hall  in  the  presence  of  the  mandarins.  This  should 
be  qualified,  perhaps,  by  saying  that  the  keepers  have  it  in  their 
power  to  torture  their  victims  by  hunger  when  it  suits  their  pur- 
pose. It  is  said  that  a  plan  sometimes  adopted  by  the  police  to 
put  a  man  out  of  the  way  privately  is  to  starve  him  for  a  few 
days  and  then  set  before  him  a  feast  ;  they  are  able  to  regulate 
the  starving  and  the  feast  so  nicely  that  the  victim  is  sure  to  kill 
himself  by  the  operation.  There  are  often  seen  in  the  prisons 
instances  of  very  great  suffering,  the  consequence  of  torture  while 
undergoing  trial,  inflicted  by  order  of  the  mandarins.  A  case  is 
related  by  my  informant  which  came  under  his  personal  observa- 
tion, where  death  was  the  result.  He  adds  to  this  statement  that 
he  had  never  known  an  instance  of  torture  in  the  prisons. 

Prisoners  are  conducted  from  place  to  place  with  a  chain  around 
the  neck,  which  is  held  by  a  policeman ;  and  if  there  is  need  of 


PART  vi.]  IN  CHINA.  591 

special  care  in  guarding  him  his  hands  are  manacled,  and  another 
official  holds  his  queue.  When  they  are  brought  from  a  distance, 
each  man  is  put  in  a  cage  just  large  enough  to  contain  him  in  a 
sitting  posture.  The  cage  is  made  of  slats  nailed  to  a  frame,  and 
looks  like  a  coop  for  fowls.  When  it  is  necessary  to  convey  the 
prisoners  by  land,  poles  are  attached  to  the  cage,  and  it  is  borne 
like  a  sedan  chair.  The  arrival  of  a  new  lot  of  prisoners  is  in- 
dicated by  the  new  cages  in  the  prison  yard.  When  carried  to 
execution,  prisoners  are  made  to  sit  in  baskets  which  are  borne 
by  two  men,  the  hands  manacled  behind  the  back,  and  the  feet 
dangling  over  the  side  of  the  basket. 

While  the  prisons  are  not  neatly  kept,  they  do  not  differ  in 
general  appearance  and  condition  from  the  houses  and  shops  of 
the  common  people  as  seen  in  crowded  localities.  It  perhaps 
does  not  occur  to  the  prisoners  or  their  keepers  that  in  respect  to 
cleanliness  they  are  any  worse  off  than  others  who  are  at  liberty. 
In  the  government  prisons  they  are  certainly  as  well  off  in  this 
respect  as  most  of  them  were  in  their  own  houses.  The  occasional 
crowded  condition  of  the  rooms,  the  want  of  food,  and  in  winter 
of  clothing,  are  the  things  complained  of. 

Cooking  is  done  in  some  of  the  rooms,  and  the  collection  of 
cobwebs,  soot,  and  dust  on  the  walls  gives  an  appearance  of  un- 
tidiness which  would  make  a  neat  housekeeper  either  from  Old 
or  New  England  sigh  for  brooms,  brushes,  soap,  and  water.  The 
walls  of  the  rooms  and  posts  of  the  palisades  are  utilized  for 
stowing  traps  of  all  sorts.  Baskets,  suspended  on  nails,  hold 
dishes,  pots,  cups,  and  all  sorts  of  implements.  Bundles  of  rags, 
rolls  of  quilts,  and  all  the  old  rubbish  not  in  immediate  use  are 
hung  up  by  strings,  and  one  is  surprised  to  see  how  chests  of 
drawers  and  cupboards  may  be  dispensed  with. 

To  a  stranger  first  entering  the  prisons  the  aspect  is  very  dis- 
agreeable. The  unshaven  heads,  the  sallow  faces,  and  the  ragged 
garments  give  a  woe-begone  appearance  to  the  crowd  of  men  who 
rush  out  to  see  the  visitor.  In  general  they  have  a  look  of  un- 
concern, and  even  of  cheerfulness,  which  may  arise  in  part  from 
the  excitement  of  the  occasion. 

While  the  inmates  have  pale  countenances,  caused  by  confine- 
ment, it  is  not  common  to  find  cases  of  sickness  among  them. 
Many  are  covered  with  skin  diseases,  and  surfer  a  great  deal  from 
that  scourge  of  all  prisons  ;  still,  cases  of  acute  disease  are  rare. 
This  cannot  of  course  be  so  when  epidemic  diseases  prevail,  for 
the  narrow,  filthy,  ill-ventilated  rooms  of  the  police  prisons,  if 
crowded  in  hot  weather,  must  become  a  very  hot-bed  for  the  prop- 
agation of  fevers,  cholera,  dysentery,  etc,  if  the  poison  of  these 
diseases  were  but  once  introduced.  Dr.  Williams,1  speaking  of 

1  Middle  Kingdom,  vol.  i.  p.  416. 


5Q2  STATE   OF  PRISONS,   ETC.  [BOOK  vn. 

Canton,  says  :  "  Jail  distempers  arise  from  overcrowding  ;  two 
hundred  deaths  were  reported  in  1826  from  this  and  other  causes, 
and  one  hundred  and  seventeen  cases  in  1831." 

The  condition  of  these  prisons  in  1856  must  have  been  bad 
beyond  description,  for  at  that  time  hundreds  of  those  who  had 
been  in  rebellion  were  brought  in  daily  from  the  country.  The 
remedy  then  used  was  the  immediate  execution  of  the  prisoners, 
for  many  passed  but  one  night  in  the  prison  ;  and  thus  the  crowd 
of  to-day  gave^wayfor  the  new  victims  of  to-morrow,  and  time  was 
not  allowed  for  diseases  to  generate. 

There  are  instances  in  the  prisons  where  life  has  been  pro- 
longed ten,  fifteen,  and  twenty  or  more  years.  These  cases  are 
exceptional,  but  they  show  that  the  prisons  are  not  so  bad  as  to 
be  necessarily  fatal  to  life.  One  man  in  the  Pwan-yii  prison 
has  been  under  the  observation  of  my  informant  for  ten  or  twelve 
years,  and  he  has  been  in  the  same  ward  for  twenty-two  years. 
His  father  was  one  of  the  Tai  Ping  rebel  leaders,  and  for  this 
reason  both  he  and  his  mother  were  arrested.  He  professes  to 
worship  the  Christian's  God,  and  his  behavior  has  been  such  that 
he  has,  like  Joseph  of  old,  been  appointed  head-man  of  his  ward. 
My  informant  says  that  he  has  also  visited  his  mother  who  was 
for  many  years  confined  in  the  female  ward  of  the  Nan-hai  prison. 
She  is  now  quite  old  and  helpless  from  rheumatism,  and  is  de- 
pendent on  the  other  women  prisoners,  who  wait  on  her.  She 
has  recently  been  transferred  to  the  Pwan-yii  prison,  and  is  placed 
in  a  ward  adjoining  the  one  her  son  is  in.  This  is  an  instance  of 
kindness  not  to  be  overlooked. 

Criminal  justice  in  Canton  is  administered  by  a  code,  but  with- 
out jury,  witnesses,  or  distinct  and  definite  charges.  The  criminal 
is  called  upon  to  confess,  and  if  he  refuses  he  is  put  to  the  tor- 
ture to  extort  the  truth,  or  the  confession.  The  punishments  in- 
flicted are  the  application  of  the  bamboo,  of  the  rattan,  imprison- 
ment with  chains,  stringing  up  by  the  thumbs,  or  by  the  thumbs 
and  toes,  decapitation,  strangulation  by  suspension  on  a  cross, 
flaying  alive,  cutting  to  pieces  by  inches,  and  burning  to  death. 
These  last  are  for  the  crimes  of  parricide  and  rebellion  in  aggra- 
vated cases. 


CHAPTER  XXVIII. —  ABUSES  IN  PRISON  ADMINISTRATION. 

WHAT  follows  in  the  present  chapter  is  official.     It  is  the 
translation  of  a  joint  memorial  addressed  in  1837  to  the 
Emperor  of  China  by  the  acting  governor-general  of  the  provinces 
of  Fuhkien  and  Chekiang,  and  the  governor  of  the  former  province, 


PART  vi.]  IN  CHINA.  593 

transmitted  under  date  of  May  12,  1877,  by  the  United  States 
minister  at  Peking  to  the  department  of  state  at  Washington. 
These  gentlemen  are  evidently  intelligent,  high-minded,  and  hu- 
mane officials,  keenly  alive  to  their  own  duty,  the  honor  of  their 
country,  and  the  cause  of  progress  in  general  and  of  prison  reform 
in  particular.  The  memorial  sets  forth  abuses  of  a  flagrant  char- 
acter in  the  administration  of  the  prisons,  and  prays  that  means 
may  be  taken  to  correct  them.  It  is  in  the  following  words  :  — 

"  The  acting  governor-general  of  Min-cheh  and  Ting  Jih-ch'ang,  gov- 
ernor of  Fuhkien,  jointly  memoralize,  representing  the  urgent  necessity 
that  exists  for  a  modification  of  the  rules  in  force  respecting  the  custody 
of  prisoners,  in  order  to  allow  a  speedy  dispensation  of  justice  to  take 
place.  Observing  that  the  civil  administration  in  the  province  of  Fuhkien 
has  lapsed  into  a  condition  of  vicious  routine,  one  consequence  of  which 
is  that  unsentenced  criminals  and  other  parties  to  judicial  cases  habitually 
languish  in  imprisonment  frequently  resulting  in  death,  the  memoralists 
point  out  that  in  order  to  afford  any  actual  relief  it  is  necessary  to  under- 
take a  radical  and  searching  inquiry  into  the  causes  of  the  evil  complained 
of.  They  have  already,  on  two  successive  occasions,  denounced  a  series 
of  officials  guilty  of  acts  of  suppression  in  connection  with  reports  of  law 
proceedings,  and  they  have  at  the  same  time  lavished  exhortations  upon 
all  their  subordinates  to  discharge  their  duties  with  diligent  exactitude,  to 
such  an  extent  that  they  may  almost  say  they  have  worn  away  the  points 
of  their  pens  and  have  brought  blisters  to  their  lips  in  the  effort.  In  the 
course  of  six  months  the  cases  of  five  hundred  and  thirty-two  prisoners, 
old  and  new,  have  been  wound  up ;  but  the  misfortune  is  that  in  many 
cases  where  the  official  returns  show  only  a  few  prisoners  in  custody  there 
are  in  reality  some  scores  of  persons  in  confinement.  Thus,  at  Amoy  the 
sub-prefect  had  upward  of  eighty  prisoners  in  jail  and  reported  barely  half- 
a-dozen.  The  sub-prefect  at  Shih  Ma  had  upward  of  twenty  persons  in 
confinement  and  had  gone  on  for  some  time  reporting  the  prison  as  un- 
tenanted ;  and  these  cases  may  be  taken  as  typical  of  the  remainder. 
Not  only  is  this  what  happens  as  regards  the  magistrates  themselves,  but 
prisoners  are  confined  by  the  underlings  without  the  knowledge  of  the 
clerks  and  secretaries,  while  these  again  commit  persons  to  custody  with- 
out the  knowledge  of  their  official  employers.  Farmers  and  laborers  or 
petty  traders  once  cast  into  prison,  their  entire  household  knows  not  a  mo- 
ment's peace,  and  their  release  is  not  effected  until  land  and  houses,  nay, 
it  may  be,  wife  and  children,  are  sold  and  interest  brought  to  bear  on  their 
behalf.  The  official  sits  at  his  chess  and  wine,  while  the  people  are  offer- 
ing up  snpplications  to  which  there  is  none  to  lend  an  ear.  Verily  the 
sound  of  their  woes  and  anguish  may  well  suffice  to  evoke  the  visitation  of 
drought,  and  to  arouse  the  wrath  of  Heaven.  Since  the  memorialists  be- 
gan their  work  of  scrutiny,  prisoners  to  the  number  of  twelve  hundred 
and  forty-six  borne  on  the  lists  sent  in  from  the  various  districts  have 
been  released,  but  they  have  no  doubt  that  thousands  more  are  still  con- 
fined of  whom  no  report  is  made,  or  who  are  surreptitiously  held  in  du- 
rance by  the  official  underlings.  Most  marvellous  of  all  are  such  instances 
as  that  of  the  magistrate  of  Show-ning,  who,  when  stringently  called. upon 

38 


594  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  vn. 

to  explain  why  a  prisoner  named  Li  was  still  detained  in  custody  more 
than  a  year  after  he  had  been  entitled  to  his  release  by  act  of  grace,  re- 
plied that  the  prisoner  was  so  fond  of  confinement  that  he  did  not  wish  to 
be  set  at  liberty ;  and  of  the  magistrate  of  Tsiang-loh,  who,  when  called 
upon  to  report  why  a  prisoner  named  Yang  had  been  so  long  in  jail,  re- 
plied that  the  man  had  been  handed  over  by  one  incumbent  of  the  office 
to  another  during  a  long  series  of  years,  and  that  no  particulars  of  his  case 
were  on  record.  Other  instances  of  the  kind  might  further  be  cited. 

"  There  are  at  present  in  all  the  districts  of  the  province  some  two  hun- 
dred and  nine  odd  criminals  in  prison  whose  trials  are  not  yet  at  an  end, 
and  six  hundred  and  twenty  odd  prisoners  in  addition  to  these.  The 
prisoner  who  has  been  longest  in  confinement  is  one  Wong  I-loh,  in  the 
Fuhtsing  district,  who  has  been  twenty  years  in  jail ;  and  other  instances 
of  imprisonment  for  twelve,  eleven,  and  ten  years  are  recited. 

"  The  majority  of  these  are  individuals  connected  with  charges  of  mur- 
der or  robbery  with  violence,  but  some  have  retracted  confessions  made  in 
the  first  instance  under  torture,  while  others  are  simple  accessories  or  even 
persons  who  declare  themselves  to  be  the  victims  of  false  accusations. 
The  courts  bound  down  by  the  letter  of  standing  regulations  do  not  ven- 
ture to  pronounce  a  final  decision.  And  the  consequence  is  that  prisoners 
who,  if  they  had  only  been  sentenced,  might  go  free  in  conformity  with 
the  decrees  of  the  Imperial  ministers,  are  detained  in  perpetual  imprison- 
ment owing  to  some  contradiction  in  their  depositions,  first  and  last. 

"  In  order  to  remedy  the  crying  evils  thus  exposed,  it  is  prayed  that  the 
existing  regulations  may  be  modified  so  as  to  enable  a  general  jail-delivery 
to  be  held,  irrespective  of  the  limitations  of  time  prescribed  by  the  rules 
affecting  trials,  for  all  cases  dating  from  before  the  year  1875,  —  exception 
being  made  in  the  case  of  persons  who  have  retracted  confessions  made 
in  the  face  of  direct  testimony,  keepers  of  gambling-houses,  promoters  of 
litigation,  kidnappers  to  hold  to  ransom,  and  evil-doers  of  this  class,  who, 
if  set  free  with  the  rest  would  be  certain  either  to  betake  themselves  to  the 
profession  of  brigandage  or  to  drift  into  connection  with  alien  sects.  It 
is  proposed  that  this  class  of  prisoners  may  be  kept  in  custody  for  a  fixed 
term  of  years  by  being  chained  to  blocks  of  stone,  but  not  locked  up  in 
prisons.  For  all  subsequent  cases  it  is  proposed  that  the  regulations  en- 
joining dispatch  in  procedure  be  duly  enforced.  An  apology  is  made  for 
some  delay  in  sending  forward  the  present  memorial  owing  to  the  depar- 
ture for  Formosa  of  the  governor,  Ting  Jih-ch'ang,  by  whom  it  has  been 
drawn  up.  Rescript.  —  Let  the  boards  concerned  consider  and  report 
to  us." 


PART  vn.]  IN  JAPAN.  595 


PART  SEVENTH. 

JAPAN. 

CHAPTER  XXIX.  —  PRELIMINARY  STATEMENT. 

WE  have  just  glanced  at  a  country  where  a  torpor  like  that 
of  death  has  possession  of  the  general  public  and  even  of 
the  Government  as  regards  improvement  in  prisons  and  prison 
administration.  We  pass  now  to  a  country  separated  only  by  a 
narrow  sea  from  that  which  we  have  left,  where  all  is  life  and 
action  and  progress  as  regards  this  great  social  interest  common 
to  all  civilized  communities.  Japan  has  already  taken  her  place 
in  the  forefront  of  those  nations  which  are  reaching  out  after  a 
prison  organization  and  prison  management  better,  wiser,  more 
scientific,  and  more  effective  than  any  embraced  in  the  old 
methods.  From  no  government  or  nation  in  the  world  have  I 
received  an  account  of  its  prisons  and  prison  administration  so 
exhaustive  as  that  furnished  by  the  Empire  of  Japan.  This 
account  was  prepared  through  the  joint-labors  of  their  Excel- 
lencies Messrs.  Okubo  and  Oki,  ministers  respectively  of  home 
affairs  and  of  justice.  Their  report  is  made  up  in  three  distinct 
documents  :  i.  A  letter  containing  a  preliminary  historical  sketch 
of  prison  affairs  in  the  empire.  2.  An  answer  to  the  questions 
contained  in  my  circular  letter  to  Governments  of  September, 
1876.  3.  A  more  detailed  but  still  necessarily  summarized  his- 
tory of  Japanese  prisons  from  the  earliest  times  to  the  present. 
This  last  would  make  a  small  volume  of  itself,  and  is  too  ex- 
tended for  transfer  in  whole  or  even  in  part  to  the  pages  of  the 
present  work.  The  several  documents  enumerated,  transmitted 
in  the  vernacular  of  the  Empire,  were  kindly  translated  by  the 
Imperial  Japanese  Legation  at  Washington. 


CHAPTER  XXX.  —  HISTORICAL  REVIEW. 

IT  is  now  more  than  a  thousand  years  since  the  earliest  legis- 
lation on  the  subject  of   prisons,  and  the  establishment  of 
shugokushi*  a  prison  bureau  or  department.      This  occurred  in 
the  first  year  of  Taiho,  or  the  year  1361  of  the  Japanese  era,  in 


596  STATE   OF  PRISONS,   ETC.  [BOOK  vii. 

the  reign  of  His  Majesty  Bumbu  Tenno ;  but  the  rules  have  from 
time  to  time  been  changed  as  circumstances  required  during  the 
long  period  of  time  which  has  since  elapsed. 

In  the  first  year  of  Meiji,  or  the  year  2528  of  the  Japanese  era 
(A.D.  1868),  His  Majesty  the  reigning  emperor  assumed  the  ad- 
ministration of  the  government,  and  directed  his  attention  to  the 
reform  and  improvement  of  the  prison  system  with  great  care 
and  earnestness,  not  only  because  it  concerned  the  restraint  of 
personal  liberty,  but  also  because  of  his  concern  and  regard  for 
the  health  and  life  of  the  persons  confined.  Thus,  in  the  twelfth 
month  of  the  second  year  of  Meiji,  or  2529  of  the  Japanese  era 
(A.D.  1869),  by  His  Majesty's  decree,  there  was  established  the 
shugokushi  (prison  bureau)  as  a  division  of  giobusho,  or  depart- 
ment of  justice  (former  name),  and  all  matters  connected  with  or 
pertaining  to  prisons  were  managed  by  that  office. 

In  the  fourth  year  of  Meiji  (Japanese  era  2531,  or  A.D.  1871) 
the  giobusho  was  disestablished,  and  skikosko,  or  judicial  depart- 
ment (present  name),  was  established  in  its  stead,  and  the  prison 
government  was  necessarily  taken  by  shihosho. 

There  have  been  as  time  progressed  great  improvements  in 
prison  discipline  and  in  the  methods  of  treating  the  prisoners 
confined  under  the  management  of  shihosho.  Since  the  eleventh 
month  of  the  seventh  year  of  Meiji  (Japanese  era  2534,  or 
A.D.  1874)  the  management  of  all  prisons  throughout  the  whole 
empire  has  been  placed  under  the  jurisdiction  of  naimusho 
(department  for  home  affairs). 

It  is  an  evidence  of  the  improved  management  of  prisons  that 
the  annual  average  number  of  deaths  among  those  confined  in 
them  smce  the  fourth  year  of  Meiji  (A.D.  1871)  has  been  less  than 
two  and  a  half  per  cent  of  the  whole  number  of  inmates,  while 
prior  to  the  year  last  named  the  death-rate  was  more  than  twenty 
per  cent.  This  is  ascertained  by  comparing  the  statistics  of  the 
prison  at  Ishikauvashima,  Tokio,  compiled  since  the  fourth  year 
of  Meiji  mentioned  above,  with  those  prepared  for  the  period 
preceding  that  year. 

It  is  but  a  short  time  since  vigorous  attention  has  been 
directed  to  the  reform  of  prison  management,  and  consequently 
the  system  has  not  yet  attained  perfect  and  wholly  satisfactory 
features. 

It-is  hoped,  however,  to  secure  a  more  efficient  and  perfect 
system  and  discipline  in  the  prisons  throughout  the  empire  by 
first  applying  to  the  prisons  of  Tokio  an  improved  plan  and  sys- 
tem which  is  under  consideration,  and  gradually  extending  them 
to  other  prisons,  numbering  above  one  hundred  and  sixty,  and 
distributed  throughout  the  empire  in  the  various  fus  (capital 
cities)  and  the  kens  (provinces  or  departments). 


PART  VIL]  IN  JAPAN.  597 


CHAPTER  XXXI.  —  PRISON  SYSTEM. 

THE  system  of  imprisonment  proposed  to  be  adopted  in  Japan 
is  to  confine  one  prisoner  in  a  separate  cell  at  night ;  but 
the  new  system  has  not  yet  been  carried  into  full  effect,  and 
therefore,  except  in  the  prisons  where  those  who  violate  the  press 
laws  are  confined,  all  criminals  are  lodged  together  in  common 
dormitories.  The  convict  prison  at  Tokio  has  eighteen  dormi- 
tories, which  are  numbered  in  order.  In  each  dormitory  sleep 
about  one  hundred  and  fifty  prisoners.  In  jails  where  prisoners 
awaiting  trial  are  confined,  one  cell  is  assigned  to  each  prisoner. 
The  prisons  are  divided  into  two  classes,  —  prisons  for  the  con- 
victed (convict  prisons),  and  jails  for  the  unconvicted  who  are 
awaiting  trial  (detention  prisons).  Of  convict  prisons  there  are 
four  classes,  —  for  detention,  for  correction,  for  females,  and  for 
the  sick.  The  jails  for  the  unconvicted  are  subdivided  into  three 
classes,  —  for  the  sick,  for  female  prisoners,  and  for  male  pris- 
oners. The  houses  of  correction  are  intended  for  reforming  and 
training  youths  guilty  of  minor  offences,  and  for  fitting  them  to 
earn  the  means  of  honest  living  after  their  term  of  imprisonment 
has  expired.  Since  the  fifth  year  of  Meiji  (1872)  the  annual  av- 
erage number  of  convicts  has  been  two  thousand  eight  hundred, 
and  that  of  the  unconvicted  four  thousand. 


CHAPTER  XXXII.  —  PRISON  ADMINISTRATION.  —  OFFICIALS. 
—  QUALIFICATIONS. 

THE  department  for  home  affairs  has  charge  of  the  prison 
system  of  the  whole  empire;  therefore  all  the  jails  in  Tokio 
are  under  the  control  of  the  police  bureau  in  that  department. 
As  regards  inspection,  there  are  within  the  premises  of  the  con- 
vict prison  five  guard-houses,  in  each  of  which  are  stationed  in 
turn  policemen,  who  watch  the  movements  of  the  prisoners 
day  and  night.  During  the  day,  a  certain  number  of  subordinate 
jailers  are  distributed  through  the  workshops  to  superintend  the 
work  of  the  prisoners  sentenced  to  hard  labor.  A  lieutenant  of 
police  inspects  the  convict  prison  day  and  night  once  every  hour ; 
the  chief  jailer  inspects  it  once  every  day  ;  the  commissioner  of 
police  once  every  month  or  two  ;  and  the  minister  for  home 
affairs  once  every  year.  The  same  system  of  inspection  is  also 
in  vogue  for  the  kansot  or  jail  for  those  awaiting  trial. 


598  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  vn. 

The  officers  of  the  kanso  and  the  kangoku,  or  convict  prison 
in  Tokio,  are  appointed  by  the  commissioner  of  police,  who  also 
has  the  power  of  dismission.  The  term  of  office  is  not  for  a 
fixed  period,  but  during  good  behavior.  It  is  the  aim  to  have 
such  officers  as  are  self-restrained,  prudent,  and  upright  ;  and 
at  the  same  time  intelligent  and  courageous.  If  they  have  self- 
control,  prudence,  and  integrity  they  will  become  examples  for 
the  prisoners  to  follow  ;  and  if  they  are  intelligent  and  cour- 
ageous they  can  restrain  the  unruly.  It  is  desired,  therefore, 
that  those  who  may  be  appointed  as  employes  shall  possess  these 
qualities  ;  but  it  is  hardly  to  be  expected  that  all  of  them  will 
come  up  to  this  standard.  The  establishment  of  professional 
schools  for  prison  officers  is  deemed  highly  important  ;  but  such 
schools  have  not  as  yet  been  established. 


CHAPTER   XXXIII.  —  REFORMATION.  —  MEANS  EMPLOYED. 
—  REWARDS.  —  PUNISHMENTS. 

THE  object  of  the  discipline .  is  to  encourage  and  reform 
the  prisoners.  Therefore,  among  the  prisoners  who  are 
remarkable  for  their  good  behavior  and  for  abiding  by  the  regu- 
lations of  the  prison,  better  food  and  clothing  are  given  to  those 
whose  merit  entitles  them  to  some  reward.  In  the  case  of  those 
whose  good  conduct  surpasses  all  others  an  accurate  report  is 
made  to  the  minister  of  justice,  and  their  term  of  imprisonment 
is  shortened  so  as  to  encourage  them  and  all  the  others.  There 
was  once  a  prisoner  named  I-oka  Senzaburo  who  was  condemned 
to  ten  years'  imprisonment.  He  repented  of  what  he  had  com- 
mitted, and  proved  his  repentance  by  faithfully  obeying  the  prison 
regulations,  by  encouraging  other  prisoners  to  do  the  same,  and 
by  attending  diligently  to  his  work,  thus  showing  himself  to  be 
worthy  of  some  reward.  Accordingly  the  chief  officer  reported 
this  to  the  minister,  asking  him  to  grant  the  prisoner  a  reward  by 
lessening  the  degree  of  his  punishment,  which  was  so  ordered. 
This  prisoner  was  afterwards  appointed  an  employe  of  the  prison, 
and  is  now  very  useful  in  that  office. 

There  is  another  case,  that  of  Takarada  Tomegoro,  who  also 
repented  of  his  past  conduct  and  devoted  himself  diligently  to 
labor.  Two  years  ago,  when  he  heard  that  his  house  was  burned, 
he  was  greatly  distressed,  and  sent  to  his  mother  all  the  money 
he  had  earned  by  his  labor,  which  called  forth  the  admiration  of 
his  fellow-prisoners.  For  this,  on  the  fourth  of  the  twelfth 
month  of  the  tenth  year  of  Meiji,  1877,  his  punishment  was  di- 


PART  VIL]  IN  JAPAN.  599 

minished  one  degree  by  special  order,  and  he  was  released  imme- 
diately. 

Among  so  many  thousands  of  prisoners  there  are  some  who 
are  not  capable  of  being  reached  by  means  of  encouragement 
and  moral  discipline,  and  accordingly  such  methods  as  "  chain 
rod  "  and  "  dark  room  "  are  still  resorted  to,  though  not  desirable 
as  means  of  chastisement.  The  "  chain  rod  "  is  the  fastening  of 
iron  rods  to  the  feet  so  as  to  compel  the  offender  to  stand  erect 
for  a  day  or  half  a  day.  For  one  whose  offence  in  violating  the 
prison  regulations  is  light  the  above  method  is  resorted  to  ;  but 
one  whose  offence  is  serious  is  placed  in  a  dark  cell  and  receives 
only  a  ration  of  rice  and  water,  and  is  not  allowed  to  see  or  con- 
verse with  any  one.  This  cell  is  called  the  "dark  room."  The 
longest  time  of  confinement  is  one  week. 


CHAPTER  XXXIV.  —  RELIGION.  —  EDUCATION.  —  CORRE- 
SPONDENCE. —  VISITS.  —  WOMEN. 

EVERY  Sunday  a  priest  is  invited  to  preach  a  sermon  to  the 
prisoners,  and  prisoners  not  exceeding  eighteen  years  of 
age  are  placed  every  day  in  the  care  of  a  prisoner  who  is  well  ed- 
ucated and  painstaking,  to  instruct  them  after  twelve  o'clock  M. 
in  reading,  writing,  and  arithmetic.  Any  one  who  desires  to  come 
and  preach  to  the  prisoners  on  Sunday  is  allowed  to  do  so.1 

In  regard  to  the  letters  which  the  family  friends  of  a  prisoner 
wish  to  send  to  him,  they  are  'first  examined  by  the  officers, 
and  if  found  harmless  are  allowed  to  pass  into  the  hands  of  the 
prisoner.  There  is  no  person  who  does  not  possess  affection  for 
his  kindred,  and  it  is  not  seldom  that  even  a  bad  prisoner  feels 
regret  for  his  past  conduct,  and  desires  to  reform  and  become 
virtuous  when  visited  by  members  of  his  family,  —  parents,  wife, 
or  children.  Consequently  when  the  family  or  kindred  of  any 
prisoner  come  to  visit -him,  they  are  accompanied  by  an  official, 
and  allowed  a  free  interview  with  him. 

Prisoners  are  allowed  to  have  their  cells  lighted  up  so  that  they 
may  read  and  study  all  such  books  as  they  wish,  which  are  of  a 
suitable  character.  Those  who  have  more  education  than  the 
rest  are  distributed  in  the  different  houses  to  superintend  and 
teach  the  others. 

Once  every  month  the  chief  officers  examine  all  prisoners  in 
regard  to  their  studies.  For  this  purpose  the  inmates  are  divided 

1  By  this,  doubtless,  is  meant  any  Christian  missionary,  whether  clergyman  or 
layman. 


60O  STATE   OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  vn. 

into  three  classes  ;  and,  to  encourage  them,  pens,  paper,  and  ink  are 
distributed  as  a  reward  to  the  most  studious  and  those  who  make 
the  best  progress.  Instances  are  numerous  where  those  who  did 
not  know  how  to  read  or  write  on  their  entrance  have  acquired 
an  elementary  education  in  prison.  Prisoners  are  required  to 
study  so  far  as  possible  books  of  moral  science  and  such  as  have 
a  tendency  to  improve  and  elevate  them.  Although  regular 
schools  have  not  been  established  for  them,  and  they  have  no 
study-room  or  reading-room,  paper  and  pens  are  given  and  books 
loaned  to  them. 

The  number  of  female  prisoners  is  generally  three  per  cent 
less  than  that  of  the  males. 


CHAPTER  XXXV.  —  PRISON  LABOR.  —  ITS  RESULTS. 

IN  the  Japanese  prisons  only  industrial  labor  exists  ;  there  is  no 
exclusively  penal  labor,  —  none  which  is  not  productive,  none 
imposed  merely  as  a  punishment. 

Prisoners  under  sentence  labor  without  receiving  any  com- 
pensation for  one  hundred  days  from  the  date  of  their  entry  into 
the  convict  prison  ;  but  after  that  they  receive  one-tenth  of 
the  profits  accruing  from  their  labor  and  the  remainder  is  put 
into  the  national  treasury.  Those  who  have  no  capacity  to  do 
skilled  work  are  employed  to  cook  the  prisoners'  food,  to  carry 
stones  and  earth,  or  to  do  any  other  unskilled  labor.  The  kinds 
of  industrial  labor  are  bamboo-work,  reed-work,  working  in  iron, 
paper  manufacture,  carpentry,  dyeing,  straw-work,  drawing,  cast- 
ing, engraving  on  blocks,  lacquering,  painting  in  various  colors, 
shoe-making,  manufacture  of  brick  and  candles,  cleaning  rice, 
tailoring,  spinning,  weaving,  farming,  pasturing,  etc.  All  the 
industrial  labor  is  managed  by  the  administration  except  the 
manufacture  of  shoes,  which  is  let  to  contractors.  On  a  com- 
parison of  the  advantages  of  industrial  labor  and  penal  labor,  the 
Japanese  authorities  consider  that  the  latter  can  serve  no  more 
than  to  give  to  prisoners  a  temporary  chastisement,  and  is  not 
certain  to  lead  them  to  repentance  and  virtue  ;  whereas  industrial 
labor  enables  them  to  accumulate  a  little  stock  of  money,  encour 
ages  them  in  the  hope  of  getting  a  living  when  they  are  set  free, 
and  helps  the  administration  to  a  certain  extent  in  defraying  the 
expenses  of  the  prisons.  At  present  the  proceeds  of  the  prison- 
ers' labor  defray  only  one-half  or  two-thirds  of  the  expenses  of 
the  prisons  ;  but  as  their  earnings  are  increasing  every  year  it  is 
quite  possible  that  after  some  years,  when  the  methods  for  the 
encouragement  of  industrial  labor  shall  have  been  completed, 
they  will  cover  the  whole  cost  of  the  prisons. 


PART  VIL]  IN  JAPAN.  6OI 


CHAPTER  XXXVI.  —  SANITARY  STATE  OF  THE  PRISONS. 

A  LARGER  proportion  of  the  prisoners  are  sick  when  they 
enter  the  convict  prison  than  afterwards,  —  the  cause  being, 
as  is  believed,  the  insufficiency  of  exercise  while  confined  in  de- 
tention prisons  awaiting  trial.  After  they  become  inmates  of 
the  convict  prison  they  have  regular  employment  at  industrial 
or  agricultural  labor,  and  the  consequence  is  that  they  become 
healthy  and  strong. 

As  to  the  food  of  the  prisoners  under  sentence,  this  is  to  be 
noted :  the  regular  rations  of  rice,  vegetables,  and  meat  are  sup- 
plied by  the  Government.  There  are  four  classes  of  rations ; 
namely,  for  those  who  do  heavy  work,  for  those  employed  on 
lighter  labors,  for  adult  prisoners,  and  for  juvenile  prisoners. 

The  prison  clothes  consist  of  a  coat  and  pants  of  a  brownish 
yellow  color,  all  being  numbered.  For  summer  a  garment  of  sin- 
gle thickness  is  furnished  ;  for  spring  and  autumn  a  garment  of 
double  thickness  and  a  shirt ;  and  for  winter  a  padded  coat  is 
added.  On  entering  the  convict  prison  the  prisoner  is  dressed 
in  the  prison  uniform,  and  the  clothes  he  wore  before  being  im- 
prisoned are  committed  to  the  care  of  officials,  who  return  them 
to  him  on  the  day  of  his  release. 

Ventilation  and  drainage  are  fair.  Convicted  prisoners  en- 
gaged in  labor  are  required  to  take  a  bath  every  day.  The  clean- 
ing of  the  prison  is  done  as  frequently  as  possible,  but  as  the 
old  usage  is  to  some  extent  still  in  vogue,  it  cannot  be  said  to  be 
perfect.  Fire  for  warming  and  lights  for  reading  and  study  are 
allowed. 

From  the  first  day  of  the  first  month  of  the  ninth  year  of  Meiji 
(Jan.  i,  1876)  to  the  thirty-first  day  of  the  twelfth  month  of  the 
same  year,  the  entire  number  of  prisoners  who  had  been  con- 
victed and  imprisoned  was  4,725.  The  number  of  sick  was  1,864, 
and  the  deaths  were  118. 

As  regards  the  dietary  of  the  detention  prisons,  it  is  of  two 
kinds,  —  one  for  adult  and  the  other  for  juvenile  prisoners,  the 
regular  supply  of  rice,  vegetables,  and  meat  being  allowed  them. 
They  clothe  themselves  at  their  own  expense,  but  to  the  poor 
prison  clothes  are  furnished. 

Ventilation  and  drainage  in  the  detention  prisons  cannot  be 
said  as  yet  to  be  in  a  satisfactory  condition.  As  regards  bath- 
ing, the  prisoners  are  required  to  bathe  three  times  per  week  in 
summer  and  twice  in  winter. 

The  prison  building  is  tolerably  substantial,  but  not  clean.  At 
the  centre  and  both  ends  of  the  building  lamps  are  lighted  so  as 
to  make  the  lights  reflect  upon  each  other,  but  the  force  of  radi- 


6O2  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BooK  vn. 

ance  is  not  strong  enough  to  impart  itself  to  every  room  of  the 
building.  The  sick-rate  is  five  per  cent,  and  the  death-rate  seven 
in  a  thousand,  or  less  than  one  per  cent. 


CHAPTER  XXXVII. —  SENTENCES. — LIFE-PRISONERS. — DEATH- 
PENALTY. —  IMPRISONMENT  FOR  DEBT. 

THE  range  of  sentences  for  hard  labor  is  from  ten  days  to 
life.  The  annual  number  of  imprisonments  for  life  with 
hard  labor  is  three  per  cent  ;  that  of  ten  years,  seven  per  cent ; 
that  of  one  year  and  less  than  ten  years,  thirty  per  cent;  and 
that  of  one  hundred  days  and  less,  sixty  per  cent. 

Among  the  prisoners  who  are  sentenced  to  imprisonment  for 
life,  those  who  deeply  repent  of  their  crimes,  give  proof  of  genu- 
ine reformation,  diligently  perform  their  labor,  kindly  attend  on 
the  sick,  or  try  to  lead  their  fellow  prisoners  into  a  better  life  are 
reported  by  the  head-officer  of  the  prisons  to  the  minister  of  jus- 
tice, with  the  request  that  their  punishment  be  reduced  one  de- 
gree ;  namely,  ten  years'  imprisonment.  If  they  behave  still 
better,  their  punishment  is  lessened  one  more  degree.  If  those 
who  have  already  gone  through  ten  years'  imprisonment  should 
receive  any  diminution  of  their  punishment,  they  are  set  free  at 
once. 

The  death-penalty  is  still  in  existence,  and,  according  to  the 
law  of  the  empire  it  is  of  two  kinds  ;  namely,  beheading  and 
hanging.  Public  opinion  inclines  towards  the  abolition  of  the 
former  mode,  and  to  putting  an  end  to  the  horror  of  mutilating 
the  body. 

There  is  no  law  authorizing  imprisonment  for  debt,  nor  is  there 
any  public  opinion  which  calls  for  such  a  law ;  but  there  is  some- 
thing which  is,  perhaps,  analogous  to  it ;  namely,  any  one  who  is 
guilty  of  killing  or  wounding  another  by  accident,  but  who  is  too 
poor  to  pay  the  pecuniary  indemnity,  is  compelled  to  industrial 
labor  to  enable  him  to  pay  the  family  of  either  the  killed  or 
disabled  the  money  which  he  would  have  gained  by  his  labor,  and 
after  a  fixed  amount  of  payment  is  completed  such  debtor  is  set 
free.  His  treatment  is  different  from  that  of  criminals. 


PART  vn.]  IN  JAPAN.  603 


CHAPTER  XXXVIII.  —  REFORMATORY  RESULTS.  —  LIBER- 
ATED PRISONERS. 

THERE  is  no  question  as  to  the  reformation  of  criminals 
being  the  principal  object  of  the  discipline  while  in  prison, 
but  the  number  of  those  who  leave  the  prison  unquestionably 
reformed  is  not  so  large  as  could  be  desired.  From  the  first  of 
the  twelfth  month  of  the  ninth  year  of  Meiji  (Jan.  I,  1876)  to  the 
thirty-first  of  the  twelfth  month  of  the  same  year,  the  number  of 
those  who  entered  the  convict  prison  was  2,985.  Of  this  number 
those  who  committed  crimes  twice  were  fifty-three,  those  who 
committed  them  three  times  eighty-four,  those  who  committed 
them  four  times  eighteen,  and  the  remaining  2,830  were  impris- 
oned for  a  first  offence. 

As  to  preventing  liberated  prisoners  from  returning  to  crime, 
says  the  report,  there  is  no  better  way  than  to  compel  them  to 
studies  and  self-culture  in  order  to  enable  them  to  earn  a  living 
by  honest  labor  in  the  future.  Accordingly,  in  Japan,  while 
criminals  are  in  prison,  every  possible  encouragement  is  given 
to  them  to  apply  themselves  to  study,  and  every  effort  made  to 
cherish  hope  in  them  ;  and  as  there  is  a  special  establishment 
which  is  under  the  control  of  the  chief  officer  of  the  prison,  and 
which  is  intended  to  afford  an  opportunity  of  work  to  prisoners 
who  on  account  of  their  poverty  have  no  means  of  livelihood 
after  their  term  of  imprisonment  has  expired,  they  are  tempo- 
rarily placed  in  that  establishment,  where  they  can  earn  a  support 
till  permanent  work  is  obtained  for  them. 

In  regard  to  societies  for  aiding  liberated  prisoners,  public  sen- 
timent recognizes  their  importance  and  expediency;  but  they  have 
not  yet  been  brought  into  existence  in  Japan.  Recently  a  propo- 
sition was  made  by  some  benevolent  persons  to  organize  such  a 
society,  but  the  proposition  has  not  yet  been  carried  into  effect. 

The  prevailing  character  of  crime  in  Japan  is  theft,  and  the 
chief  causes  that  lead  to  it  are  ignorance  and  poverty. 


CHAPTER  XXXIX.  —  REFORMATORY  INSTITUTION. 

"'HERE  is  as  yet  no  strictly  reformatory  institution  for  the 

-*-     young,  but  there  is  one  somewhat  similar  ;  namely,  a  house 

of  correction.     The  function  of  this  house  is  to  receive  youths 

of  bad  behavior,  in  accordance  with  the  desire  of  their  families  ;  to 


604  STATE  OF  PRISONS,  ETC.  [BOOK  vn. 

give  them  employment,  and  to  teach  them  reading,  writing,  and 
arithmetic  as  an  agency  to  prevent  them  from  entering  into  the 
path  of  evil.  At  present,  the  number  of  boys  who  have  entered 
the  institution  is  thirty,  and  eight  cents  are  levied  per  day  on 
those  by  whose  request  they  are  placed  there  to  cover  the  ex- 
pense of  their  clothing  and  food  ;  but  those  whose  families  are  un- 
able to  pay  such  assessment  are  supported  by  the  Government. 

Young  prisoners  guilty  of  criminal  offences,  under  eighteen 
years  of  age,  are  placed  in  a  separate  room,  and  their  education, 
necessary  to  reform  and  lead  them  into  the  path  of  virtue,  is  the 
same  as  that  of  the  boys  guilty  of  bad  behavior.  The  salutary 
effect  which  ought  to  come  out  .of  this  system  has  not  yet  been 
observable. 


ISoofe  (Btgfjtfj. 

MISCELLANEOUS   POINTS. 


PART   FIRST. 

IDEAL  SYSTEM  OF  INSTITUTIONS    FOR   THE  PREVENTION  AND 
REPRESSION   OF   CRIME. 

CHAPTER  I.  —  MINIMIZATION  OF  CRIME. 

THE  problem  in  hand  is  the  minimization  of  crime,  —  how  to 
bring  criminality  down  to  the  narrowest  limits.  This  prob- 
lem has  three  terms  :  i.  How  to  secure  a  suitable  education  to 
all  the  children  of  the  State.  2.  How  to  save  homeless,  destitute, 
neglected,  and  vicious  children  from  a  first  fall,  or,  if  they  have 
fallen,  to  lift  them  up  again  and  rescue  them  from  a  criminal  ca- 
reer. 3.  How  to  bring  adult  criminals  to  a  better  mind  and  a 
better  life  through  agencies  applied  to  them  during  their  impris- 
onment. 

When  these  three  questions  are  correctly  answered,  the  whole 
problem  of  the  prevention  and  repression  of  crime  will  have  been 
solved.  It  is  a  problem  that  may  well  engage  the  interest  and 
study  of  the  highest  statesmanship,  since  it  concerns  the  order 
and  safety  of  society,  and  the  lives  and  property  of  men.  As  it 
unfolds  itself  in  all  its  length  and'  breadth,  it  will  be  seen  to  be 
among  the  foremost  problems  of  the  day. 

The  two  master  forces  which  have  heretofore  opposed  and  still 
oppose  the  progress  of  prison  discipline  and  reform  in  our  coun- 
try are  political  influence  and  instability  of  administration,  which 
stand  to  each  other  in  the  relation  of  cause  and  effect.  In  a 
majority  of  States  the  prisons  form  a  part  of  the  political  machin- 
ery of  the  State.  The  interest  of  politicians  has  mainly  controlled 
their  management  ;  while  the  interest  of  the  people  and  that  of 
the  prisoners,  which  are  really  the  same,  have  been  practically 
ignored.  With  every  turn  of  the  political  wheel  there  is  a  clean 
sweep  of  the  officers  in  charge,  —  the  adherents  of  the  defeated 
party  marching  out  and  those  of  the  victorious  party  marching  in 


606  MISCELLANEOUS  POINTS.  [BOOK  vin. 

to  fill  their  places.  The  prison-systems  of  the  Old  World  are  not 
burdened  with  this  weight,  nor  impeded  by  this  obstruction  ;  nor 
is  there  any  thing  so  incomprehensible  to  gentlemen  connected 
with  prison  affairs  in  those  countries  as  this  state  of  things  among 
us.  Under  such  a  system,  —  that  is  to  say,  a  system  of  political 
appointments,  —  the  whole  theory  of  our  penal  and  penitentiary 
legislation  becomes  well  nigh  a  nullity ;  and  while  inspection  may 
correct  isolated  abuses  and  philanthropy  relieve  isolated  cases  of 
distress,  broad,  thorough,  systematic,  and  above  all  permanent 
reform  is  impossible.  To  such  reform  it  is  absolutely  essential 
that  political  control  be  eliminated  from  prison  administration, 
and  that  a  character  of  greater  stability  be  impressed  there- 
upon. 


CHAPTER  II. —  SUPREME  CENTRAL  AUTHORITY  NEEDED. — 
GRADATION  OF  INSTITUTIONS. 

AS  the  work  of  minimizing  crime,  whether  by  way  of  preven- 
tion or  repression,  is  one,  no  prison  system  can  be  perfect 
or  successful  to  the  most  desirable  extent  without  some  central 
and  supreme  authority  moderating,  guiding,  controlling,  unifying, 
and  vitalizing  the  whole.  Therefore,  the  board  of  prison  mana- 
gers suggested  in  the  preceding  chapter  should  be  invested  with 
the  general  oversight  and  control  of  all  places  of  detention, — 
jails,  State-prisons,  houses  of  correction,  detention  prisons,  police- 
stations,  reformatories,  preventive  institutions,  etc.,  except  such 
as  may  be  exempt  by  special  enactment. 

The  work  of  preventing  and  repressing  crime  should  be  organ- 
ized in  a  gradation  of  institutions,  extending,  so  to  speak,  from 
the  cradle  to  the  grave ;  namely,  the  common  school,  the  preven- 
tive institution  under  whatever  name  and  of  whatever  grade,  the 
reform  school,  the  police-station,  the  detention  prison,  the  prison 
for  young  criminals,  the  house  of  correction,  the  woman's  prison, 
and  the  State-prison. 

The  first-named  of  these  —  the  common  school  —  does  not 
properly  belong  to  the  present  work,  and  therefore  I  only  remark 
concerning  it,  that,  though  not  in  its  primary  intent  an  institution 
preventive  of  crime,  it  is  nevertheless  in  its  operation  and  effect 
eminently  so.  Ignorance  as  a  crime-cause,  proximate  if  not  ulti- 
mate, is  conspicuously  shown  in  the  statistics  collected  and  pub- 
lished by  the  late  International  Prison  Congress  of  London. 
Carefully  compiled  statistics  for  the  State  of  New  York  show 
that  one-third  of  the  crime  is  committed  by  one-fiftieth  of  the 
population :  in  other  words,  that  the  criminality  of  the  illiterate, 


PART  i.]  PREVENTIVE  INSTITUTIONS.  607 

as  compared  with  that  of  the  educated,  is  as  sixteen  to  one ;  so 
that  the  man  with  some  education,  including  of  course  the  moral 
as  well  as  the  intellectual  part  of  his  nature,  is  sixteen  times  less 
likely  to  be  convicted  of  crime  than  he  who  has  none.  Now  it  is 
the  interest  —  that  is,  the  duty  —  of  the  State  to  furnish  the 
needful  education  to  all  her  children.  This  is  a  duty  which  the 
State  owes  to  her  children,  to  herself,  and  to  posterity.  Charity, 
prudence,  statesmanship,  and  public  policy  all  demand  it.  But 
when  the  needful  education  has  been  provided,  not  all  the  chil- 
dren, nor  all  the  parents,  choose  to  avail  themselves  of  the  oppor- 
tunity thus  held  out.  The  question  arises,  What  is  to  be  done  in 
such  case  ?  The  answer  is,  Establish  compulsory  education, 
and  by*adequate  agencies  enforce  it.  It  is  better  to  force  edu- 
cation upon  the  people  than  to  force  them  into  prisons  to  pay 
the  penalty  of  crimes  of  which  the  neglect  of  education  has  been 
the  chief  cause. 


CHAPTER  III.  —  PREVENTIVE  INSTITUTIONS. 

IT  is  a  maxim,  trite  but  true,  that  the  prevention  of  evil  is 
easier  and  better  than  its  cure ;  and  in  nothing  is  this 
maxim  more  true  than  in  relation  to  crime.  To  destroy  the 
seeds  of  crime,  to  dry  up  its  sources,  to  kill  it  in  the  egg,  is  better 
than  repression, — better  even  than  reformation  of  the  criminal. 
But  after  all  that  the  best  organized  and  best  administered  sys- 
tem of  public  instruction  can  accomplish,  there  will  remain  a 
considerable  residuum  of  children  (it  cannot  be,  to-day,  in  the 
United  States,  less  than  half  a  million)  whom  these  systems  will 
not  reach.  Their  destitution,  their  vagrant  life,  their  depraved 
habits,  their  ragged  and  filthy  condition  forbid  their  reception 
into  the  ordinary  schools  of  the  people.  It  is  from  this  class  that 
the  ranks  of  crime  are  continually  recruited,  and  will  be  so  long 
as  it  is  permitted  to  exist.  They  are  born  to  crime,  brought  up 
for  it.  They  must  be  saved. 

But  how  is  this  to  be  done  ?  A  whole  series  of  preventive 
institutions  is  required  for  the  work,  —  the  infant  nursery,  the  in- 
fant or  kindergarten  school,  the  orphan  asylum,  homes  for  the 
destitute,  day  industrial  schools  in  which  food  and  instruction 
only  are  supplied,  industrial  boarding-schools  in  which  lodging 
and  clothing  are  added  to  these,  apprentice  schools,  and  patron- 
age societies  in  aid  of  apprentices.  Institutions  of  this  kind 
should  be  multiplied  tenfold.  Into  these  shelters  and  retreats 
should  these  unfortunate  children  be  gathered  to  receive  that 
mental,  moral,  religious,  and  industrial  training  not  otherwise 


608  MISCELLANEOUS  POINTS.  [BOOK  vm 

attainable  by  th.em,  and  thence  to  be  sent  out  in  due  time  to 
good  places,  on  farms  or  in  workshops,  where  they  will  grow  into 
virtuous  and  useful  citizens  ;  thus  adding  to,  instead  of  preying 
upon,  the  productive  industry  of  the  country. 

I  desire  to  emphasize  the  high  importance  which  attaches  to 
the  industrial  or  professional  training  of  the  classes  of  children 
referred  to  in  the  preceding  paragraph.  Among  the  most  fruit- 
ful of  crime-causes  is,  beyond  all  question,  the  lack  of  just  such 
technical  training, — in  other  words,  the  want  of  a  trade.  The 
creation  of  apprentice-schools  to  this  end  cannot  be  too  much 
encouraged.  They  ought  to  share  largely  in  the  attention  and 
bounty  of  the  legislature.  Legislators  cannot,  without  a  derelic- 
tion of  duty,  refuse  to  interest  themselves  in  the  trade-education 
of  the  children  of  the  poor,  whose  labor  must  be  their  sole  source 
of  support,  and  their  only,  or  at  least  their  chief,  defence  against 
crime.  If  it  is  the  duty  of  society  to  establish  the  primary  school, 
that  all  may  have  an  opportunity  to  learn  to  read  and  write,  is  it 
less  its  duty  to  see  that  at  least  all  destitute,  homeless,  and  neg- 
lected children  be  taught  some  trade  or  business  ?  If  it  is  just  to 
inscribe  among  the  obligatory  expenses  of  the  State  those  of  pri- 
mary instruction,  it  seems  no  less  just  to  place  there  the  cost  of 
trade-instruction,  where  it  is  necessary  to  secure  such  instruction 
to  the  unfortunate  child.  Apprentice-schools  should  therefore  be 
established  in  sufficient  numbers  to  insure  the  professional  edu- 
cation of  all  such  children  as  are  included  in  the  present  refer- 
ence. Charity  must  watch  over  all  such  children,  and  the  law 
must  furnish  it  the  means  of  accomplishing  its  work,  in  spite  of 
the  indifference  or  even  the  opposition  of  parents  and  of  all  other 
adverse  circumstances. 

The  question  arises  here,  whether  the  State  should  itself  fulfil 
this  task  by  centralizing  in  the  hands  of  its  official  agents  the 
aid  and  instruction  to  be  given  to  destitute  and  deserted  chil- 
dren ?  This  question  must  be  answered  in  the  negative ;  for 
something  more  than  money  is  wanted  in  a  work  of  this  kind  ; 
namely,  the  sympathy  of  loving  hearts  and  the  zeal  of  private 
charity,  whose  activity  the  State  only  needs,  by  moderate  sub- 
sidies, to  stimulate  and  encourage. 

This  last  is  the  plan  on  which  the  whole  vast  system  of  in- 
dustrial and  reformatory  schools  (some  two  hundred  in  all)  is 
organized  and  managed  in  Great  Britain,  —  organized  and  man- 
aged with  such  admirable  skill  and  efficiency,  that  there  has  been 
during  the  last  twenty  years  throughout  the  whole  of  England 
a  gradual  but  sensible  diminution  of  crime  ;  which  has  been  most 
apparent  in  Gloucester  county,  where  to-day  they  have  one  jail 
in  place  of  the  seven  with  which  the  county  was  supplied  thirty 
years  ago,  and  an  average  daily  aggregate  of  one  hundred  and 
seventy  prisoners  against  eight  hundred  and  seventy  at  the 


PART  I.]  PREVENTIVE  INSTITUTIONS.  609 

earlier  date.  The  sort  of  institution  now  under  consideration  is 
generally  in  England  the  outcome  of  private  benevolence.  In- 
dividual citizens  or  a  charitable  association  establish  the  school, 
and  have  it  examined  by  the  Government  inspector.  If  the 
requisite  conditions  have  been  complied  with,  the  school  is  "  cer- 
tified" by  the  administration,  which  thenceforth  pays  a  fixed 
sum  per  week  for  each  child,  —  the  land,  buildings,  furniture,  and 
all  other  needful  appointments  having  been  previously  provided 
by  private  charity.  In  other  words,  the  Government,  having  a 
grave  duty  to  perform  in  respect  to  certain  classes  of  children, 
makes  use  to  that  end  of  an  agency  by  which  it  can  do  its  work 
both  cheaper  and  better  than  it  could  accomplish  the  same  thing 
by  any  official  action  of  its  own ;  the  agency,  that  is  to  say,  of 
private  charity  and  zeal.  The  State  does  not  supervene  to  mod- 
ify or  direct  in  any  manner  or  degree  the  conduct  of  the  school, 
but  restricts  itself  to  such  inspection  and  supervision  as  may 
insure  compliance  with  the  conditions  on  which  its  grants  of 
money  are  made. 

To  sum  up  this  article  now,  we  affirm  that,  — 

1.  The  State  should  assume  the  control  of  all  young  persons 
under  the  age  of  fourteen,  who  are  without  proper  guardianship. 

2.  The  State  should  delegate  the  guardianship  of  all  such  chil- 
dren either  to  individuals  who  undertake  to  adopt  them  into  a 
family,  or  to  corporate  bodies  selected  by  the  citizens,  who  un- 
dertake the  charge  of  these  young  persons  in  home  institutions, 
known  as  industrial   schools,  asylums,  retreats,  homes  for  neg- 
lected children,  or  by  whatever  other  designation  they  may  be 
called. 

3.  The  State,  while  delegating  parental  authority  to  such  per- 
sons or  bodies,  will   lay  down  the  conditions  which  are  to  be 
fulfilled  by  them,  and  will  exercise  such  inspection  as  will  enable 
it  to  judge  whether  the  required  conditions  have  been  complied 
with. 

4.  These  conditions  having  been  fulfilled,  the  State  will  make 
such  allowance  for  each  child  as  may  be  agreed  upon  as  neces- 
sary. 

5.  All  industrial  schools,  by  whatever  name  called,  should  de- 
velop, so  far  as  possible,  the  conditions  of  a  home. 

6.  The  normal  place  of  education  for  such  children  is  the  fields. 
Let  such  institutions  then,  so  far  as  possible,  be  in  the  country, 
and  be  entirely  disconnected  from  institutions  for  the  treatment 
of  pauperism  and  crime.     Let  them  be  adapted  to  prepare  their 
inmates  to  be  respectable,  self-supporting  citizens  ;  and  let  differ- 
ent departments  be  arranged  for  girls  and  for  boys. 

7.  It  will  be  preferable  to  have  a  number  of  small  institutions, 
having  from  forty  to  sixty  inmates  each,  in  different  localities, 
instead  of  a  few  of  monster  proportions.     More  voluntary  effort, 

39 


6lO  MISCELLANEOUS  POINTS.  [BooK  vin. 

more  individual  interest,  more  sympathy  and  zeal  will  thus  be 
called  forth. 

8.  The  infant  schools  should  be  entirely  under  female  manage- 
ment, and  the  industrial  schools  for  boys  should  have  matrons. 
Ladies  as  well  as  gentlemen  should  be  on  the  boards  and  the 
executive  committees. 


CHAPTER  IV.  —  REFORMATORY  INSTITUTIONS. 

THE  juvenile  reformatory  is  intended,  not  like  the  preceding 
class  of  institutions  for  children  who  are  in  danger  of 
becoming  criminals,  but  for  those  who  have  actually  committed 
criminal  acts.  Nevertheless,  with  the  exception  that  the  persons 
committed  to  them  must  in  all  cases  be  held  night  and  day  till 
some  legal  disposition  has  been  made  of  them,  they  are  to  be 
organized  and  managed  on  substantially  the  same  principles  as 
industrial  schools.  There  are  three  methods  of  organizing  such 
institutions  ;  namely,  as  a  work  of  private  charity  exclusively,  as 
a  work  done  by  State  agency  exclusively,  and  as  a  work  in  which 
private  initiative  and  management  are  combined  with  State  aid 
and  supervision. 

The  first  was  the  form  universally  adopted  at  the  beginning  of 
such  efforts,  and  is  extensively  practised  to-day  on  the  continent 
of  Europe.  The  second  is  the  prevalent  form  in  the  United 
States.  The  third  is  the  form  adopted  and  practised  in  England 
with  absolute  uniformity,  or  with  exceptions  so  rare  (two  only  in 
the  whole  kingdom)  as  to  be  of  no  practical  account.  We  have 
one  example  of  this  form  of  organization  in  the  United  States,  — 
the  Girls'  Reform  School  at  Middletown,  Connecticut,  whose 
condition  and  success  afford  to  the  authorities  in  charge  unquali- 
fied satisfaction.  Preference  should  be  given  to  such  institutions 
over  purely  State  schools  for  these  among  other  reasons  :  — 

1.  This  principle  places  the  control  of  the  institution  in  the 
hands  of  its  tried  and  best  friends. 

2.  It  shuts  the  door  against  all  outside  interference  in  the 
management,  except  in  cases  of  manifest  abuse. 

3.  It  gives  greater  intensity  and  power  to  religious  influences. 

4.  Such  institutions  will,  in  the  end,  be  more   certainly  and 
liberally  provided  with  the   means    of   sustenance   and   growth, 
since  they  will  enlist  a  wider  circle  of  friends  ;   legacies  will  be 
left  to  them ;   individuals  will  erect   memorial   homes ;   and  as- 
sociations and  families  will  send  their  yearly  contributions  for 
festivals,  libraries,  and  prizes. 

5.  Political  influence  will  be  little  felt,  and  the  needful  freedom 
from  change  in  the  administration  will  be  secured. 


PARTI.]  REFORMATORY  INSTITUTIONS,  6ll 

6.  The  union  of  public  and  private  action  offers  strong  in- 
ducements for  the  multiplication  of  such  schools.  Let  it  once 
be  known  that  it  is  the  policy  of  the  State  to  encourage  private 
gifts  by  a  pledged  stipend  sufficient  to  support,  wholly  or  in  part, 
any  well-managed  reform  school,  and  benevolent  individuals,  re- 
ligious bodies,  charitable  associations,  and  municipal  corporations 
will  be  willing  to  incur  the  first  cost  wherever  a  real  want  exists 
for  such  an  institution. 

If  private  bounty  is  willing  to  shelter  and  clothe  these  incipient 
criminals,  shall  not  the  State  aid  in  their  reclamation,  by  supply- 
ing the  means  to  feed  and  educate  them  ?  We  answer  by  an 
emphatic  Yes !  and  take  the  ground  that  where  the  want  of  pa- 
rental guardianship  is  supplied  by  private  benevolence  the  State 
should  do  her  part  in  the  work  of  reformation,  by  making  a  mod- 
erate per  capita  allowance  to  reform  schools  or  houses  of  refuge 
established  by  private  and  philanthropic  enterprise.  Such  is  the 
plan  adopted  in  England,  where  the  Government  interferes  as 
little  as  possible  with  the  ordinary  superintendence,  prescribing 
certain  general  regulations,  but  leaving  the  appointment  of  the 
officers  and  the  details  of  the  management  to  the  local  boards  or 
committees.  The  State  may  be  said  to  contract,  on  certain  terms, 
with  the  several  institutions  for  the  work  which  it  wants  done ; 
and  so  long  as  the  work  is  fairly  performed  the  State  exercises 
no  further  interference  than  to  satisfy  itself  of  the  fact. 


CHAPTER  V.  —  THE  LOCK-UP. — THE  COUNTY  JAIL. 

WE  come  now  to  the  treatment  of  adult  criminality.     Here 
the  first  institution  of  the  series  is  the  lock-up,  which  has 
been  sufficiently  considered  in  Book  n.  Part  i,  chapter  xvii.,  to 
which  the  reader  is  referred. 

The  whole  system  of  county  jails  in  the  United  States  is  a  dis- 
grace to  our  civilization.  It  is  hopelessly,  irremediably  bad,  and 
must  so  remain  as  long  as  it  exists  under  its  present  form.  It 
needs,  not  improvement,  but  revolution  ;  not  modification,  but 
reconstruction.  De  Tocqueville,  half  a  century  ago,  pronounced 
our  county  jails  "  the  worst  prisons  he  had  ever  seen,"  and  there  has 
been  little  marked  improvement  since.  The  system  is  wasteful 
of  time,  wasteful  of  opportunity,  wasteful  of  money  ;  and  it  does 
riot  reform.  The  moral  atmosphere  of  these  prisons  is  foul ;  no 
fouler  exists  anywhere.  It  is  loaded  with  contagion.  The  con- 
tact of  their  inmates  is  close,  their  intercourse  unrestricted,  their 
talk  abominable.  The  effect  of  such  promiscuous  association  is 


6 12  MISCELLANEOUS  POINTS.  [BOOK  vm. 

to  increase  the  number  of  criminals,  and  to  develop  and  intensify 
their  criminality.  The  lessons  taught  are  contempt  for  authority, 
human  and  divine ;  hostility  to  law  and  its  officers  ;  the  delights  of 
vicious  indulgence  ;  the  duty  of  revenge  upon  society  for  imagin- 
ary wrongs  ;  the  necessity  of  craft,  of  daring,  of  violence  if  need 
be,  in  the  commission  of  criminal  acts,  and  of  sullen  submission  to 
punishment  if  caught ;  the  hopelessness  of  all  efforts  at  amend- 
ment ;  and  the  best  methods  of  success  in  criminal  undertakings. 
Thus  this  country  has  in  its  county  jails  about  two  thousand 
schools  of  vice,  all  supplied  with  expert  and  zealous  professors. 
The  condemnation  of  the  system  may  be  pronounced  in  a  single 
sentence,  —  it  is  an  absurd  attempt  to  cure  crime,  the  offspring  of 
idleness,  by  making  idleness  compulsory  ;  and  to  teach  virtue,  the 
fruit  of  careful  and  painstaking  moral  culture,  by  enforced  asso- 
ciation with  those  who  scoff  at  virtue,  duty,  and  religion. 

But  the  essential  point  is  the  remedy  for  a  state  of  things  at 
once  so  disgraceful  and  so  pernicious.  It  may  be  said,  and  it  might 
better  be  curtly  and  plainly  said,  that  there  is  no  remedy  so  long  as 
the  State  ignores  and  evades  its  responsibility  for  the  treatment 
of  all  offenders  against  State  laws  ;  for  the  counties  —  owing, 
on  the  one  side,  to  the  smallness  and  sparseness  of  their  popula- 
tions, and  on  the  other  to  their  limited  resources  - —  are  incompe- 
tent to  discharge  this  function.  This  fact  explains  the  reason  for 
a  remark  already  made,  that  our  county-jail  system  cannot  be 
improved,  but  must  be  reconstructed,  revolutionized.  The  State 
has  assigned  to  the  counties  a  task  impossible  of  execution  by 
them  ;  it  must  put  its  own  shoulder  to  the  wheel.  The  very 
first  step  towards  a  reform  of  the  system  must  be  the  assumption 
by  the  State  of  the  custody  and  control  of  the  entire  body  of  con- 
victs, of  whatever  grade,  —  misdemeanants  as  well  as  felons.  The 
county  prison  proper  should  be  a  simple  house  of  detention  for 
the  safe  custody  of  prisoners  awaiting  examination  or  trial,  or  of 
prisoners  in  transitu  after  conviction  ;  though  there  might,  per- 
haps, be  superadded  the  function  of  punishment,  so  far  as  to  give 
for  a  first  offence  a  short,  sharp  notice  against  the  commission  of 
criminal  acts.  Cellular  separation  is  the  only  regime  proper  to 
prisons  of  this  sort,  and  that  as  regards  both  classes  of  prisoners 
just  named  :  the  latter,  because  a  first  punishment  ought  to  be 
strongly  deterrent,  a  real  intimidation  ;  the  former,  because  per- 
sons merely  suspected  of  crime  and  not  yet  proved  to  be  crimi- 
nals have  a  right  to  be  protected  against  contamination ;  and  if 
they  are  really  guilty,  others  have  a  right  to  be  shielded  from  their 
corrupting  influence. 


PART  i.]        BASES  OF  REFORMATORY  PRISON  DISCIPLINE.         613 


CHAPTER  VI.  —  BASES  OF  A  REFORMATORY  PRISON 
DISCIPLINE. 

PRISONS  for  punishment,  as  well  as  their  inmates,  should 
be  classified,  or  graded  ;  so  that  there  shall  be  prisons  for 
young  criminals,  prisons  for  men  guilty  of  minor  offences,  prisons 
for  women,  and  prisons  for  men  guilty  of  the  higher  crimes.  But 
before  proceeding  to  a  detail  of  the  principles  and  methods  on 
which  these  institutions  should  be  severally  organized  and  man- 
aged, it  will  be  proper  to  offer  a  general  idea  of  the  bases  on 
which  a  prison  system  should  be  constructed,  and  the  agencies  by 
which  it  should  be  worked,  as  repetition  will  thereby  be  avoided, 
and  the  whole  subject  be  presented  in  a  clearer  and  more  satis- 
factory light. 

The  protection  of  society  by  the  prevention  and  repression  of 
crime  is  the  supreme  object  of  all  child-saving  as  of  all  penal  insti- 
tutions ;  but  inasmuch  as  society  is  best  protected  by  the  reforma- 
tion of  its  culprits,  this  is  declared  in  the  penal  codes  of  most,  if 
not  all  of  our  States,  to  be  a  primary  end  of  public  punishment 
and  prison  discipline.  Whether  criminals  are  susceptible  to 
reformatory  influences  and  may  be  lifted  out  of  the  abyss  into 
which  they  have  fallen  is  no  longer  an  open  question.  Experi- 
ence has  demonstrated  the  fact,  and  all  authority  worthy  of  the 
name  utters  its  voice  to  the  same  effect. 

Now  what  are  the  essential  bases  of  a  reformatory  prison  dis- 
cipline ? 

Such  a  system  must  work  with  nature,  not  against  it ;  and  this 
is  its  first  essential  basis.  The  Creator  has  impressed  indelibly 
upon  the  human  soul  certain  great  principles.  Of  these  the 
most  deeply-rooted,  the  most  active,  the  most  potent,  and  the 
most  beneficent  are  hope  and  sociability.  .  We  must  not  crush 
out  of  the  man  by  our  modes  of  prison  discipline  these  primal  and 
essential  elements  of  humanity,  but  rather  seek  to  guide,  control, 
and  mould  them  to  our  purpose. 

Hope  is  the  master-spring  of  human  action.  Without  it  even 
the  good  can  scarcely  retain  their  goodness  ;  without  it  the  bad 
cannot  possibly  regain  their  virtue.  It  must  be  implanted  in  the 
breast  of  the  prisoner  the  first  hour  of  his  incarceration,  and  kept 
there  as  an  ever-present  and  living  force.  Hope  is  the  great 
inspiration  to  exertion  in  free  life.  Why  should  it  not  be  made 
to  fulfil  the  same  benign  office  in  prison  life  ?  Can  any  thing 
else  supply  its  place?  Hope  is  just  as  truly,  just  as  vitally,  just 
as  essentially  at  the  root  of  all  right  prison  discipline,  as  it  is 
of  all  vigorous  and  successful  effort  in  free  life.  Undoubtedly, 
the  first  stage  in  a  criminal's  imprisonment  ought  to  be  made  in- 


6 14  MISCELLANEOUS  POINTS.  [BooK  vm. 

tensely  penal ;  it  should  be  such  as  to  produce  in  him  a  profound 
impression  that  "  the  way  of  the  transgressor  is  hard."  Cellular 
separation  is  the  mode  of  imprisonment  best  adapted  to  this 
stage;  but  even  amid  the  stern  discipline  of  isolation,  justice  must 
be  tempered  with  mercy,  and  hope  made  to  shed  its  cheering  and 
invigorating  light  on  the  prisoner.  Amid  these  rigors  it  should 
be  impressed  and  re-impressed  upon  him  that  his  destiny  is  placed 
to  a  great  extent  in  his  own  hands  ;  and  this  assurance  he  should 
find  on  emerging  from  his  solitary  cell  to  be  not  an  illusion  but  a 
reality.  Manifold  inducements  to  industry,  lesson-learning,  and 
obedience  should  be  held  out  in  this  second  stage  of  his  impris- 
onment, —  shortening  of  sentence,  increased  percentage  of  earn- 
ings, improved  dress  and  dietary,  a  gradual  lifting  of  restraint, 
a  gradual  enlargement  of  privilege,  etc.,  with  the  intermediate 
stage  of  moral  imprisonment,  almost  indeed  of  absolute  liberty, 
looming  up  before  him.  Thus  would  the  bracing  stimulus  of 
hope  be  kept  ever  active,  and  the  prisoner  would  be  encouraged 
and  quickened  in  a  course  of  vigorous  self-restraint,  self-conquest, 
and  self-culture. 

Sociability  is  the  second  of  the  principles  named.  It  is  among 
the  strongest  instincts  of  humanity.  It  constitutes  one  of  the 
vital  forces  of  society,  a  main-spring  of  its  progress  in  civilization. 
Why  may  it  not  under  proper  regulation  be  made  equally  bene- 
ficial to  prisoners?  It  was  Maconochie,  the  most  profound  of 
thinkers,  the  most  philosophical  of  writers  on  penal  subjects,  who 
said :  "  Man  is  a  social  being ;  his  duties  are  social  ;  and  only 
in  society  can  he  be  adequately  trained  for  society."  .  Thus 
only,  it  would  seem,  can  a  suitable  field  be  provided  for  the 
voluntary  cultivation  of  active  social  virtues  and  the  voluntary 
restraint  of  active  social  vices.  To  prepare  men  for  society  in 
society  appears  to  be  just  as  necessary  as  to  prepare  them  to  be 
seamen  on  the  sea  or  engineers  in  the  woods  and  fields.  Moral 
lessons,  like  navigation  and  engineering,  require  a  field  of  pro- 
gressive experimental  application.  Books,  counsels,  exhortations, 
are  not  enough.  There  must  be  friction,  the  contact  with  temp- 
tation, and  the  toning  up  and  hardening  of  the  character,  which 
result  from  the  habitual  and  successful  resistance  of  temptation. 
It  is  objected  that  the  intercourse  of  prisoners  is  corrupting. 
Not  necessarily  so.  The  nature  and  conditions  of  that  inter- 
course must  be  considered.  Promiscuous,  unchecked  intercourse 
of  prisoners  is  demoralizing  to  the  last  degree.  But  this  cor- 
rupting power  of  association  may  be  counteracted  ;  nay,  such 
association  may  be  converted  into  a  means  of  moral  amendment 
by  being  subjected  to  virtuous  direction  and  counsel. 

The  social  relations  and  sentiments  as  noticed  above  are  the 
main-springs  of  human  improvement.  It  is  by  them  that  the 
heart  is  stirred.  It  is  by  them  that  warmth  and  energy  are  im- 


PART  i.]       BASES  OF  REFORMATORY  PRISON  DISCIPLINE.         615 

parted  to  the  character.  Man  droops  and  pines  in  solitude,  whether 
that  solitude  be  created  by  a  physical  or  a  moral  separation,  —  by 
walls  of  granite  or  a  wall  of  absolute  and  continual  silence.  No 
sound  excites  like  that  of  the  voice  of  his  fellow-man.  This  im- 
parts strength  to  dare,  to  do,  and  to  suffer.  Upon  the  whole, 
then,  the  conclusion  is  that  the  best  system  of  prison  treatment 
is  not  one  which  thwarts  Nature,  but  one  that  employs  her  as  an 
auxiliary. 

The  second  essential  basis  of  a  reformatory  prison  discipline  is 
a  union  of  wills  between  the  prison  keeper  and  the  prison  inmate. 
It  is  indispensable  that  the  will  of  the  convict  be  gained.  He  is 
to  be  amended  ;  but  how  is  such  a  thing  possible  with  his  mind  in 
a  state  of  hostility  ?  No  system  therefore  can  succeed  in  reform- 
ing the  criminal  which  does  not  secure  a  harmony  of  wills  be- 
tween officers  and  prisoners,  so  that  the  prisoner  shall  choose 
for  himself  what  his  officer  chooses  for  him.  But  such  a  result 
can  never  be  attained  except  where  the  officer  really  chooses,  and 
wisely  and  steadily  pursues  the  good  of  the  convict.  There  must 
be,  not  on  the  lip  but  in  the  heart,  a  benevolent  consideration  of 
the  convict's  best  interest.  Nor  is  this  at  all  inconsistent  with  the 
conscientious  discharge  by  the  officer  of  his  duties  to  society, 
since  in  effect  society's  and  the  convict's  interests  instead  of 
being  antagonistic  are  identical.  The  prison  may  be  made  an 
effective  school  of  reform  without  in  the  least  impairing  its  dis- 
cipline ;  for  the  conviction  has  a  solid  basis  to  rest  upon,  that 
society  is  best  served  by  saving,  not  sacrificing,  its  criminal 
members. 

A  third  essential  basis  of  a  reformatory  prison  discipline  is  a  • 
system  of  reliable  tests,  which  may  serve  as  a  guarantee  to  em- 
ployers of  the  reality  of  the  reformation  claimed  for  the  liberated 
prisoner.  The  problem  is  how  to  effect  the  reabsorption  of  re- 
formed criminals  into  virtuous  society.  Such  reabsorption  is 
an  indispensable  condition  of  the  permanence  of  even  genuine 
reformation.  An  army  of  convicts  is  every  year  discharged  from 
prison.  Society  distrusts  and  refuses  to  employ  them.  How  can 
that  distrust  be  overcome  ? 

There  are  just  two  elements  in  the  solution  of  this  problem,  — 
the  bonafide  reformation  of  the  convict  and  a  bonafide  guarantee 
of  his  reformation  that  shall  satisfy  the  public.  His  reformation 
is  to  be  effected  by  processes  to  be  applied  to  him  during  his  im- 
prisonment. But  the  guarantee,  —  how  is  that  to  be  had  ?  How 
is  his  moral  cure  to  be  tested  ?  —  for  a  test  there  must  be.  Such 
test  is  indispensable  to  any  general  readiness  on  the  part  of  the 
public  to  take  him  into  its  employ.  He  leaves  the  prison  reformed, 
but  he  fails  to  get  work.  Why  ?  Society  has  no  confidence  in 
him  ;  and,  what  is  more  to  the  purpose,  it  has  no  guarantee  for  its 
confidence.  It  is  this  want  of  confidence  that  builds  a  wall  of 


6l6  MISCELLANEOUS  POINTS.  [BooK  vin. 

granite  between  the  released  prisoner  and  honest  bread.  Conquer 
the  distrust  of  society,  replace  it  with  confidence,  furnish  the  re- 
quired guarantee  that  the  man  is  trustworthy,  and  all  difficulty 
will  vanish  ;  every  workshop,  factory,  and  farm,  all  the  avenues 
of  honest  toil  and  profit  will  be  open  to  his  entrance. 

But  the  question  is,  How  overcome  the  dread  of  him  felt  by 
society,  how  quiet  its  fears,  how  conciliate  its  favor  ?  There 
is  but  one  road  to  this  result :  the  convict  must  furnish  proof 
during  his  imprisonment  that  it  is  safe  to  trust  him  ;  his  cure 
must  be  tested  and  shown.  Now  this  cannot  be  done  where 
the  system  is  one  of  material  isolation  to  the  end  ;  nor  can  it 
any  more  be  effected  where  the  system  is  one  of  moral  iso- 
lation to  the  end :  there  must  be  some  field,  some  opportu- 
nity for  the  trial.  But  such  a  theatre  can  be  afforded  neither 
by  the  cellular  system  nor  the  associated  silent  system  as  now 
conducted.  Both  must  be  in  part  retained,  in  part  discarded, 
in  part  modified.  They  must  be  so  modified  that  the  passage 
from  imprisonment  to  freedom  shall  no  longer  be  by  a  single 
bound,  but  in  such  manner  that  the  former  shall  gradually,  al- 
most imperceptibly,  melt  into  the  latter.  The  system  must  be 
such  that  the  last  part  of  the  imprisonment  shall  be  little  more 
than  moral ;  in  which,  so  far  as  may  be,  all  the  arrangements 
shall  be  those  of  ordinary  life,  with  its  trusts,  its  temptations,  its 
motives,  its  responsibilities,  its  victories  over  self  and  sin,  and  its 
silent  strengthening  of  the  whole  character  by  the  friction  to 
which  the  man  is  subjected. 

The  three  propositions  in  which  we  have  stated  the  essential 
•  bases  of  a  reformatory  prison  discipline  seem  self-evident  truths, 
moral  axioms,  as  indisputable  as  the  axioms  of  geometry,  since 
a  perverted  nature  can  never  be  righted  through  a  contravention 
of  Nature's  laws  ;  since  a  man  who  has  fallen  away  from  virtue 
can  never  be  restored  to  it  against  his  will  ;  and  since  society  will 
not,  as  a  general  rule,  employ  men  who  have  shown  themselves 
untrustworthy  till  they  have  given  evidence  of  such  a  change  of 
character  as  again  to  render  them  trustworthy. 


CHAPTER  VII.  —  AGENCIES  TO  BE  USED  IN  REFORMING 
CRIMINALS. 


first  is  a  hearty  desire  and  intention  on  the  part  of  the 
-*•     prison  officers  to  accomplish  this  result.     Such  desire  and 
purpose,  really  entertained  and  acted  upon  by  all  these  officials, 
would   revolutionize   prison  management  ;    it  would  change  the 


PART  i.]  AGENCIES  IN  REFORMING  CRIMINALS.  6l/ 

whole  spirit  and  tone  of  prison  administration.  This  accom- 
plished, the  fit  processes  will  follow  as  a  matter  of  course.  It  is 
not  so  much  any  specific  apparatus  that  is  wanted,  as  it  is  the  in- 
troduction of  a  really  benevolent  spirit  and  of  common-sense  into 
our  prison  work.  Once  let  prison  officers  understand  and  feel 
that  their  business  is  to  reform  and  not  merely  to  punish  their 
prisoners,  and  let  their  desire  and  purpose  be  conformed  to  such 
conviction,  and  they  will  speedily  become  inventive  of  the  meth- 
ods conducive  to  that  end.  Right  processes  will  follow  right 
principles  as  naturally  as  the  harvest  follows  the  sowing. 

Equally  essential  is  a  seribus  conviction  on  the  part  of  prison 
officers  that  prisoners  are  capable  o£  being  reformed.  This  belief 
is  indispensable  to  success,  for  no  man  can  heartily  maintain  a 
discipline  at  war  with  his  inward  beliefs.  No  man  can  earnestly 
strive  to  accomplish  what  in  his  heart  he  despairs  of  accomplish- 
ing. Doubt  is  an  element  of  failure  ;  belief  a  guarantee  of  suc- 
cess. Nothing  so  weakens  moral  forces  as  unbelief ;  nothing  so 
strengthens  them  as  faith.  "  Be  it  unto  thee  according  to  thy 
faith  "  is  not  a  mere  dictum  in  theology  ;  it  is  equally  the  state- 
ment of  a  fundamental  principle  of  success  in  all  human  under- 
takings, especially  when  our  work  lies  within  the  realm  of  mind 
and  morals. 

Greater  use  than  heretofore  should  be  made  of  moral  forces, 
and  less  of  those  which  are  merely  physical.  By  physical  forces 
is  to  be  understood  whatever  is  intended  to  coerce  ;  by  moral 
forces,  whatever  offers  a  choice,  and  thus  strengthens  the  will 
while  guiding  it.  The  essential  distinction  is  that  between  force 
and  persuasion,  —  between  fettering  the  body  and  gaining  the 
soul.  There  needs  to  be  introduced  into  prison  discipline  a  higher 
aim,  —  a  treatment  which  seeks  to  gain  the  will  and  not  merely 
to  coerce  the  body.  What  is  wanted  is  that  prisoners  be  trained 
to  become  honest  and  industrious  freemen,  and  not  merely  that 
they  be  reduced  for  a  time  to  the  condition  of  well-ordered  and 
obedient  bondmen.  All  past  systems  of  prison  discipline  have 
been  in  the  main  but  modifications  of  force.  Authority  has 
been  their  chief,  too  often  their  exclusive,  reliance.  The  result, 
so  far  as  reforming  criminals  is  concerned,  has  been  failure. 
Let  organized  persuasion  now  have  a  trial  ;  not  coaxing,  not 
pampering,  not  indulgence,  not  a  dilletante  system  of  treatment 
which  is  as  false  as  it  is  feeble,  but  persuasion,  with  such  forces 
behind  it  resulting  from  a  judicious  application  of  motives  as, 
while  leaving  the  will  free,  will  yet  by  a  sort  of  moral  necessity 
determine  it  to  a  right  choice. 

Let  us  briefly  indicate  two  or  three  of  those  moral  forces  whose 
use  would  be  likely  to  be  attended  with  good  results,  (i)  The 
ability  of  the  prisoner  to  better  his  condition  while  in  prison 
through  his  own  exertions  —  in  other  words,  a  regulated  self- 


6l8  MISCELLANEOUS  POINTS.  [BOOK  VIII. 

interest  —  is  one  of  the  mightiest  as  well  as  healthiest  of  these 
forces.  This  can  be  effected  only  by  a  system  of  progressive 
classification,  whereby  the  prisoner  will  be  enabled  during  his 
incarceration,  through  industry  and  good  conduct,  to  raise  himself 
step  by  step  to  positions  of  increased  freedom,  privilege,  and 
comfort ;  while  idleness  and  disobedience  on  the  other  hand  keep 
him  in  a  state  of  coercion  and  restraint.  (2)  The  cultivation  of 
the  prisoner's  self-respect  develops  a  moral  force  of  great  potency. 
Self-respect  is  one  of  the  most  powerful  sentiments  of  the  human 
soul,  for  the  reason  that  it  is  the  most  intensely  personal.  Hence 
the  maxim,  "  Do  not  further  degrade  in  prison  the  man  who  has 
come  to  it  already  degraded  by  his  crimes,"  should  be  constantly 
and  carefully  applied  in  prison  treatment.  Therefore  cast  aside 
the  parti-colored  dress,  the  lock-step,  the  exhibition  of  the  pris- 
oner for  a  fee,  and  call  him  by  his  own  name  instead  of  a  number, 
which  robs  him  of  his  personality  and  reduces  him  to  an  abstrac- 
tion. No  prison  administrator  will  ever  beneficially  influence  his 
wards,  who  does  not  seek  to  strengthen  in  them  this  sentiment 
of  manhood  and  personal  dignity.  (3)  "  The  law  of  love  and  love 
in  law  "  —  in  other  words,  kindness  duly  regulated  —  is  a  moral 
force  of  almost  unlimited  power.  But  the  kindness  suggested  is 
not  that  which  seeks  merely  or  mainly  to  alleviate  present  suffer- 
ing. It  is  rather  a  prudent,  forecasting  kindness,  which  seeks  to 
lift  the  prisoner  up,  to  strengthen  his  manly  qualities,  and  to  pre- 
pare him  for  the  battle  of  life.  This  spirit,  once  introduced  into 
our  prison  management  and  possessing  itself  of  the  hearts  of  our 
prison  officers,  would  prove  both  inventive  and  creative  in  their 
hands.  It  would  find  or  make  means  to  accomplish  the  reform 
of  the  prisoners,  and  when  one  agency  proved  abortive,  it  would 
have  recourse  to  others ;  it  would  not  be  wholly  balked.  A 
liberal  application  of  "  the  law  of  love  and  love  in  law  "  to  prison- 
ers is  not  incompatible  with  a  calm,  steady,  resolute  discipline. 
Tenderness  may  be  fitly  and  fruitfully  blended  with  justice.  It 
is  not  against  the  rigors  of  justice  that  the  prisoner  rebels,  but 
rather  against  capricious  harshness,  which  vexes  and  irritates  for 
the  very  reason  that  it  lacks  the  element  of  justice.  Criminals 
are  not  much  accustomed  to  kindness,  and  therefore  they  are 
the  more  touched  by  it.  Show  them  that  you  have  a  genuine 
sympathy,  a  kindness  that  has  its  seat  in  the  heart,  and  their 
sensibility  is  instantly  awakened.  There  lies  a  regenerative  and 
redemptive  power  just  here,  which  no  degradation  can  crush  and 
no  depravity  obliterate. 

Individualization  is  a  fourth  essential  agency  in  a  reformatory 
prison  discipline.  To  insure  the  highest  improvement  of  prison- 
ers they  must  be,  like  children  of  the  same  household,  to  a  cer- 
tain extent  treated  individually.  Though  all  must  be  placed 
under  the  same  general  law,  the  conduct  of  each  as  directed  by 


PART  i.]  AGENCIES  IN  REFORMING  CRIMINALS.  619 

it  should  be  specially  noted,  and  his  treatment  modified,  so  far  as 
may  be,  according  to  his  own  individuality.  Each  prisoner  should 
be  informed  from  time  to  time  (and  the  intervals  ought  not  to 
be  too  long)  of  the  light  in  which  his  conduct  is  viewed  by  those 
placed  over  him  ;  for  thus  only,  as  his  good  purposes  strengthen, 
will  he  be  enabled  to  correct  that  wherein  he  may  be  noted  as 
deficient.  To  facilitate  the  study  of  individual  character,  prisons 
should  not  be  too  large.  In  my  opinion  four  hundred  is  the  max- 
imum for  effective  treatment,  and  a  less  number  would  be  better. 
The  warden  should  be  able  to  know,  and  should  know,  person- 
ally each  individual  under  his  care. 

Indefinite  sentences — that  is,  sentences  not  to  run  for  a  fixed 
time,  but  till  reformation  —  would,  in  my  judgment,  prove  an  effec- 
tive agency  in  the  reform  of  prisoners.  This  proposition  may 
have  a  rather  startling  sound  to  some  minds ;  but  reflection,  I 
think,  will  modify  any  unfavorable  first  impression.  The  princi- 
ple as  here  stated  was  first  announced  by  Mr.  Frederic  Hill,  in 
one  of  his  reports  as  government  inspector  of  prisons  for  Scot- 
land. Maconochie's  idea  was  substantially  the  same,  but  formu- 
lated in  a  different  manner.  He  did  not  propose  the  imposition 
of  a  sentence  indefinite  in  form,  but  only  in  operation  and  effect. 
His  sentence  took  the  shape  of  marks  —  so  many  hundred  or  so 
many  thousand  good  marks  —  to  be  earned  by  industry,  study, 
and  general  good  conduct,  as  the  sole  condition  of  release.  The 
effect  of  such  a  sentence  would  be,  of  course,  to  destroy  fixity  as 
an  element  in  its  duration,  and  to  render  it  as  indefinite  in  fact 
as  if  it  had  been  made  so  in  form.  In  like  manner  Archbishop 
Whately  recommended,  that,  instead  of  a  certain  period  of  time, 
the  convict  should  be  sentenced  to  a  certain  amount  of  work, 
which  also  introduced  an  element  of  indeterminateness  into  the 
duration  of  the  sentence,  though  far  less  than  either  of  the  other 
propositions  cited.  The  question  is,  Is  the  principle  of  indefinite 
or  reformation  sentences  fair  and  just?  The  question  of  its  prac- 
ticability is  put  aside  for  the  moment,  and  we  are  to  consider 
simply  the  justice  and  policy  of  the  principle,  assuming  it,  for  ar- 
gument's sake,  to  be  practicable.  Now,  what  end  do  we  propose 
in  public  punishment  ?  —  The  diminution  of  crime.  But  this  is  to 
be  sought  mainly  in  the  reformation  of  the  criminal.  It  is  there- 
fore a  legitimate,  not  to  say  necessary,  exercise  of  human  author- 
ity to  detain  him  till  that  effect  is  accomplished.  Dr.  Despine 
of  France,  one  of  the  deepest  thinkers  on  penal  and  penitentiary 
science,  goes  so  far  as  to  say  that  the  use  of  this  principle  will 
become  a  necessity,  whenever  a  really  reformatory  system  of 
prison  discipline  comes  to  be  generally  introduced  and  pursued 
in  sober  earnest.  Again,  a  criminal  is  a  man  who  has  com- 
mitted an  offence  and  deserves  punishment.  But  he  is  also  a 
man  morally  diseased  and  needs  a  cure.  The  prison  is  intended 


62O  MISCELLANEOUS  POINTS.  [BooK  vin. 

to  effect  both  these  ends,  —  the  punishment  and  the  cure  ;  nay, 
to  effect  the  cure  by  means  of  the  punishment.  Now,  as  it  is 
clearly  impossible  to  predict  the  date  of  a  sick  man's  restoration 
to  bodily  health,  so  it  is  no  less  impossible  to  foretell  the  day 
when  a  moral  patient  will  be  restored  to  moral  soundness.  So  that 
by  fixing  the  duration  of  the  sentence  in  this  latter  case  we  run 
a  double  risk ;  namely,  on  the  one  hand  of  turning  the  criminal 
loose  on  society  before  he  is  cured,  and  on  the  other  of  detain- 
ing him  after  he  is  cured  ;  so  that  by  making  his  release  depend 
on  the  mere  lapse  of  time  we  are  almost  sure  of  committing  a 
wrong  on  one  side  or  the  other,  —  a  wrong  to  society,  or  a  wrong 
to  the  prisoner.  Still  again,  the  protection  of  society  is  at  once 
the  end  and  the  justification  of  imprisonment.  But  society  is 
not  protected  by  the  criminal's  imprisonment  unless  he  is  re- 
formed by  it.  There  is  the  same  reason  therefore  for  keeping 
as  for  putting  him  in  prison,  until  there  is  a  moral  certainty  that, 
if  set  at  liberty,  he  will  not  go  out  to  prey  upon  honest  people 
and  despoil  them  of  their  property.  In  such  a  case,  the  end  for 
which  he  was  imprisoned  (the  protection  of  society)  fails  utterly , 
the  State  is  cheated  of  its  due  benefit,  and  receives  absolutely 
nothing  for  all  the  trouble  and  expense  it  has  incurred  in  his 
apprehension,  trial,  conviction,  and  incarceration.  Once  more, 
experience  has  shown  that  it  is  impossible  to  adjust  penalties  to 
degrees  of  guilt,  and  that  standards  of  punishment  are  more  easy 
to  imagine  than  to  realize.  In  what  principle,  then,  can  we  find 
relief  but  in  that  of  reformation  or  cure  ?  But  since  a  cure  can- 
not in  any  case  be  predicted  with  absolute  certainty,  and  since 
if  it  could  the  time  required  for  its  accomplishment  cannot  be 
measured  in  advance,  no  alternative  seems  left  except  that  of 
sentences  undefined,  in  extent.  We  do  not  set  the  madman  free 
till  he  is  cured  of  his  madness  ;  neither  can  we  safely,  nor  even 
justly,  set  the  criminal  free  till  he  is  cured  of  his  proclivity  to 
crime.  As  the  safety  of  society  and  the  good  of  the  lunatic 
require  that  his  confinement  should  be  regulated  upon  this  prin- 
ciple, so  equally  do  the  safety  of  society  and  the  good  of  the 
criminal  require  that  his  detention  should  be  adjusted  upon  the 
same  principle.  Indeed,  the  justness  of  the  principle  must,  it 
would  seem,  strike  every  mind  the  moment  it  is  announced. 

The  difficulty  felt  by  all  is  as  to  the  possibility  of  applying  it. 
Certainly  this  could  not  be  done  while  politics  govern  our  prisons, 
nor  until  their  administration  is  placed  permanently  in  the  hands 
of  competent  men.  Still  I  confess  myself  to  be  of  the  number 
of  those  who  believe  that  God  never  made  a  truth  into  which  he 
did  not  put  a  power  which  sooner  or  later  would  cause  it  to  pre- 
vail. But  it  is  not  likely  that  so  great  a  change  as  that  of  deter- 
minate to  wholly  indeterminate  sentences  can  be  made  on  the 
sudden,  nor  would  it  be  desirable  if  it  could.  The  principle  must 


PART  i.]  AGENCIES  IN  REFORMING  CRIMINALS.  621 

first  be  applied  (perhaps  always)  under  limitations.  The  courts 
must  assign  a  maximum  duration  to  the  punishment,  and  within 
that  term  leave  the  time  of  release  discretionary,  —  just  as  is  now 
done  in  the  case  of  juvenile  offenders  sentenced  to  reformatory 
institutions.  This  is  what  has  been  done,  as  we  have  seen,  in 
the  Act  regulating  discharges  from  the  new  State  Industrial 
Reformatory  at  Elmira,  N.  Y. 

But  it  may  fairly  be  asked,  How  is  the  fact  of  cure  to  be  ascer- 
tained ?  There  cannot,  I  think,  be  much  more  difficulty  in  form- 
ing a  correct  judgment  of  the  cure  of  a  criminal  than  of  that  of  a 
madman,  supposing  the  judges  to  be  in  each  case  equally  compe- 
tent by  the  possession  of  the  requisite  knowledge  and  experience. 
At  any  rate,  all  that  can  be  aimed  at  is  to  secure  a  strong  pre- 
sumption in  favor  of  reformation  before  the  prisoner  shall  go  free  ; 
and  after  he  is  set  at  liberty  the  law  must  still  keep  its  grasp  upon 
him  till  the  maximum  period  of  his  detention  is  exhausted.  This 
strong  presumption  is  the  only  proof  of  which  the  case  admits 
with  respect  to  either  the  insane  or  the  criminal.  Indeed,  on 
careful  analysis,  all  moral  certainty  resolves  itself  into  a  high  de- 
gree of  probability, —  such  a  probability,  says  Beccaria,  as  justifies 
us  in  acting  upon  it. 

After  all,  the  method  of  Maconochie  has  much  to  recommend 
it,  since  on  that  plan  the  sentence  is  in  marks  to  be  earned,  and  is 
therefore  indefinite  only  in  effect  and  not  in  form,  —  an  indefinite- 
ness  further  increased  by  the  fact  that  the  marks  are  made  to 
perform  the  function  of  money  in  paying  for  all  the  prisoner  re- 
quires (food,  clothing,  schooling,  etc.) ;  and  only  the  surplus  that 
remains  —  the  savings,  so  to  speak,  after  meeting  all  these  ex- 
penses—  count  towards  his  liberation.  Under  this  system  the 
prison  necessarily  becomes  to  a  certain  extent  an  image  of  real 
life.  It  is  a  system  which  gives  to  the  prisoner  an  object  of  pur- 
suit worthy  of  his  best  ambition  and  his  best  efforts,  by  making 
his  release  depend  on  the  conduct  and  character  evinced  by  him, 
on  his  diligence  in  labor  and  learning,  and  on  his  self-command 
and  self-culture ;  and  he  is  thus  lifted  into  a  moral  atmosphere 
higher,  purer,  and  more  bracing.  In  the  presence  of  such  an  ob- 
ject all  his  manly  energies  are  called  out.  Time,  which  under 
the  system  of  determinate  sentences  is  his  greatest  enemy,  now 
becomes  his  best  friend  and  ally.  Idleness  is  shunned,  distrac- 
tions are  repressed,  industry  is  courted.  Evasion  of  duty  brings 
its  own  punishment  by  lengthening  his  term  of  sentence ;  and  it 
is  a  consideration  of  the  highest  moment  that  the  impulse  to 
exertion  is  thus  moral  instead  of  physical, —  that  it  comes  from 
within  rather  than  from  without.  This  accustoms  the  prisoner 
to  act  for  himself  instead  of  being  led  or  driven  by  others.  It 
prepares  him,  moreover,  to  meet  subsequent  temptation  in  the 
great  world  without.  And  the  habit  of  self-control  and  self- 


622  MISCELLANEOUS  POINTS.  [BOOK  vm. 

guidance  thus  formed  in  prison  will  be  likely  to  remain  with  him 
after  his  discharge,  and  will  of  itself  more  than  compensate  for  all 
the  sacrifices  it  may  have  cost  him  to  acquire  it.  , 

Of  all  reformatory  agencies  religion  is  first  in  importance, 
because  most  potent  in  its  action  on  the  human  heart  and  life. 
To  Moses  Pilsbury,  one  of  the  most  distinguished  prison  officers 
of  the  last  generation,  the  question  was  put :  "  What  do  you  think 
of  a  prison  without  a  chapel  where  the  convicts  can  be  assembled 
on  the  Sabbath  for  worship  and  Sunday-school  instruction,  and  on 
week-days  for  morning  and  evening  prayers  ?  "  His  reply  was  : 
"  It  is  like  a  ship  laden  with  a  rich  cargo  and  sent  to  sea  without 
rudder,  compass,  or  chart."  This  puts  the  supreme  importance 
of  religious  teaching  in  prisons  in  a  light  as  clear  as  it  is  striking. 
Religion  is  the  only  power  able  to  calm  that  restless  irritation  of 
vice  which  saps  the  moral  forces  of  these  men  of  strong  impulses, 
whose  neglect  of  its  teachings  has  been  the  cause  of  their  being 
immured  within  prison  walls.  Reference  is  made  in  the  answer 
of  Mr.  Pilsbury  to  the  earlier  practice  of  daily  religious  services 
in  our  prisons,  —  a  practice  which  might,  with  great  fitness  and 
the  best  results,  be  revived  and  restored.  Such  is  the  practice  in 
European  prisons,  both  English  and  Continental. 

Education  must  have  a  large  development  in  a  penitentiary 
system  designed  to  be  reformatory  in  its  action  upon  the  prison- 
ers. Its  effect  is  to  quicken  intellect,  give  new  ideas,  supply  food 
for  thought,  inspire  self-respect,  excite  honorable  ambition,  open 
new  fields  of  exertion,  and  thus  afford  a  healthful  substitute  for 
low  and  vicious  amusements.  Need  more  be  said  to  show  its 
great  value  in  this  work  ?  The  work  of  the  prison-keeper  is  pre- 
eminently a  work  of  education  in  its  broad  sense  of  educing, 
developing,  bringing  out  what  is  in  the  man.  In  pursuing  this 
end  he  ought  to  show  himself  an  educator  full  of  wisdom,  solici- 
tude, and  zeal,  by  giving  to  each  prisoner  the  special  instruction 
and  training  of  which,  according  to  his  condition  and  character, 
he  stands  in  greatest  need. 

Labor  is  a  prime  agency  in  every  reformatory  system  of  prison 
discipline.  It  was  a  favorite  maxim  with  Howard,  "  Make  men 
diligent  and  they  will  be  honest."  Unless  prisoners  acquire  dur- 
ing their  captivity  both  the  will  and  the  power  to  earn  honest 
bread,  —  which  can  be  done  only  by  imparting  to  them  the  love 
and  the  habit  of  industry,  —  the  chances  will  be  many  of  their 
return  to  crime  after  their  release.  But  this  is  a  proposition  ad- 
mitted by  all,  denied  by  none. 

The  mode  of  organizing  and  managing  the  labor  of  a  prison  is 
a  question  of  no  little  importance  in  the  study  of  this  subject. 
Prison  labor  must  not  be  of  the  crank  or  the  treadmill,  not  a  mere 
"grinding  of  the  wind."  Useless  labor  is  as  demoralizing  to  a 
prisoner  as  it  would  be  to  a  free  man.  Further,  a  free  choice  of 


PART  i.]  AGENCIES  IN  REFORMING  CRIMINALS.  623 

labor  by  the  prisoner  is  an  essential  condition  of  a  reformatory 
prison  discipline.  Therefore,  as  in  Maconochie's  plan,  the  details 
of  the  discipline  might  better  be  such  that  if  the  prisoner  work, 
study,  and  behave  himself  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  authorities, 
he  will  not  only  have  a  comfortable  support,  but  be  able  to  accu- 
mulate the  marks  necessary  to  insure  his  discharge  ;  whereas,  on 
the  other  hand,  if  he  be  idle  and  disobedient  he  will  surfer  hunger 
and  other  inconveniences,  —  as  it  similarly  happens  to  the  diligent 
and  the  lazy  outside.  Now  when  a  prisoner  under  this  sharp 
but  natural  spur  begins  to  exert  himself,  he  does  so  by  an  act  of 
his  own  will.  It  is  an  inward  impulse,  not  a  mere  outward  pres- 
sure, that  moves  him.  This  little  circumstance — little  in  appear- 
ance, not  in  reality — makes  all  the  difference  between  an  au- 
tomaton and  a  man.  The  process  which  under  these  circum- 
stances induces  in  the  prisoner  habits  of  labor  is  a  process  by 
which  his  self-respect,  self-control,  and  self- reliance  are  strength- 
ened :  and  this  is  precisely  what  is  wanted  to  make  him  a  better 
man  and  better  citizen.  It  is  to  no  purpose  that  he  is  forced  to 
work  by  an  external  coercion,  for  when  the  coercion  is  withdrawn 
and  he  is  again  free,  he  will  be  what  he  was  before.  The  force 
which  impels  him  to  labor  must  be  an  inward  power  that  will 
abide  with  him  after  he  leaves  the  prison,  and  will  control  his 
subsequent  life.  It  avails  little  that  you  force  him  to  work  ;  he 
must  force  himself  to  work  under  the  double  impulsion  of  hun- 
ger and  self-interest. 

While  industrial  labor  in  prisons  is  of  the  highest  utility  and 
value,  I  regard  the  contract  system  of  prison  labor  as  generally 
prejudicial  alike  to  discipline,  finance,  and  the  reformation  of  the 
prisoner ;  but  I  cannot  favor  a  change  to  State  management  of 
such  labor  so  long  as  our  prisons  are  made  the  football  of  party, 
and  the  agents  of  their  administration  are  changed  almost  with 
every  change  of  the  moon. 

To  secure  the  spirit  and  manner  of  administration  sketched  in 
the  foregoing  detail  the  most  vigilant  inspection  and  oversight 
are  required.  "  The  dark  places  of  the  earth  are  full  of  cruelty," 
and  prisons  are  exceeding  dark  places  in  the  sense  of  being 
screened  from  observation.  Prison  walls  are  as  effectual  in  keep- 
ing critics  out  as  in  keeping  culprits  in.  The  class  of  officials 
who  look  upon  the  inmates  of  their  institutions  as  mere  subjects 
for  discipline  and  severity  have  a  thousand  ways  of  evading  any 
real  supervision,  any  searching  scrutiny.  It  is  very  necessary 
that  the  interiors  of  prisons  should  be  watched,  and  subjected  to 
perpetual  and  vigilant  observation.  It  is  very  necessary  that  im- 
partial men  —  holding  office  not  for  fee  or  reward,  but  from  mo- 
tives of  philanthropy,  and  appointed  by  an  authority  possessing 
the  highest  repute  for  wisdom  and  independence  —  should  be 
invested  with  powers  of  inspection  and  oversight  which  would 


624  MISCELLANEOUS  POINTS.  [BOOK  viir. 

authorize  them  to  look  into  the  interiors  of  prisons,  to  scrutinize 
them  closely,  and  to  make  themselves  acquainted  with  the  whole 
economy  of  treatment  and  with  the  spirit  in  which  it  is  con- 
ducted. 


CHAPTER  VIII.  —  PROFESSIONAL  EDUCATION   OF  PRISON 

OFFICERS. 

THE  need  of  trained  and  thoroughly  qualified  officials  for 
prison  work  is  coming  daily  to  be  more  and  more  recognized 
the  world  over.  The  reformation  of  fallen  humanity  is  a  work 
as  complex,  delicate,  and  difficult,  demanding  qualities  of  head 
and  heart  as  high  and  broad,  as  any  ever  committed  to  the  hand 
of  man,  and  as  worthy  of  being  raised  to  the  dignity  of  a  profes- 
sion  as  any  other  within  the  wide  range  of  human  employment 
If  law,  medicine,  and  divinity ;  if  sculpture,  painting,  and  music  ; 
if  engineering,  military  command,  and  school-keeping,  —  if  these 
callings  and  even  every  handicraft  that  requires  manual  dexterity 
demand  a  special  technical  education  in  those  who  devote  them- 
selves thereto,  why  not  equally  the  work  and  calling  of  a  prison- 
keeper,  whose  proper  business  —  the  regeneration  and  redemption 
of  fallen  immortals,  the  cure  of  souls  all  sick  and  leprous  with 
sin  —  is  the  peer  of  any  of  them,  and  the  superior  of  most,  in  the 
dignity,  grandeur,  and  beneficence  of  its  aims  ?  M.  Demetz,  the 
founder  and  for  nearly  forty  years  the  head  of  the  agricultural 
penitentiary  colony  of  Mettray  in  France,  and  the  highest  au- 
thority in  the  world  on  this  subject,  —  for  he  founded  his  training- 
school  before  he  opened  his  penitentiary,  and  continued  it  to  the 
day  of  his  death,  —  has  declared  his  opinion  in  these  words:  "As 
there  is  no  good  penitentiary  system  without  aid  to  discharged  con- 
victs, so  there  is  no  good  penitentiary  establishment  which  does  not 
create  a  nursery  of  agents  from  which  to  recruit  its  staff.  The 
men  who  are  needed  to  implant  the  love  of  goodness  in  vicious  na- 
tures are  not  improvised  ;  and  moral  transformations  are  obtained 
only  through  persevering  effort  and  an  enlightened  zeal."  We  do 
not  then  hesitate  to  affirm  the  proposition  that  whenever,  through 
the  elimination  of  party  politics,  the  necessary  stability  shall  have 
been  given  to  our  prison  administrations,  it  will  become  the  duty 
as  it  will  be  the  interest  of  the  several  States  to  organize  some 
agency  for  the  special  education  and  training  of  prison  officers, 
from  which  the  prisons  and  reform  schools  of  every  grade  may 
replenish  their  respective  staffs.  Such  agency  will  be  likely  to  be 
most  effective  as  well  as  practical  and  practicable,  if  established 
in  connection  with  some  good  prison.  It  will  then  also  become 


PART  i.]  THE  JUVENILE  PRISONS.  625 

necessary  so  to  increase  the  salaries  of  this  class  of  public  ser- 
vants as  to  secure  constant  supplies  of  able  and  well  qualified 
men  for  this  most  important  and  useful  service.  At  the  same 
time  the  subordinate  officers  —  the  overseers  or  keepers  —  ought 
to  be  skilled  mechanics,  so  that  they  may  discharge  the  function 
of  trade-instructors  to  the  prisoners. 

By  giving  to  prison  officers  and  employes  a  special  education 
for  their  work ;  by  impressing  a  character  of  stability  and  perma- 
nence on  the  prison  administration  and  the  tenure  of  office ;  by 
making  the  keepers  trade-instructors,  and  by  gradually  increasing 
the  salaries  of  the  officials  till  they  reach  a  maximum  sum  suffi- 
cient to  insure  an  independent  living  to  men  honest,  devoted,  and 
of  a  certain  intellectual  value,  —  the  result  of  the  penitentiary 
system  will  become  as  certain  as  things  human  can  ordinarily  be 
made. 


CHAPTER  IX.  —  CARE  OF  DISCHARGED  PRISONERS. 

HPHE  London  Congress  declared  that  the  prisoner  on  his  dis- 
JL  charge  should  be  systematically  aided  to  obtain  employment. 
This  is  the  demand  at  once  of  justice  and  of  policy:  of  justice,  be- 
cause it  is  the  State's  duty  not  simply  to  raise  the  fallen  man,  but  to 
help  hold  him  up  when  once  he  is  on  his  feet ;  of  policy,  because 
it  is  cheaper  to  care  for  him  as  a  discharged  prisoner  than  to 
care  for  him  when  reimprisoned  for  a  new  crime.  The  State  may 
discharge  this  duty  by  an  agent  of  its  own,  or  through  the  in- 
strumentality of  a  prisoners'-aid  society.  This  latter  must  be 
regarded  as  the  best  mode  ;  because  the  work  will  be  done  more 
heartily,  more  broadly,  more  effectively,  and  more  cheaply :  more 
heartily,  because  private  charity  is  more  sympathetic  than  of- 
ficial duty  ;  more  broadly,  because  the  aid  associations  for  the 
State  would  have  branches  or  committees  wherever  there  was  a 
prison;  more  effectively,  because  a  larger  number  of  workers 
would  be  enlisted  ;  more  cheaply,  because  the  moderate  subsidies 
granted  by  the  State  would  be  largely  supplemented  by  private 
benevolence. 


CHAPTER  X.  —  THE  JUVENILE  PRISONS. 

RESUME  at  this  point  my  exposition  of  the  machinery  of 
-i-  our  preventive,  reformatory,  and  punitive  systems,  —  if  that 
is  the  right  word  by  which  to  designate  the  series  of  institutions 
designed  to  effect  the  diminution  of  crime.  I  have  given  my 

40 


626  MISCELLANEOUS  POINTS.  [BOOK  vm. 

opinion  as  to  preventive  institutions,  reformatories  for  children 
and  youths,  and  police  and  detention  prisons,  —  these  last  two 
classes  of  prisons  being  intended  for  the  confinement  of  adult 
criminals  prior  to  their  conviction  and  sentence.  I  now  proceed 
to  give  my  views  as  regards  the  system  and  series  of  prisons 
designed  for  the  treatment  of  persons  convicted  of  crime  and 
undergoing  sentence. 

From  the  statistics  of  our  State-prisons  it  appears  that  fully 
one-fifth  of  their  inmates  are  minors,  and  that  more  than  one-half 
are  under  thirty  years  of  age.  The  tendency  of  crime  seems  to 
have  been  of  late  years  youthward.  Precocity  is,  indeed,  a  char- 
acteristic of  the  times,  and  it  is  not  strange  that  it  should  show 
itself  in  this  direction.  Accordingly  thieves,  burglars,  murderers 
even,  average  some  years  younger  now  than  they  did  half  a  century 
ago  ;  and  the  same  is  true  of  drunkards.  This  is  a  state  of  things 
suited  to  awaken  alarm  and  anxiety.  It  has  attracted  the  attention 
of  the  heads  of  a  number  of  our  State  penitentiaries  (who  have 
noticed  it  in  their  annual  reports),  as  well  as  that  of  other  benev- 
olent and  thinking  persons,  to  the  question  of  instituting  separate 
prisons  for  those  who  are  too  old  for  reform  schools  and  too 
young  to  be  shut  up  with  practised  offenders  without  peril  of 
greater  contamination,  —  prisons  where  more  attention  can  be 
given  to  education  than  would  be  practicable,  or  perhaps  desir- 
able, in  institutions  for  criminals  of  a  more  advanced  age  and 
more  hardened  character. 

But  although  the  persons  to  be  committed  to  the  proposed  in- 
stitution are  such  as  have  been  convicted  of  State-prison  offences, 
it  should  not  bear  the  name  of  prison,  but  rather  that  of  reform- 
atory, with  some  suitable  prefix, — as  "State  Reformatory,"  or,  bet- 
ter still,  "  State  Industrial  Reformatory."  There  is  a  large  class 
of  persons  —  more  than  half  of  those  convicted  of  felonies  by 
the  courts,  if  the  age  of  admission  is  fixed,  as  probably  would  be 
best,  at  between  sixteen  and  twenty-five  years —  who  are  fit  sub- 
jects for  such  an  institution.  The  design  of  the  treatment  should 
be  reformatory  as  distinguished  from  penal,  though  not  by  any 
means  to  the  exclusion  of  punishment  either  in  fact  or  by  name  ; 
for  the  young  transgressor  should  be  made  to  feel  that  the  com- 
mission of  crime  is  invariably  attended  with  penalty,  privation, 
and  suffering.  Hence,  in  the  outset,  like  all  other  convicted  fel- 
ons and  misdemeanants,  he  should  be  subjected  to  a  term  of  soli- 
tary confinement,  from  which  he  may  learn  this  salutary  lesson. 
Here  also  he  will  be  fully  informed  of  the  character,  methods,  and 
designed  effect  of  the  treatment  to  be  applied  to  him.  He  will 
learn  that  his  destiny  will  be  measurably  placed  in  his  own  hands, 
both  as  regards  the  removal  of  burdensome  restrictions  and  the 
concession  of  coveted  privileges.  In  this  way  the  inmate  of  the 
prison  or  reformatory  will  be  placed  in  a  situation  resembling 


PART  i.]  THE  JUVENILE  PRISONS.  627 

more  or  less  completely  that  in  which  one  finds  himself  in  ordin- 
ary life.  In  the  approval  which  he  daily  receives  for  meritorious 
conduct  he  will  have  a  continual  tonic  to  brace  him  against  the 
assaults  of  temptation  and  a  relapse  into  crime.  It  is  proposed 
to  carry  this  principle  so  far  in  the  juvenile  prison  as  to  make  the 
sentences  substantially  "  reformation  sentences."  A  sentence  for 
so  short  a  term  as  one  or  two  years,  with  the  commutation  laws 
now  generally  in  force,  is  not  long  enough  for  the  efficient  action 
of  reformatory  agencies.  I  therefore  propose  that  when  the  sen- 
tence of  a  criminal  is  less  than  five  years  by  existing  law,  the 
sentence  to  the  juvenile  prison  shall  be  until  reformation,  not 
exceeding  five  years.  There  will  thus  be  no  inmate  of  the  insti- 
tution on  whom  the  forces  of  reformation  cannot  be  made  to  act 
for  that  period,  if  need  be ;  whereas  the  time  may  be  much  shorter, 
if  the  circumstances  are  sufficiently  hopeful  to  warrant  it.  On  its 
part,  the  State  should  give  to  these  young  criminals  every  facility 
to  improve,  and  put  forth  all  effort  to  that  end.  It  should  defini- 
tively abandon  the  idea  that  the  main  consideration  is  to  make  the 
institution  yield  a  profit,  or  even  to  be  self-supporting.  Labor 
ought  of  course  to  be  required,  and  the  aim  may  and  should  be 
to  make  the  industries  as  remunerative  as  may  be  consistent 
with  the  improvement  of  the  inmates.  But  if  a  prison  does  not 
reduce  the  criminal  class,  it  has  no  raison  d'etre,  —  no  right  to 
be  sustained  ;  if  it  does,  then  its  existence  is  more  than  justified, 
though  it  show  no  balance  of  profits.  The  main  interest  then 
being  to  reform,  the  industries  must  be  selected  and  practised 
with  that  end  in  view.  Should  it  appear  that  agriculture  —  as 
has  been  widely  found  to  be  the  case  in  Europe  —  is  the  most 
powerful  agent  in  producing  reform,  it  should  be  largely  resorted 
to,  though  certainly  not  to  the  exclusion  of  mechanical  industry. 

In  the  same  spirit  the  ignorant  (and  most  of  the  inmates  are 
likely  to  be  ignorant)  should  receive  the  rudiments  of  education. 
These  prisons,  being  at  the  same  time  and  chiefly  reformatories, 
should  be  rather  schools  for  instruction  than  places  of  punishment ; 
and  especially  should  they  assure  a  careful  and  kindly  inculcation 
of  moral  and  religious  principles.  Interesting  and  instructive  lec- 
tures —  conversational  rather  than  rhetorical  in  style  and  delivery 
—  should  be  given  from  time  to  time,  and  all  legitimate  means  be 
adopted  to  arouse  and  fix  attention  on  worthy  objects  of  study  and 
contemplation,  and  to  draw  the  thoughts  away  from  those  un- 
worthy subjects  which  had  previously  attracted  and  engaged  them. 
The  discipline  should  be  strict  and  firm,  but  at  the  same  time  of 
a  character  to  conciliate  as  well  as  to  subdue.  Let  the  officers, 
without  yielding  a  tittle  of  the  authority  with  which  they  are 
clothed  or  the  respect  which  is  their  due,  show  themselves  the 
friends  of  the  prisoner,  and  his  antagonism  will  be  allayed,  and 
even  replaced  with  love.  He  may  and  surely  will  come  to  con- 


628  MISCELLANEOUS  POINTS.  [BooK  vm. 

sider  them  as  his  best  friends,  —  stern  and  unyielding  in  correct- 
ing his  misconduct,  but  quick  to  see  and  warm  to  approve  his 
every  meritorious  act. 

No  contractor  should  be  permitted  to  obtain  a  footing  in  this 
class  of  institutions.  The  superintendent  must  have  the  supreme 
control  of  the  discipline  and  the  industries,  and  he  cannot  ordin- 
arily have  the  former  without  the  latter.  Indeed,  the  great  objec- 
tion to  the  contract  system  of  prison  labor  everywhere  is  that  it 
tends  to  interfere  with  and  subvert  the  discipline.  It  introduces 
into  prisons  an  outside  disturbing  element,  which  may  possibly  be 
controlled  and  its  injurious  influence  neutralized  by  a  skilful  and 
able  head,  but  which  it  is  extremely  difficult  to  control,  and  which 
nine  out  of  every  ten  prison  wardens  fail  utterly  in  the  attempt  to 
master  and  counteract.  In  that  proportion  of  cases  at  least  it 
has  hitherto  gained  the  mastery,  instead  of  yielding  it ;  or,  if  it 
has  not  absolutely  secured  the  upper  hand,  it  has  held  the  balance 
so  evenly  poised  that  it  amounts  practically  to  much  the  same 
thing.  While  I  believe  contract  labor  to  be  open  to  other  objec- 
tions, I  urge  only  now  that  the  system  does  not  and  practically 
cannot  in  the  vast  majority  of  cases  co-exist  with  a  considerate, 
firm,  and  equable  reformatory  discipline.  The  interest  of  the  con- 
tractor is  one  thing,  that  of  the  State  and  the  prisoner  is  often 
quite  another.  It  is  unjust  to  a  warden,  and  frequently  destruc- 
tive of  his  influence  and  self-respect,  to  place  him  in  a  position  in 
which  he  must  have  a  daily  struggle  between  his  convictions  of 
duty  and  the  claims,  the  importunities,  perhaps  even  the  menaces 
of  contractors.  The  late  General  Pilsbury,  though  claiming  for 
himself  a  complete  control  of  the  system  in  his  own  prison,  has 
been  heard  to  say  that  there  was  not  a  State-prison  in  New  York 
whose  warden  could  not  and  would  not  be  removed  in  twenty-four 
hours  if  the  contractors  willed  it. 

It  remains  only  to  say  that  in  the  smaller  States  one  prison  of 
this  kind  would  be  sufficient,  while  the  larger  States  will  require 
two  or  more,  if  they  are  kept  down  to  the  proper  maximum. 
Further,  that  there  should  exist  a  power  of  removal  from  the 
juvenile  prison  to  the  State-prison  proper  in  case  of  a  necessity 
arising,  and  alternately  from  the  State  to  the  juvenile  prison 
when  unusually  hopeful  cases  might  appear  among  the  younger 
class  of  prisoners  in  the  former  ;  and  finally,  that  the  institution 
should  keep  its  grasp  upon  the  prisoners  provisionally  released, 
until  the  expiration  of  their  full  term  of  sentence. 


PART  i.]  THE  HOUSE  OF  CORRECTION.  62$ 


CHAPTER  XI.  —  THE  HOUSE  OF  CORRECTION  OR 
DISTRICT  PRISON. 

TO  this  should  be  committed  all  males,  more  than  twenty  years 
of  age,  sentenced  to  terms  of  less  than  five  years,  except 
such  as  for  a  slight  first  offence  shall  be  sentenced  for  the  pur- 
pose of  a  vigorous  notice  to  a  short,  sharp  imprisonment  in  the 
county  detention  prison.  The  house  of  correction  will  hold  a 
middle  place  between  the  prison  now  known  as  the  county 
jail  and  the  State-prison,  and  will  serve  to  discharge  in  part 
the  functions  of  both,  —  that  is  to  say,  it  will  be  the  place  of 
punishment  for  all  now  sentenced  to  the  county  jail  (except  the 
small  class  of  offenders  just  referred  to),  and  for  all  the  younger 
and  less  criminal  convicts  now  sentenced  to  the  State-prison,  ex- 
cept those  who  shall  hereafter  be  committed  to  the  juvenile  prison, 
as  recommended  in  the  immediately  preceding  chapter.  Much 
of  what  has  been  said  touching  the  organization  and  management 
of  the  juvenile  prison  is  applicable  here,  and  need  not  be  re- 
peated. It  goes  without  saying  that  the  number  of  these  dis- 
trict prisons  or  houses  of  correction  needed  in  any  given  State 
will  depend  upon  the  number  of  its  criminal  population.  The 
benefits  to  be  expected  from  the  establishment  of  this  class  of 
prisons  are :  i.  The  organization  of  each  with  a  full  staff  of  offi- 
cers, and  with  all  the  other  appointments  necessary  for  an  effective 
performance  of  the  work  assigned  them.  2.  The  arrangement  of 
buildings,  cells,  workshops,  chapels,  school-rooms,  libraries  —  in 
a  word  the  entire  premises  —  in  a  manner  suited  to  a  complete 
penitentiary  system.  3.  The  introduction  of  a  comprehensive, 
well-adjusted  system  of  industrial  labor.  4.  Diminished  cost  of 
maintenance,  despite  the  increase  of  officers,  owing  in  part  to 
the  earnings  of  prisoners,  and  in  part  to  greater  economy  in  the 
administration.  5.  The  opportunity  thereby  afforded  of  a  com- 
plete reconstruction  of  the  existing  common-jail  system, —  that 
is,  its  destruction,  and  the  substitution  therefor  of  a  system  of 
simple  detention  prisons.  6.  The  relief  of  the  State-prisons  by 
punishing  in  houses  of  correction  the  younger  and  less  criminal 
of  their  inmates.  7.  The  crowning  recommendation  of  the  sys- 
tem lies  in  the  reformatory  character  to  be  impressed  upon  it. 


630  MISCELLANEOUS  POINTS.  [BooK  vm. 


CHAPTER  XII.  —  PRISONS  FOR  WOMEN. 

IT  is  the  decided  belief  of  the  advanced  students  of  penitentiary 
science  that  entirely  separate  prisons  should  be  provided  for 
criminal  women  ;  and  that  for  them  as  for  men  there  should  be, 
wherever  the  population  of  the  State  is  large  enough  to  require  it, 
two  female  prisons,  —  one  for  young  women  who  are  nevertheless 
too  old  or  too  vicious  to  be  placed  in  a  girl's  reformatory,  the 
other  for  those  of  a  more  advanced  age  and  a  deeper  criminality. 
Where  the  population  is  not  sufficient  to  warrant  the  erection  of 
two  prisons,  these  two  classes  of  women  should  be  treated  in 
separate  wards. 

Female  prisoners  should  as  a  rule  be  under  female  treatment ; 
and  although  I  would  not  undertake  to  say  that,  in  certain  cir- 
cumstances, the  head  of  a  female  prison  may  not  fitly  be  of  the 
other  sex,  yet  ordinarily  the  contrary  plan  would  be  better ;  and 
at  all  events  the  care-takers  who  are  constantly  in  close  contact 
with  the  inmates  should  be  always  of  the  same  sex.  This  is  the 
dictate  of  reason  and  common-sense,  since  woman  alone  under- 
stands woman,  and  since  she  alone  can  enter  into  her  weak- 
nesses, temptations,  and  difficulties,  —  nay,  into  the  very  recesses 
of  her  being, — and  fitly  minister  thereto.  The  principle  of  pro- 
gressive classification  should  have  place  here  the  same  as  in  the 
prisons  for  men,  with  all  the  healthful  stimulants  to  self-denial, 
self-control,  and  self-culture  which  that  system  supplies. 


CHAPTER  XIII.  —  STATE-PRISONS  FOR  MEN. 

NEXT  and  last  in  the  series  of  establishments  which  make  up 
the  preventive,  reformatory,  and  penal  system  of  a  State  is 
the  State-prison  proper,  —  called  in  England  convict  prison,  and 
on  the  Continent  central  prison,  —  the  receptacle  for  criminals 
convicted  of  the  gravest  offences  against  society  and  its  laws 
punishable  by  imprisonment.  The  adoption  of  the  preceding 
part  of  the  system  proposed  will  make  it  easy,  as  it  is  every  way 
desirable,  to  give  to  the  shortest  sentence  to  the  State-prison  a 
duration  of  five  years,  which  will  afford,  with  reference  to  the 
whole  body  of  prisoners,  large  scope  for  the  effective  acti6n  of 
reformatory  processes.  Now,  however  fit,  necessary,  and  useful 
may  be  the  special  agencies  employed  to  this  end,  —  the  exhorta- 
tions of  the  chaplain,  the  lessons  of  the  schoolmaster,  the  instruc- 


PART  i.j  STATE-PRISONS  FOR  MEN.  631 

tion  of  the  Sunday-school  teacher,  and  the  pages  of  the  library 
book,  —  they  must  all,  in  their  power  of  securing  from  the  con- 
vict those  sustained  exertions  which  alone  will  restore  to  him 
his  lost  place  in  virtuous  society,  prove  feeble  and  inefficacious  in 
comparison  with  a  fixed,  legally  established,  uniform,  ever-present, 
ever-operative  system  of  agencies  which  act  upon  him  with  their 
silent  but  living  and  abiding  forces  in  his  daily  and  hourly  work 
and  thinking,  inspiring  him  with  that  confidence  in  himself,  that 
faith  in  his  fellow-men,  and  that  hope  for  the  future,  which  a  long 
course  of  crime  had  dulled  but  not  obliterated,  obscured  but  not 
extinguished. 

There  exists  such  a  system,  conceived  in  the  spirit  of  the 
purest  benevolence  and  based  on  a  profound  knowledge  of  the 
principles  and  needs  of  human  nature.  It  was  originally  devised 
by  Alexander  Maconochie,  and  was  only  partially,  yet  with  marvel- 
lous results,  carried  into  execution  in  the  penal  colony  of  Norfolk 
Island.  It  has  already  been  briefly  described,  but  with  as  much 
fulness  as  the  nature  of  this  work  will  permit.  The  principle  of 
Maconochie's  method  underlies,  must  underlie,  every  wise  system 
of  government.  It  is  the  linking  of  unalterably  certain  rewards 
to  good  conduct,  and  equally  sure  punishments  to  bad.  This  is 
God's  method  of  dealing  with  his  rational  creatures  ;  and  we  can- 
not go  far  astray  in  our  treatment  of  criminals  by  imitating,  how- 
ever feebly,  the  method  by  which  the  moral  universe  is  held  to  its 
moorings.  A  modification  of  this  system  was  inaugurated  in 
Ireland  by  Sir  Walter  Crofton  a  quarter  of  a  century  ago,  and 
has  been  practised  there  ever  since.  It  has  three  prisons  for  as 
many  stages  through  which  each  convict  passes.  The  first  is 
penal,  with  cellular  separation.  The  second  is  reformatory,  with 
a  division  into  classes,  where  each  prisoner  earns  his  advances  by 
good  marks  :  the  large  majority  earn  their  maximum  of  marks 
and  win  their  promotion  from  class  to  class  within  the  minimum 
time  admissible.  The  third  prison  is  no  prison,  but  an  open 
farm,  where  there  is  neither  bolt  nor  bar,  the  detention  being  vir- 
tually that  of  moral  influence  ;  yet  in  all  these  years  scarcely  a 
dozen  escapes  have  been  made,  —  nor  has  there  been  a  single 
complaint  from  any  farmer  in  the  vicinage,  though  there  is  neither 
restraint  nor  discipline  beyond  that  maintained  over  ordinary 
farm-laborers,  with  the  sole  exception  that  the  prisoners  are  not 
permitted  to  leave  the  premises,  and  are  at  night  locked  in 
common  dormitories  with  a  warder  sleeping  in  an  adjoining 
room. 

Is  not  all  this  a  clear  proof  of  the  wisdom  of  appealing  to  the 
higher  elements  of  manhood  in  our  dealing  even  with  the  degraded 
and  the  vile?  Treat  the  evil-doer  as  a  fellow-man,  and  it  is  more 
than  probable  that  he  will  respond  in  that  relation ;  treat  him  like 
a  dog,  and  he  will  behave  like  a  dog.  We  cannot,  therefore,  hesi- 


632  MISCELLANEOUS  POINTS.  [BOOK  vm. 

tate  to  recommend  the  adoption  of  the  Crofton  or  Irish  system  in 
all  the  States  of  our  Union,  more  especially  as  it  affords  common 
standing-ground  to  the  friends  of  both  the  cellular  and  associated 
systems.  The  third  or  intermediate  testing-stage  should  be  made 
part  and  parcel  of  every  State-prison  system,  also  of  the  district- 
prison  system,  and  indeed  of  all  prisons  for  punishing.  But  it 
is  exceedingly  desirable,  if  not  indeed  essential  to  the  success  of 
this  system,  that  a  character  of  increased  permanence  should  be 
impressed  upon  our  prison  administrations  by  the  elimination 
therefrom  of  partisan  politics  as  the  controlling  force. 


CHAPTER  XIV.  —  SUBSIDIARY  SUGGESTIONS. 

IT  is  worth  while  (i)  to  inquire  whether  society  has  not  made 
a  mistake  in  its  warfare  against  crime.  Has  it  not  failed  to 
recognize  the  fact  that  habitual  criminality  is  a  craft,  not  carried 
on  solely  by  individuals,  but  by  a  virtual  organization,  compre- 
hending various  grades  and  divisions  of  work,  and  requiring  the 
combined  action  of  capital  and  labor,  just  as  other  crafts  do,  and 
like  them  dependent  for  its  continued  existence  on  this  union  ? 
There  are  two  well-defined  classes  enlisted  in  criminal  opera- 
tions, —  the  capitalists  and  operatives,  those  who  furnish  the 
means  and  those  who  work  the  machinery  ;  and  the  former  are 
absolutely  essential  to  the  latter.  The  crime-capitalists  include 
the  owners  of  houses  and  dens  which  afford  to  criminals  habita- 
tions and  places  of  carousal,  the  receivers  of  stolen  goods,  the 
pawnbrokers  who  lend  money  on  such  goods,  and  the  makers  of 
instruments  needed  by  burglars  and  counterfeiters.  Now,  the 
crime-capitalists  are  few,  the  operative  plunderers  many.  The 
law  strikes  at  the  many  operatives  one  by  one :  would  it  not 
be  better  to  strike  at  the  few  capitalists  as  a  class  ?  Let  it  direct 
its  blows  against  the  nefarious  connection  between  capital  and 
labor, — ordinarily  a  beneficent  one,  but  in  this  case  evil,  and  only 
evil,  —  nor  forbear  its  assaults  till  it  has  wholly  broken  and  dis- 
solved the  bond.  When  this  baleful  union  has  been  pierced  in  a 
vital  part  it  will  perish.  When  the  corner-stone  of  the  leprous 
fabric  shall  be  removed,  the  whole  building  will  tumble  into  ruins. 
The  author  once  asked  a  professional  thief  what  most  helped  him 
in  his  business  of  stealing.  His  prompt  reply  was,  "  To  know  all 
the  'fences'  within  a  circuit  of  thirty  miles,"  —  "fence"  being  the 
cant  name  given  by  thieves  to  the  receivers  of  stolen  goods. 
2.  A  large  number  of  persons  are  every  year  arrested  and  com- 


PART  i.]  SUBSIDIARY  SUGGESTIONS.  633 

mitted  to  prison  on  suspicion  of  crime,  where  they  are  confined 
for  longer  or  shorter  periods,  who  either  on  their  first  hearing  or 
their  trial  are  acquitted  and  set  free  as  innocent.  Yet  they  re- 
ceive no  indemnity  for  their  loss  of  time,  whether  it  has  been  for 
a  day  or  a  year.  On  this  state  of  things  the  question  arises, 
Is  not  personal  liberty  a  right  as  respectable  as  the  right  of  prop- 
erty ?  If  this  question  is  answered  in  the  affirmative,  a  second 
instantly  arises,  Is  it  not  the  duty  of  society  to  indemnify  the 
citizen  whom  it  has  wrongfully  imprisoned,  as  it  indemnifies 
the  citizen  from  whom  it  takes  his  house  or  his  field  for  some 
public  use  ?  This  principle  is  applied  every  day  in  other  cases. 
The  witness  and  the  juryman  receive  each  a  sum  of  money  for 
the  loss  of  time  thus  incurred.  To  one  of  them,  who  makes  per- 
haps his  thousands  a  year,  it  is  but  a  symbol  of  justice  ;  to  another 
it  is  the  daily  bread  of  himself  and  his  family.  Can  any  reason 
be  assigned  why  the  same  principle  should  not  be  applied  in  the 
case  of  the  man  whom  the  judicial  authority  itself,  speaking  from 
the  seat  of  justice,  has  declared  to  have  been  imprisoned  and 
"  held  in  durance  vile  "  without  adequate  cause  ?  Two  incidental 
advantages  of  no  inconsiderable  moment,  additional  to  that  of 
meeting  a  demand  of  justice,  might  be  expected  from  the  intro- 
duction of  this  principle  into  the  administration  of  criminal 
law,  —  greater  caution  in  making  arrests,  and  more  speedy  trials 
after  arrest. 

3.  The  identification  of  prisoners  who  have  been   previously 
convicted  is  a  matter  of  grave  importance  in  the  administration 
of  penal  justice.     The  first  Napoleon,  the  greatest  organizer  of 
modern  times,  desired  that  his  minister  of  justice  should  have 
always  at  hand  "  the  biography  of  all  criminals,"  —  a  most  natural 
wish,  since  of  all  the  elements  of  a  judgment  as  to  the  moral 
curability  of  an  offender  the  most  important  is  a  knowledge  of 
his  past.     How  to  attain  this  knowledge  ?     Much  use  is  made  of 
photography  in  England  ;  but  the  most  perfect  scheme  for  secur- 
ing trustworthy  knowledge  on  this  point  is  the  criminal  registers 
(casters  judiciaires)  devised  by  M.  Bonneville  de  Marsangy,  —  a 
French  jurist  of  great  eminence,  who  has  lived  to  see  the  com- 
plete and  triumphant  success  of  his  invention  in  his  own  country, 
where  it  has  been  in  use  since  1850,  having  also  since  been  intro- 
duced into  Italy,  Portugal,  Denmark,  and  some  other  countries. 
The  knowledge  afforded  by  these  registers  is  precisely  that  de- 
sired by  Napoleon :  they  fully  meet  his  demand  for  a  complete 
criminal  biography  of  every  man  in  France  who  has  been  under 
the   arrests  of  justice.     A  careful  study  of  the  most  effective 
means  of  identifying  persons  previously  convicted  of  crime  is 
worthy  of  the  best  minds  of  our  country,  and  especially  of  those 
who  are  called  to  make  or  to  execute  the  criminal  laws. 

4.  A  general  system  of  penitentiary  statistics  for  the  whole 


634  MISCELLANEOUS  POINTS.  [BOOK  vm. 

country  is  a  great  desideratum.1  Indeed,  it  may  be  said  to  be 
almost  essential  to  broad  and  solid  progress  in  this  department 
of  social  science  and  of  the  public  service.  The  laws  of  social 
phenomena  can  be  ascertained  only  through  the  accumulation 
of  facts.  Returns  of  such  facts,  carefully  gathered  from  a  wide 
field  of  observation  and  skilfully  tabulated,  are  indispensable  to 
enable  us  to  judge  of  the  effect  of  any  law  or  system  of  laws 
which  may  have  been  put  in  operation.  What  we  want  to 
know  is  the  facts  ;  but  a  knowledge  of  the  facts  relating  to  so 
complex  a  subject  as  that  of  crime  and  criminal  administration 
implies  a  mass  of  figures  collected  from  all  quarters  and  arranged 
with  reference  to  some  well-defined  end.  The  local  and  the 
special  are  to  little  purpose.  It  is  the  general  only  that  has 
value,  —  that  is  to  say,  returns  so  numerous,  so  manifold,  and 
drawn  from  so  wide  a  field  and  amid  such  diversified  circum- 
stances as  to  give  real  significance  to  the  results.  It  is  such 
returns  alone  that  will  lay  the  foundation  for  inferences  of  prac- 
tical value.  We  want  to  get  an  average  ;  but  in  order  to  do  this 
we  must  have  scope  and  variety  enough,  both  in  the  range  and 
character  of  the  returns,  to  be  enabled  to  eliminate  from  them 
whatever  is  local  and  accidental,  and  to  retain  only  what  is  general 
and  permanent.  Only  on  this  condition  will  our  inferences  be 
sound  and  safe.  Only  on  this  condition  shall  we  be  able  to  feel 
that  our  conclusions  rest,  not  upon  mere  incidents  of  the  phe- 
nomena which  may  be  partial,  casual,  and  immaterial,  but  upon 
the  phenomena  themselves,  apart  from  variations  which  are  tem- 
porary or  adventitious. 

5.  In  order  to  secure  the  best  results  from  a  reformatory  pris- 
on discipline,  it  should  be  divided  into  two  distinct  periods, — 
those  of  punishment  and  of  reformation.  Both  these  processes 
(the  object  being  reform)  are  equally  benevolent,  because  both 
are  equally  necessary  to  the  end  in  view.  There  can  as  little  be 
true  reform  without  true  penitence,  as  there  can  be  the  growth 
of  the  man  without  the  birth  of  the  child.  But  the  necessity  for 
each  is  not  of  itself  equally  clear  to  criminals.  All  criminals 
would,  if  possible,  escape  from  restrictions  imposed  as  mere 
punishment ;  but  many  would  willingly  submit  to  them  if  they 
were  understood  to  be  a  necessary  antecedent  of  reformation, 
and  especially  of  release  as  conditioned  upon  reformation  ;  for 
nothing  is  counted  a  hardship  which  tends  to  this  latter  issue. 
As  a  fever  must  be  reduced  before  its  ravages  can  be  repaired, 
and  as  a  wound  must  be  probed  and  cleansed  before  it  can  be 

1  A  number  of  our  penal  institutions  embody  in  their  annual  or  biennial  reports 
statistics  of  much  value ;  and  this  is  particularly  true  of  the  Eastern  Penitentiary  at 
Philadelphia,  thanks  to  the  intelligent  and  indefatigable  study  of  Mr.  Vaux,  who  for 
a  quarter  of  a  century  has  held  the  position  of  president  of  its  board  of  managers. 
But  there  is  no  uniform  system  for  the  entire  Union. 


PART  i.]  SUBSIDIARY  SUGGESTIONS.  635 

properly  healed,  so  in  the  moral  cure  of  a  criminal  a  punish- 
ing stage  must  precede  the  reformatory.  To  do  one  thing  at 
a  time,  and  each  well,  is  the  rule  in  all  nice  operations ;  and, 
surely,  the  recovery  of  a  fellow-man  from  crime  to  virtue  is  worthy 
of  an  equally  methodical  and  careful  procedure,  and  is  not  likely 
to  be  accomplished  by  one  less  scientific  or  delicate. 

6.  Severe  suffering,  consequent  on  conviction  of  crime,  by  way 
of  example  and  warning,  has  not  hitherto  been  very  effective  in 
preventing  its  recurrence ;    it  would  be  worth  while  to  try  the 
example  of  necessary  reform,  or  at  least  of  sustained  submission 
and  self-command  through  a  period  of  probation,  determined  by 
the  results  of  voluntary  exertion  as  the  sole  condition  of  release. 
If  we  are  not  mistaken,  it  would  be  likely  to  prove  more  deterrent 
than  severity.     It  should  never  be  forgotten,  but  rather  strongly 
insisted  on,  that  the  principle  of   deterrent   example    and  that 
of  reformation  may  and  should  be  made  to  concur.     If  the  pur- 
pose and  process  of   prison  discipline  were  so  changed  as  to 
make  reformation  the  specific  end,  and  suffering  only  a  necessary 
means  to  that  end,  there  would  still  be  enough  of  suffering,  since 
it  is  not  simply  by  the  application  of  fire,  but  by  its  proper  appli- 
cation, that  gold  is  purified ;  and  it  is  the  same  in  moral  purifica- 
tions.    There  may  be  such  an  application  of  fire  to  gold  as  will 
merely  scorch  and  deface  the  precious  metal ;   in  like  manner 
there  may  be  such  an  application  of  suffering  to  the  prisoner  as 
will  only  deform  and  harden  him  the  more.     Too  much  impor- 
tance is  attached  to  mere  force  as  an  agent  in  the  production 
of  moral  effects  in  prison  management.     The  very  nature  of  that 
on  which  our  efforts  are  expended  is  thus  habitually  mistaken  or 
ignored.     We  improve  the  mechanical  appliances  of  our  prisons, 
their  means  of  coercion,  the  precision  of  their  movements,  and 
all  the  clock-work  of  their  arrangements,  and  we  persuade  our- 
selves that  this  is  an  improvement  in  their  discipline  ;  whereas, 
in  truth,  the  more  there  is  of  all  this,  the  more  is  true  discipline 
—  the  discipline  of  the  mind  and  will  —  impeded  ;  for  the  process 
which  moves,  directs,  and  strengthens  these  high  intellectual  and 
moral  powers  is  inimitably  different  from  any  that  makes  or  guides 
an  automaton. 

7.  The  coercive  system  of  managing  men  appears  to  be  an 
essentially  vicious  one,  insomuch  that  precisely  where  most  per- 
fect it  will  in  the  end  be  found,  so  far  as  the  true  aim  of  prison 
discipline  is  concerned,  most  unsuccessful.     Mind  can  be  gained 
only  by  appealing  to  mind.      Fettering  the  body  is  absolutely 
opposed  to  this.     It  has  its  immediate  and  apparent  advantages, 
but  they  are  too  dearly  purchased.     If  we  actively  employ  our 
prisoners ;  if  we  fill  and  feed  their  minds  with  hope  ;  if  by  suitable 
means  we  cultivate  in  them  the  daily  practice  of  the  manly  and 
social  virtues,  —  they  will  protect  themselves  from  degrading  and 


636  MISCELLANEOUS  POINTS.  [BOOK  vill. 

ruinous  vices  much  better  than  we  can  protect  them  by  walls  and 
bolts.  And  the  moral  triumph  thus  achieved  will  be  as  improv- 
ing and  strengthening  to  them  as  the  physical  triumph,  even 
when  effected,  is  humiliating  and  enfeebling. 

8.  The   discipline   in   prisons,  in    this   country  and   in   other 
countries,  has  been  and  is  far  too  military  in  its  whole  concep- 
tion and  character.     The  objects  of  military  and  of  prison  dis- 
cipline are  diametrically  opposite;   yet  the  latter  has  been,  and 
is,  very  much  modelled  on  the  former.     The  object  of  military 
discipline  is  to  train  men  to  act  together ;  that  of  prison  disci- 
pline to  prepare  them  to  act  each  for  himself.     The  purpose  of 
the  former  is  to  absorb  individuality ;  of  the  latter  to  bring  it  out 
and  intensify  it.     The  object  of  .the  one  is  to  make  each  man  a 
fit  part  of  a  well-adjusted  machine;  of  the  other  to  make  each 
prisoner  a  good  citizen,  with  a  distinct  and  strongly  marked  per- 
sonality of  his  own.     The  aim  of  military  discipline  is  to  teach 
all  to  look  to  orders  ;  of  prison  discipline  to  train  all  to  look  to 
principles  as  the  guides  and  regulators  of  their  actions.     Crim- 
inals are  to  be  reformed.     To  compass  their  reformation  we  must 
quit  the  intense  military  type,  and  seek  an  arrangement  better 
suited  to  the  end  in  view.     A  military  barrack,  despite  the  high 
sense  of  honor  studiously  cultivated  in  it  (for  which  no  substi- 
tute can  be  found  in  a  prison  by  the  testimony  of  high  military 
authorities),  notoriously  demoralizes.      Is  it  possible,  then,  that  a 
similar  organization  can  reclaim  criminals  ?      Instead,  we  must 
rather  copy  the  incidents  of   that   frugal,  honest,  self-denying, 
laborious  poverty,  to  which  we  have  to  restore  our  convicts,  and 
for  which,  therefore,  it  should  be  our  earnest  endeavor  to  qualify 
them.     No  more  hot  meals,  without  previous  toil  to  earn  them ; 
no  more  undervaluing  of  time,  nor  consequent  stimulus  to  skulk- 
ing or  evasion  ;  no  more  interest  in  idleness;  no  more  advantages 
except  such  as  are  won  by  industry ;  no  more  indulgences  save 
those  earned  by  exertion  and  self-command  ;  no  progress  toward 
liberty  except  through  diligence  in  work  and  the  exhibition  of 
good  conduct,  —  all  proved  by  acts,  not  words  ;  by  a  strenuous 
fulfilment  of  all  duty,  not  by  mere  lip-submission.      It  is  thus, 
and  thus  only,  that  the  stern  school  of  punishment  may  be  made 
really  reformatory  ;  may  be  made  to  give  back  to  society  citizens 
instead  of  spoliators,  and  honest  men  in  place  of  criminals. 

9.  Unsuitable   indulgence  in  prison  management  is  as  perni- 
cious as  unsuitable  severity.     As  a  rule,  reform  can  be  attained 
only  through  a  course  of  long  and  rigid  training.     It  is  in  ad- 
versity that  all  the  manly  virtues  are   generated.      "  Sweet  are 
its  uses  "  therefore  to  prisoners  as  well  as  to  others,  though  they 
like   others  would  gladly  shun  its  hard  school.     All  the  ends  of 
public  punishment  will  in  this  way  be  the  more  surely  gained. 
We  reform  and  deter  at  the  same  time  and  by  the  same  process. 


PART  I.]  SUBSIDIARY  SUGGESTIONS.  637 

The  judicious  pursuit  of  the  first  object  will  give  us  also  the 
second.  The  true  principle  is,  then,  that  the  man  who  has  in- 
curred punishment  should,  like  one  who  has  fallen  into  a  pit,  be 
required  to  struggle  out  of  it,  and  not  be  allowed,  as  now,  to 
endure  out  of  it.  In  the  one  case  his  more  active  and  better 
qualities  are  called  into  play,  and  thereby  necessarily  improved  ; 
in  the  other  they  are  all  put  to  sleep,  —  or,  to  change  the  figure, 
they  are  consumed  by  rust,  or  replaced  by  others  equally  perni- 
cious to  himself  and  to  society. 

10.  Much  has  been  said  and  written  on  the  classification  of 
prisoners,  but  there  appears  to  be  no  little  confusion  of  thought 
on  this  subject;  and  few,  comparatively,  seem  to  have  grasped 
any  really  practical  principle  of  convict  classification.     Arbitrary 
classification  by  age,  crime,  similarity  of  temperament,  and  the 
like  is  impracticable,  and  would  be  useless  if  it  were  practicable. 
It  is  "  a  delusion  and  a  snare."     There  is  no  rule  by  which  to 
regulate  it.     If  by  offence,  that  is  the  mere  accident  of  convic- 
tion, for  it  often  happens  that  an  old  and  hardened  criminal  is 
convicted  of  some  mere  misdemeanor.     If  by  age,  the  youngest 
criminals,  born  and  cradled  in  sin  and  steeped  in  it  from  their 
birth,  are  often  the  most  corrupt  and  corrupting.     If  by  supposed 
similarity  of  temper  and  antecedent  character,  no  one  can  pro- 
nounce on  this  with  certainty,  for  men  are  as  often  improved  by 
associating  with  their  opposites  as  with  those  who  resemble  them. 
It  is  impossible  to   obtain  real   benefit   by  such   means.      The 
only  rational  classification  of  prisoners,  other  than  that  which  is 
effected  by  graded  prisons,  —  the  only  really  useful  classification, 
—  is  one  based  on  character,  conduct,  and  merit  as  shown  in  the 
daily  routine  of  prison  life,  and  is  moral  rather  than  physical. 

11.  It  is  a  question  whether  the  employment  of  prisoners  as 
a  kind  of  sub-officers  or  monitors  is  admissible,  and  would  afford 
beneficial  results.     It  was  an  opinion  strongly  held  both  by  Ma- 
conochie  and  Montesinos,  that  where  a  prison  discipline  is  in- 
tended to  be  reformatory,  where  the  object  is  the  moral  amend- 
ment of   the   person   subjected   to   it,  the  employment  of  these 
as  under-officers  is  attended  with  excellent  effects.     In  this  case 
all  the  prisoners  feel  elevated  in  the  elevation  of  their  companion, 
and  the  self-respect  of  the  whole  body  is  thus  lifted  to  a  higher 
plane.     Those  who  are  thus  trusted  and  honored  serve  both  as 
an  example  and  an  encouragement  to  the  rest.     But  when  the  dis- 
cipline is  arbitrary,  coercive,  and  despotic,  nothing  can  be  more 
injurious  than  such  a  practice  ;   for   these  convict-officers  will 
always  exceed  and  abuse  their  petty  power,  so  that  their  fellow- 
prisoners  are  then  doubly  crushed,  first  under  the  tyranny  of  the 
government  official,  and  then  under  that  of  merely  another,  but 
favored,  slave.     Captain  Maconochie  attests  that  he  could  not 
have  got  on  at  all  on  Norfolk  Island  if  he  had  not  largely  em- 


638  MISCELLANEOUS  POINTS.  [BOOK  vm. 

ployed  prisoners  in  the  management.  But  by  having  a  host  of 
persuaders  (and  it  was  as  such  that  he  chiefly  sought  to  use  them) 
distributed  constantly  among  the  convict  population,  he  was  able 
to  prevent  much  of  the  evil  previously  existing  and  almost  made 
matter  of  boasting,  and  strongly  to  direct  public  opinion  against 
what  remained  of  it.  He  found  them  like  the  petty  and  non- 
commissioned officers  of  a  ship  or  a  regiment,  who  are  also  se- 
lected from  the  ranks  sought  to  be  controlled. 

12.  The  correspondence  of  prisoners,  and  the  visits  to  be  re- 
ceived by  them  from  outside,  with  the  restrictions  to  be  imposed 
upon  these,  are  points  to  be  carefully  considered  ;  and  they  are 
not  unattended  with  difficulty.  The  uniform  answer  given  by 
Governments  at  the  Congress  of  London  to  the  question  put 
to  them  on  these  points  was,  that,  under  due  limitations,  both 
letters  and  visits  were  found  to  exert  a  beneficial  moral  influence 
upon  the  prisoners.  But  the  difficulty  is  to  find  these  due  lim- 
itations. It  goes  without  saying,  that  the  correspondence  must 
be  inspected  both  ways,  —  that  which  goes  out  and  that  which 
comes  in,  —  and  that  the  visits  must  be  restricted  to  persons  whose 
character  is  properly  authenticated,  and  chiefly  to  members  of  the 
prisoner's  own  family.  The  point  of  difficulty  is  as  to  the  fre- 
quency of  communication.  At  present  the  usage  varies  in  our 
several  States  and  prisons,  ranging  from  one  month  (possibly 
in  some  prisons  less)  to  three  months,  which  latter  period  is  not 
uncommon.  These  long  intervals  of  silence  are  injurious  to 
the  convict,  often  impairing  and  sometimes  nearly  obliterating 
whatever  of  good  feeling  still  survives.  A  wife,  a  mother,  a 
sister,  a  child,  ought  not  to  be  debarred  from  communicating  as 
often  as  they  wish,  by  letter  or  visit,  their  griefs  and  distresses  to 
the  author  of  them,  nor  from  thus  directing  to  him  whatever 
monitions,  counsels,  or  exhortations  may  to  them  seem  fitting 
and  necessary,  provided  always  that  the  criminal  has  earned  such 
indulgence  by  good  conduct  and  industry.  Can  it  be  true  wis- 
dom, can  it  be  to  the  interest  of  society,  to  screen  prisoners 
from  the  knowledge  in  detail  of  the  shame,  the  sorrow,  and  the 
suffering  into  which  their  crimes  have  plunged  those  dearest  to 
them,  or  to  weaken,  if  not  to  sever,  those  ties  which,  if  main- 
tained, would  most  facilitate  their  return  to  society,  and  most 
stimulate  their  exertions  when  restored  to  it  ? 

The  prohibition  of  communication  is  intended  as  an  aggrava- 
tion to  suffering,  but  in  most  cases  it  operates  rather  as  a  relief  ; 
and  not  unfrequently  it  punishes  the  loving  and  anxious  relative 
much  more  than  it  does  the  prisoner.  The  privilege  of  writing 
letters  might  be  converted  into  a  wholesome  agent  of  discipline 
if  it  were  made  conditional  upon  good  conduct,  and  especially  if 
uniform  good  conduct  gave  the  right  as  often  as  it  might  be 
desired.  Under  Maconochie's  plan,  where  the  sentence  is  given 


PART  i.]  SUBSIDIARY  SUGGESTIONS.  639 

in  marks  and  the  marks  are  used  as  money,  the  whole  matter 
might  be  easily  and  most  beneficially  arranged,  by  imposing  a 
charge  on  every  prisoner  receiving  a  letter  or  visit,  the  reception 
or  non-reception  of  either  being  entirely  in  his  own  choice.  Writ- 
ing himself,  he  would  have  to  pay  for  paper  and  stamps ;  but 
beyond  these  checks  there  should  be  none,  except  the  exaction  of 
a  proper  guarantee  for  the  fitness  of  the  letter  to  be  sent  or  re- 
ceived, and  a  proper  authentication  of  the  character  and  relation- 
ship of  the  visitor. 

13.  The  degree  of  supervision  or  watching  to  be  maintained 
over  the  prisoners  is  another  point  which  merits  serious  atten- 
tion.    It  is  at  least  to  be  considered  whether  the  constant  and 
rigid  surveillance  so  much  insisted  on,  however  plausibly  it  may 
be  defended,  does  not  generate  and  foster  that  habit  of  eye-ser- 
vice  which   so   unfits   a   prisoner   for  the  task  of  self-guidance 
after  his  release  ;  whether  the  minute  supervision  and  regulation 
maintained  in  our  larger  and  more  important  prisons  might  not 
be  beneficially  replaced  by  a  considerable  measure  of  self-guid- 
ance, reinforced  by  a  strong  motive  to  give  it  a  right  direction  ; 
whether  in  strictness   such   argus-eyed  watching   is   not  rather 
unfavorable  than  favorable  to  the  reform  of  prisoners  ;  whether 
in  giving  perhaps  the  desire  of  amendment,  it  may  not  in  some 
degree  take  away  the  power  ;  whether,  in   short,  its  tendency  is 
not  to  enfeeble  character,  to  make  it  too  dependent  on  direction, 
and  to  deliver  it  up  bound,  as  it  were,  hand  and  foot  to  subse- 
quent tempation  ? 

14.  There  is  a  class  of  endless  "revolvers,"  committed  to  the 
minor  prisons  as  "drunk  and  disorderly,"  over  and  over  again, 
usually  on  an  alternative  sentence  of  "  ten  days  or  a  fine  of  ten 
dollars,"  till,  as  one  of   them  said,  "  the  times  of  commitment 
are  uncountable."     It  is  a  very  serious  question  how  to  deal  with 
these  persons.     That  the  present  mode  is  worse  than  useless  is 
beyond  dispute.     It  is  often  productive  of  great  evil  to  the  fami- 
lies of  the -victims  of  this  vice,  while  it  tends  neither  to  suppress 
intemperance  nor  to  reform  the  drunkard.    These  persons,  though 
slaves  to  a  degrading  vice,  are  not  criminals  in  the  ordinary  mean- 
ing of  that  term  ;  and  their  confinement  in  prisons  with  thieves, 
burglars,  and  other  hardened  criminals  seems  to  me  impolitic  as 
well  as  unnecessary,  since  its  result  is  almost  always  to  destroy 
the  prisoner's  self-respect  and  take  from  him  all  hope  of  future 
amendment.      The  law   should  clearly  define  what  an  habitual 
drunkard   is ;    and    the   persons   falling   under   that   designation 
should  be  confined  only  in  asylums  or  reformatories,  and  kept 
there  under  mild  but  efficient  treatment  until  there  is  a  reason- 
able  assurance  that   permanent  reformation   has  been  effected. 
Inebriates   of    different   sexes    should   be   confined   in   different 
establishments. 


640  MISCELLANEOUS  POINTS.  [BOOK  vm. 


CHAPTER  XV.  —  CRIMINAL  REFORM. 

I  HAVE  not  introduced  this  heading  for  the  purpose  of  laying 
down  any  propositions  in  regard  to  it,  further  than  to  express 
the  conviction  that  there  is  urgent  need  of  action  in  this  direction, 
and  to  suggest  whether  it  may  not  be  practicable  to  create  a  com- 
mission of  learned  criminal  jurists  to  be  composed  of  one  member 
from  every  State  that  is  willing  to  come  into  the  measure,  which 
commission  shall  be  charged  with  the  duty  of  drawing  up  the  pro- 
ject of  an  improved  penal  code,  to  be  recommended  to  the  adop- 
tion of  all  the  States,  with  such  modifications  if  any  as  each  may 
see  fit  to  make  with  a  view  to  adapt  it  to  any  special  circumstances 
or  exigencies  that  may  be  thought  to  require  such  change.  A 
considerable  degree  of  similarity,  if  not  an  absolute  uniformity, 
in  the  penal  codes  of  the  different  States  appears  to  be  highly 
desirable,  to  the  end  that  the  criminal  may  know  that  he  will  have 
to  suffer  substantially  the  same  penalty  in  one  State  as  in  another 
for  any  offence  he  may  commit. 


CHAPTER  XVI.  —  CONCLUSION. 

WITH  penitentiary  systems  based  on  the  principles  and 
worked  by  the  methods  outlined  above,  with  penal  codes 
framed  in  the  same  spirit,  with  our  prisons  removed  from  the  do- 
main of  party  politics,  and  a  character  of  absolute  stability  and 
permanence  impressed  on  their  administration,  and  with  prison 
officers  trained  to  their  work  and  secure  in  their  places  so  long  as 
they  show  themselves  competent  and  faithful,  I  have  a  profound 
conviction  that  there  is  no  point  to  which  the  improvement  of 
prison  discipline  may  not  be  carried  but  that  which  is  imposed  by 
the  imperfection  of  human  virtue,  the  fallibility  of  human  wis- 
dom, and  the  limitations  of  human  power. 


PART  II.]  DR.  DES PINE'S   VIEW.  64! 


PART    SECOND. 

CRIME,  — ITS  CAUSES  AND  CURE. 

CHAPTER  XVII.  —  DESPINE'S   VIEW  AS  TO  THE  ROLE   OF   SCI- 
ENCE IN  THE  MATTER  OF  CRIMINALITY.* 

WHAT  is  the  r61e  of  Science  in  the  matter  of  criminality, 
and  what  aids  has  she  offered  towards  the  solution  of  this 
question  ?  The  function  of  science  is  here  perfectly  clear.  What 
is  the  office  of  science  in  the  study  of  any  natural  phenomenon  ? 
She  seeks  to  discover  its  interior  nature  and  the  laws  which  pro- 
duce it,  and  thence  to  trace  its  cause.  Now  the  science  which 
must  enlighten  us  in  regard  to  criminality,  as  in  reference  to  all 
mental  acts,  is  psychology.  It  is  therefore  to  a  psychological 
study  of  criminals  that  we  must  have  recourse  in  seeking  a  solu- 
tion of  this  question. 

The  importance  of  this  subject  appears  from  the  fact  that  a 
knowledge  of  the  criminal  is  an  essential  guide  to  a  right  treat- 
ment of  him  ;  a  knowledge  of  him,  not  in  his  acts  which  are  but 
too  well  known,  but  in  the  psychical  or  soul-condition  which 
impels  him  to  commit  them.  There  must  be  something  abnor- 
mal in  the  disposition  of  criminals  when  they  yield  with  facility 
to  desires  which  would  excite  the  strongest  repugnance  in  a  truly 
moral  man.  This  abnormal  state  reveals  itself  in  the  clearest 
manner  when,  contrary  to  what  poets  and  moralists  have  repre- 
sented, we  see  the  wretch  who  has  committed  crime  exhibiting  no 
symptoms  of  remorse  for  the  immoral  act. 

1  Dr.  Prosper  Despine,  an  eminent  physician  and  philosopher  of  France,  has  made 
a  prolonged  and  profound  study  of  the  criminal  from  the  standpoint  of  psychology. 
He  has  published  two  great  works,  —  "  Psychologie  Naturelle  "  and  "  De  la  Folie  au 
Point  de  Vue  Philosophique  ou  plus  Specialement  Psychologique," — making  together 
four  thick  octavo  volumes,  in  which  some  twelve  hundred  pages  are  devoted  to  this 
study.  An  article  on  this  study  from  the  pen  of  the  author  appeared  in  the  "  Prince- 
ton Review"  for  May,  1878,  which  he  has  been  asked  and  even  urged  to  reprint  in  the 
present  volume,  on  the  ground  that  it  is  a  discussion  which  ought  to  find  place  in  a 
work  distinctly  devoted  to  penitentiary  subjects.  To  this  request  he  has  yielded  assent. 
The  substance  of  the  article  will  be  given  in  three  chapters  of  this  second  part  of  his 
eighth  Book.  In  the  first  two,  he  plays  the  part  of  simple  reporter,  stating  Dr.  Des- 
pine's  views  without  personal  responsibility  therefor ;  in  the  third  he  offers  a  short 
critique  for  which  he  alone  is  responsible.  It  is  perhaps  proper  to  add,  that  in  a 
letter  since  received  from  Dr.  Despine  he  attests  the  absolute  correctness  of  the 
author's  analysis. 

41 


642  CRIME,  — ITS  CAUSES  AND  CURE.  [BOOK  vin. 

As  the  rational  treatment  of  a  sick  man  makes  necessary  a 
study  of  the  organic  disease  by  which  he  has  been  attacked,  so  is 
it  necessary  to  know  the  abnormal  psychical  condition  of  the 
criminal,  —  the  moral  disease  which  produced  the  crime.  How- 
ever, in  speaking  of  the  moral  disease  of  criminals  it  must  be 
explained  that  they  are  not  diseased  in  such  a  sense  that,  like  the 
insane,  they  stand  in  need  of  medical  treatment.  Their  mental 
state  does  not  grow  worse,  like  that  of  insane  patients,  in  the 
sense  of  a  gradual  decay  of  all  their  faculties.  The  criminal 
therefore  is  not  a  patient,  and  in  this  respect  he  must  not  be 
likened  to  the  insane. 

But,  although  sound  in  body,  the  criminal  none  the  less  mani- 
fests psychical  anomalies  of  a  grave  character.  But  these  anom- 
alies must  not  be  sought  in  the  intellectual  faculties  properly  so 
called,  —  in  the  perception,  the  memory,  the  reasoning  faculty; 
that  is  to  say,  in  the  reflective  powers.  Although  many  criminals 
are  as  scantily  endowed  with  intellectual  as  with  moral  faculties, 
it  is  not  the  lack  of  intelligence  which  is  the  distinctive  character 
of  these  dangerous  beings,  for  there  are  among  them  persons  of 
great  intelligence,  capable  of  forming  ingenious  combinations 
which  are  the  product  necessarily  of  strong  reflective  faculties. 
The  distinctive  anomalies  of  criminals  are  found  only  in  the  moral 
faculties,  in  the  instincts  of  the  soul,  out  of  which  spring  its 
desires  and  proclivities,  and  which  constitute  our  principles  of 
action  ;  for  it  is  these  which  impel  us  to  act  in  one  direction  or 
in  another. 

In  studying  criminals,  the  first  thing  which  strikes  us,  and 
which  is  obvious  to  all,  is  the  perversity,  the  criminal  thoughts 
and  desires  inspired  by  the  evil  inclinations  and  vices  inherent  in 
mankind,  but  more  emphasized  in  criminals  than  in  other  men. 
It  is  the  violent  passions,  —  hate,  revenge,  jealousy,  envy  ;  it  is 
also  other  passions  which,  without  being  violent,  are  no  less  tena- 
cious in  criminals,  such  as  cupidity,  the  love  of  pleasure,  profound 
repugnance  to  a  regular  life,  and  an  intense  dislike  of  labor.  It 
is  these  last  two  mentioned  vices  especially  that  impel  criminals 
to  seek  the  means  of  satisfying  the  material  wants  of  life  and  the 
enjoyments  which  they  crave,  not  in  honest  toil,  but  in  readier 
ways  which  are  immoral  and  hateful,  —  in  theft,  arson,  and  mur- 
der. These  qualities  in  criminals  are  manifest  to  the  eyes  of  all. 
But  these  malign  passions,  these  immoral  propensities  and  de- 
sires, do  not  really  constitute  an  abnormal  psychical  state  ;  and 
the  proof  is  that  these  evil  tendencies,  wicked  passions,  and  per- 
verse and  criminal  desires  make  themselves  felt  in  the  soul  of  the 
most  upright  man,  without  his  ceasing  to  conduct  himself  in  a 
virtuous  manner,  for  the  reason  that  he  wages  a  successful  war- 
fare against  them.  There  is  no  need  to  enlarge  upon  this  point, 
which  is  so  well  known  that  persons  engaged  in  the  study  of  the 


PART  n.]  DR.  DESPINE'S   VIEW.  643 

criminal,  seeing  in  him  only  perversity,  vicious  inclinations,  im- 
moral desires,  have  considered  him,  in  a  moral  point  of  view,  as 
normally  constituted.  But  his  moral  irregularity  is  to  be  looked 
for  elsewhere. 

To  understand  in  what  this  irregularity  consists,  it  must  be 
considered  what  passes  in  the  man,  recognized  as  normal  in  his 
moral  constitution,  when  he  finds  himself  in  presence  of  a  per- 
verse thought,  an  immoral  desire.  Every  one  sees  it  in  a  moment. 
The  conscience,  the  moral  faculties,  the  instincts  of  the  soul  — 
three  forms  of  expression  that  mean  the  same  thing  —  are 
roused  ;  the  moral  sentiments  opposed  to  the  vicious  instincts 
are  shocked  by  these  ideas  and  desires.  Excited  by  the  wound 
thus  inflicted  upon  them  they  react  more  or  less  vigorously, 
according  to  the  degree  of  power  they  have  in  each  individual. 
From  this  a  moral  conflict  springs  up  in  the  soul  between  the 
good  and  the  evil  sentiments.  In  this  moral  conflict  appear, 
according  to  the  more  or  less  perfect  moral  nature  of  the  man 
normally  constituted,  three  orders  of  good  sentiments  antagonistic 
to  the  commission  of  the  criminal  act:  I.  The  sentiments  which 
are  developed  and  exert  their  force  on  the  selfish  side,  —  that  is  to 
say,  the  moral  sentiments  which  prompt  to  virtue  and  withhold 
from  vice  through  a  well-understood  and  well-considered  personal 
interest,  but  with  no  other  view  than  some  present  or  future  ad- 
vantage ;  such,  for  example,  as  the  fear  of  punishment,  of  public 
scorn,  of  the  loss  of  liberty,  the  dread  of  being  deprived  of  the 
enjoyment  of  one's  possessions,  of  being  separated  from  his 
family,  of  leading  a  wretched  life,  a  life  full  of  privations,  etc. 
2.  The  generous  sentiments,  such  as  sympathy,  kindness,  benevo- 
lence, and  the  like,  which  lead  us  to  act  charitably  toward  our 
fellows  under  the  promptings  of  a  loving  nature,  and  with  a  view 
to  the  contentment  of  the  sentiments  of  generosity  and  magna- 
nimity with  which  the  Creator  has  endowed  us.  3.  The  conscience, 
the  moral  sense,  the  sentiment  of  right  and  wrong,  —  accompanied 
by  a  feeling  of  obligation  to  do  what  is  right,  not  in  view  of  any 
satisfaction  or  advantage  to  be  hoped  from  it,  but  because  it  is 
right ;  and  to  abstain  from  what  is  wrong,  not  on  account  of  any 
suffering  to  be  feared  as  a  consequence,  but  because  it  is  felt  to 
be  wrong.  This  unselfish  and  disinterested  sentiment  is  the 
highest  expression  of  the  conscience ;  and  its  motive-power  of 
action,  instead  of  being  some  selfish  satisfaction  or  some  generous 
impulse,  is  duty.  It  is  this  lofty  moral  faculty  which  makes  the 
man  who  is  so  happy  as  to  possess  it  feel  that  he  must  repel  a 
vicious  or  criminal  act,  however  great  the  advantage  to  be  gained 
by  it,  and  however  painful  the  course  to  be  taken  in  doing  so.  It 
is  this  which  drew  from  Kant,  the  great  German  philosopher  and 
moralist,  the  exclamation,  profoundly  true  :  "  Duty !  wonderful 
idea,  which  acts  neither  by  insinuation,  nor  by  flattery,  nor  by 


644  CRIME,  — ITS  CAUSES  AND  CURE.  [BOOK  vin. 

menace,  but  simply  by  sustaining  in  the  soul  thy  naked  law,  — 
thus  compelling  respect  for  thyself,  if  not  always  securing  obedi- 
ence to  thy  commands." 

Such  are  the  three  orders  of  sentiments  or  moral  instincts  with 
which  the  Creator  has  endowed  us  to  combat  the  perverse  senti- 
ments or  instincts  which  exist  in  our  hearts ;  thus,  as  it  were, 
putting  the  antidote  at  the  side  of  the  poison. 

Now,  by  the  side  of  men  normally  constituted,  although  imper- 
fect because  they  are  men,  what  do  we  see  ?  —  Anomalies,  mon- 
strosities. In  a  physical  point  of  view  we  find,  by  the  side  of 
men  well-formed,  strong,  of  robust  health,  of  noble  mien,  beings 
ill-shaped,  weak,  sickly,  of  ignoble  and  sinister  aspect.  Viewing 
men  intellectually,  what  do  we  see  ?  — The  same  differences.  By 
the  side  of  men  of  genius,  who  create  sciences,  who  produce  those 
marvels  of  the  imagination  which  in  literature  and  the  arts  kindle 
our  enthusiasm  and  raise  our  admiration  to  the  highest  pitch,  we 
find  vulgar  intelligences,  insensible  to  the  creations  of  genius  and 
the  splendors  of  nature,  incapable  of  lifting  themselves  above  the 
material  wants  of  life.  Descending  in  the  scale,  we  meet  at  last 
with  the  weak-minded,  the  imbecile,  the  idiotic.  These  imper- 
fections, infirmities,  monstrosities,  which  we  see  in  the  physical 
and  intellectual  world,  we  see  also  in  the  moral  world,  as  marked, 
as  numerous,  and  as  varied. 

The  reality  and  nature  of  these  moral  anomalies  have  been 
heretofore  either  completely  ignored  or  their  importance  not 
sufficiently  recognized.  Because  the  man  is  intellectually  intelli- 
gent, because  he  is  in  health,  because  he  has  command  of  his 
ideas,  because  he  reasons,  it  has  been  thought  that  he  must  be 
also  morally  intelligent,  that  his  moral  faculties  are  in  a  sound 
state,  that  his  conscience  is  capable  of  feeling  and  weighing  right 
and  wrong,  and  that  he  has  the  ability  to  repress  his  evil  desires  ; 
and  this  belief  is  entertained  without  ever  having  dreamed  of 
studying  his  moral  nature,  without  having  examined  the  state  of 
his  conscience,  without  having  so  much  as  once  thought  whether 
he  is  really  endowed  with  those  moral  instincts  which  are  antago- 
nistic to  the  depraved  instincts,  and  which  alone  have  power  to 
wage  a  successful  warfare  against  them. 

These  infirmities,  these  moral  anomalies,  what  are  they  ? 
Where  are  they  to  be  sought  ?  In  what  part  of  the  man  do  they 
reside  ?  Is  it  in  the  depraved  instincts,  in  the  immoral  proclivi- 
ties, in  the  criminal  desires  even  ?  Not  at  all.  But  why  not  ? 
Because  the  perverse  sentiments  and  the  depraved  ideas  and 
desires  which  they  inspire  are  as  much  inherent  in  humanity  as 
the  virtuous  sentiments  and  their  moral  inspirations.  The  pres- 
ence of  perverted  sentiments  does  not,  then,  of  itself  constitute 
an  anomaly.  Whenever  the  antidote  is  found  in  the  heart  beside 
the  poison,  the  moral  state  of  the  man  is  regular.  But  suppose 


PART  ii.]  DR.  DESPINE'S   VIEW.  645 

the  antidote,  represented  by  the  moral  sentiments,  is  either  too 
weak  or  wholly  wanting.  In  that  case  the  anomaly  exists  incon- 
testably.  The  moral  equilibrium  is  destroyed,  for  the  virtuous 
instincts  of  the  soul  and  the  moral  thoughts  inspired  by  them  can 
alone  serve  as  a  counterpoise  to  the  power  of  evil  passions,  of 
perversity.  It  is  this  psychical  or  soul-anomaly,  this  moral  feeble- 
ness, this  absence  of  conscience  with  which  criminals  are  stricken. 
It  is  this  which  makes  the  criminal ;  it  is  this  which  renders  it 
possible  for  a  man  to  commit  acts  that  wound  profoundly  the 
moral  sense.  The  intellectual  faculties  are  incapable  by  them- 
selves of  serving  as  a  counterpoise  to  depravity.  They  take  part 
in  the  combat  against  it  only  when  they  are  directed  in  their 
activity  by  the  moral  faculties. 

The  psychical  anomalies  under  consideration  —  the  complete 
or  partial  absence  of  the  moral  faculties  which,  connected  as  it  is 
with  the  presence  of  the  immoral  proclivities,  makes  criminals  — 
are  often  hereditary,  as  are  all  the  other  vices  that  inhere  in 
human  nature.  How  often  do  descendants  receive  from  their 
ancestors  the  moral  anomalies  out  of  which  crime  for  the  most 
part  springs !  The  organic  condition  connected  with  these  grave 
moral  anomalies,  without  being  a  real  disease,  since  it  coexists 
with  a  healthy  state  of  the  body,  has  nevertheless  a  relationship 
more  or  less  close  with  the  pathological  conditions  of  the  brain 
which  produce  the  different  varieties  of  insanity.  The  cases  in 
which  the  children  of  the  insane  become  ordinary  criminals  are 
too  numerous  not  to  attribute  the  origin  of  this  fact  to  an  heredi- 
tary organic  influence. 

The  sentiments  whose  feebleness  or  absence  makes  the  moral 
idiot  may  be  divided  into  three  classes :  (i)  The  moral  sense,  the 
noblest  element  of  man's  higher  nature  ;  (2)  The  generous  senti- 
ments, —  pity,  respect,  benevolence,  charity,  —  all  having  regard 
to  others,  and  all  operating  as  a  restraint  upon  criminal  desires 
through  such  regard  ;  and  (3)  The  sentiments  of  prudence,  fore- 
sight, fear,  the  love  of  approbation,  operating  on  the  selfish  side, 
—  that  is,  the  side  of  a  well-considered  personal  interest. 

1.  The  absence  of  the  moral  sense  in  criminals  may  be  readily 
made  apparent.     The  conscience  of  the  man  who  is  so  happy  as 
to  possess  this  high  moral  faculty  is  wounded  by  his  depraved 
thoughts,  desires,  and  acts.     It  is  therefore  evident  that  he  who 
experiences  no  moral  repulsion  in  presence  of  his  criminal  de- 
sires, and  who  after  having  satisfied  these  desires  has  no  feeling 
of  remorse,  is  without  a  moral  sense.     This  absence  of   moral 
recoil  from  criminal  desires  and  of  remorse  after  the  commission 
of  crime  is  a  fact  of  observation  confirmed  by  many  observers  in 
many  different  lands. 

2.  The  generous  sentiments  are  wanting  in  criminals  almost  to 
an  equal  degree  with  the  moral  sense.    Nature  has  endowed  most 


646  CRIME,  — ITS  CAUSES  AND   CURE.  [BOOK  vin. 

men  with  sentiments  of  pity,  of  commiseration,  of  good-will,  and 
of  charity  towards  other  men.  But  great  criminals  are  an  excep- 
tion to  this  rule.  Without  pity  for  the  victims  whom  they  rob  or 
assassinate,  the  commencement  of  the  criminal  act  awakens  no 
kindly  sentiment  within  them,  nor  does  it  recall  them  to  moral 
reason  or  arrest  them  in  its  execution.  They  destroy  every  thing 
which  forms  an  obstacle  to  their  rapacity,  and  they  do  not  cease 
to  strike  till  their  victim  is  without  life.  Nor,  after  robbing  him 
of  life,  do  they  ever  bemoan  his  fate :  they  even  insult  his  corpse, 
cast  ridicule  upon  it,  and  eat  and  drink  tranquilly  beside  it.  They 
have  no  sense  of  the  value  of  human  life.  They  murder  for  the 
veriest  trifles,  —  for  a  few  pieces  of  money,  for  a  momentary 
gratification  ;  and  not  a  thought  or  an  emotion  is  wasted  on  the 
anguish  they  will  cause  to  the  family  of  their  victim.  Insensible 
to  the  evil  which  they  commit,  regardless  of  the  sad  fate  of  their 
victims  and  of  their  victims'  families,  they  are  equally  indifferent 
to  the  punishments  to  which  their  accomplices  may  be  subjected. 
It  is  marvellous  to  observe  the  facility  with  which  criminals  who 
have  been  arrested  denounce  their  accomplices  who  are  still  at 
liberty,  and  how  willingly  they  aid  in  their  arrest.  They  do  this 
either  with  the  selfish  aim  of  transferring  to  them  the  responsi- 
bility of  the  acts  whose  pressure  they  feel  and  of  being  themselves 
less  severely  treated,  or  with  the  wicked  purpose  of  involving 
them  in  punishment  and  of  not  suffering  alone  the  chastisement 
with  which  they  are  menaced.  The  bond  which  unites  these 
wretched  beings  is  interest  alone,  and  not  affection.  Thus  the 
moment  this  selfish  bond  is  broken  they  treat  each  other  as  aliens 
and  enemies. 

3.  The  sentiments  which  stand  connected  with  a  well-consid- 
ered self-interest  are  conspicuously  wanting  in  these  exceptional 
beings,  so  abnormally  constituted  in  regard  to  the  natural  instincts 
of  the  soul.  The  lack  of  prudence  is  notorious  in  persons  desti- 
tute of  the  moral  sense,  and  in  whom  the  selfish  fear  of  punish- 
ment is  stifled  by  some  violent  passion,  such  as  hatred,  jealousy, 
vengeance,  and  sometimes  even  avarice.  In  that  case  we  see 
these  madmen  threaten,  either  publicly  or  privately,  the  person 
who  is  the  object  of  their  passion  with  the  fate  to  which  they  have 
doomed  him.  There  are  criminals  so  devoid  of  the  sentiment  of 
prudence  that  they  talk  coolly  of  appropriating  what  belongs  to 
others  by  brushing  aside  all  the  obstacles  which  they  encounter, 
so  that  when  the  crime  has  been  committed  the  author  is  instantly 
recognized.  Improvidence  is  strongly  characteristic  of  the  greater 
number  of  criminals.  It  is  owing  to  this  singular  trait,  which  be- 
longs more  or  less  to  the  whole  class,  that  they  are  entirely  absorbed 
by  the  desire  which  possesses  them  at  the  moment.  One  would 
say  that  they  do  not  so  much  as  cast  a  thought  towards  the  future, 
which  for  them  is  as  though  it  would  never  be.  The  consequences 


PART  n.]  DR.  DESPINE'S  VIEW.  647 

of  the  crimes  which  they  meditate  make  no  impression  upon  them, 
and  if  they  think  at  all  of  punishment  it  seems  to  them  that  they 
will  never  be  overtaken  by  it.  Their  mind  is  intent  solely  on 
'  satisfying  present  desires,  in  regard  to  which  their  conscience  has 
no  reproaches.  This  extreme  improvidence  and  this  absence  of 
fear  give  to  criminals  an  audacity  and  effrontery  truly  surprising. 
Without  moral  curb,  and  scarcely  held  in  check  by  the  well-con- 
sidered self-interest  which  fear  inspires,  how  should  they  not  be 
daring  and  audacious  ?  But  this  blind  audacity  is  not  born  of  true 
courage,  which  foresees  danger,  which  fears  it,  which  provides 
against  it,  and  which  confronts  it  under  the  sole  impulse  of  duty. 
The  man  who  can  sell  at  so  cheap  a  rate  every  thing  which  a 
rational  regard  to  his  own  interest  would  prompt  him  to  keep 
must  necessarily  be  but  feebly  endowed  with  the  sentiments  which 
that  interest  inspires,  and  especially  with  fear.  For  trifling  and 
transitory  advantages  he  exposes  himself  to  the  hardest  chastise- 
ments, —  to  the  loss  of  personal  liberty  in  places  of  detention,  to 
the  severe  treatment  of  the  prison-house,  to  be  separated  from 
his  family,  to  be  scorned,  to  die  a  violent  and  ignominious  death 
which  wounds  to  the  last  degree  the  dignity  of  man.  In  a  word, 
he  prefers  a  vagrant,  precarious,  turbulent  existence  to  a  life  calm 
and  regular,  full  of  serenity  and  peace. 

In  presence  of  these  various  sorts  of  moral  insensibility  which 
are  found  in  different  degrees  in  all  criminals,  can  there  remain  a 
doubt,  asks  the  author  of  these  "  studies,"  that  these  wretched 
beings  are  the  subjects  of  a  grave  moral  anomaly  ?  Can  there  be 
a  doubt  of  it,  when  the  absence  or  deficiency  of  the  moral  facul- 
ties shows  itself  so  palpably  in  its  effects,  —  first,  in  the  absence  of 
all  reprobation  of  the  criminal  thought  or  desire,  and  then  in  the 
absence  of  all  remorse  after  the  criminal  act  ? 

The  understanding,  however  great  it  may  be,  does  not  prevent 
or  diminish  the  shock  caused  to  the  moral  reason  and  the  moral 
liberty  of  the  criminal  by  his  moral  insensibility ;  it  does  not  hold 
this  man  back  from  crime.  Far  from  it.  The  understanding  when 
guided  exclusively  by  perverted  moral  instincts  becomes,  on  the 
contrary,  a  power  all  the  more  dangerous  in  proportion  as  it  is 
developed.  Intent  solely  on  the  satisfaction  of  these  instincts,  it 
devises  criminal  projects  and  seeks  the  means  of  carrying  them 
into  effect ;  it  produces,  above  all,  malefactors  fertile  in  criminal 
inventions,  able  chiefs  of  criminal  gangs. 

Mere  intellectual  knowledge  has  very  little  influence  in  holding 
back  these  morally-insensible  natures  from  the  perpetration  of  the 
crimes  to  which  they  are  urged  by  their  evil  instincts.  Criminals 
know  that  what  they  do  is  forbidden  by  the  laws  and  that  they  are 
menaced  by  punishments.  They  know  even  the  kind  of  penalties 
to  which  they  expose  themselves  by  such  or  such  a  crime ;  for 
professional  criminals  are  well  acquainted  with  the  articles  of  the 


648  CRIME,  — ITS  CAUSES  AND  CURE.  [BOOK  vm. 

criminal  code  which  concern  themselves.  But  does  this  knowledge 
hinder  their  attempts  against  society  ?  Not  in  the  least.  Society 
is  none  the  less  assailed  by  them.  Laws  and  punishments  are 
alike  powerless  when  the  moral  idiocy  of  these  criminally-inclined 
beings  extends  to  the  imbecility  or  absence  of  the  sentiment  of 
fear,  —  a  thing  by  no  means  rare.  This  fact  has  long  been  known, 
for  it  is  an  old  experience  that  "  laws  without  good  morals  profit 
nothing." 

Hitherto  we  have  given  only  the  views  held  by  the  author  con- 
cerning criminals  who  commit  crime  in  cold  blood.  We  add  a 
short  re'sumt  of  what  he  says  concerning  criminals  who  commit 
such  acts  under  the  influence  of  violent  passions,  —  as  hatred, 
revenge,  jealousy,  anger.  In  most  of  these,  he  says,  we  find  a 
moral  insensibility  as  great  as  in  cold-blooded  criminals,  —  an 
insensibility  proved  by  the  absence  of  remorse  after  the  crime. 
Still,  a  small  number  of  these  persons  may  possess  the  moral 
sentiments  to  a  sufficient  degree.  Suddenly  overborne  by  some 
strong  passion,  which  instantly  stifles  and  paralyzes  the  nobler 
sentiments,  they  find  themselves  for  the  time  morally  insensi- 
ble, and  they  commit  the  crime  at  a  moment  when  all  they  feel 
and  think  pushes  them  on  to  it,  and  when  none  of  the  virtuous  sen- 
timents has  sufficient  force  to  combat  the  criminal  desire.  But 
when  once  the  passion  is  satisfied,  it  loses  its  power  and  no 
longer  holds  complete  possession  of  the  soul.  Then  the  moral 
sentiments,  momentarily  stifled,  resume  their  activity,  and,  shocked 
by  the  depraved  act,  they  produce  a  feeling  of  remorse  and  at  the 
same  time  of  regret  that  an  act  has  been  done  contrary  to  their 
own  interest,  —  a  remorse  and  regret  all  the  more  vivid,  because 
the  sentiments  which  felt  the  shock  and  which  now  cause  these 
pangs  of  repentance  are  stronger  and  more  powerful  than  the 
passions  which  had  obtained  a  temporary  victory.  In  some  cases 
the  moral  suffering  is  so  violent  that  it  plunges  the  person  into 
despair,  and  impels  him  to  suicide. 

Here,  then,  is  a  first  point  established  by  science.  It  is  a 
profound  moral  anomaly,  perfectly  characterized,  which  is  the 
cause  of  crime. 

But  science  can  push  its  researches  and  discoveries  yet  further. 
Back  of  the  psychological  there  lies  an  organic  cause  which  pro- 
duces it,  and  science  is  able  to  enlighten  us  in  regard  to  this  also. 
Starting  from  the  principle  that  our  psychical  or  soul-faculties 
manifest  themselves  through  an  organic  intermediary  —  the  brain, 
—  and  that  these  faculties,  the  moral  as  well  as  the  mental,  are 
profoundly  modified  in  their  nature  by  the  modifications  which 
take  place  in  the  modes  of  activity  of  the  brain,  as  is  seen  most 
clearly  in  insanity  and  under  the  influence  of  alcoholic  drinks, 
which  in  a  few  moments  modify  profoundly  the  moral  nature  of 


PART  ii.]  DR.  DES PINE'S  VIEW.  649 

man  by  the  action  which  they  exercise  on  the  mode  of  activity  of 
the  brain,  it  cannot  be  doubted  that  the  moral  anomalies  which 
produce  criminals  proceed  from  an  anomaly  in  the  mode  of  activity 
of  the  brain.  This  organic  emanation  is  equally  demonstrated  by 
the  fact  of  the  transmission  by  inheritance  —  itself  an  organic  effect 
—  of  the  psychical  anomalies  which  make  criminals.  How  often  do 
the  descendants  of  criminals  inherit  from  their  criminal  ancestors 
the  unhappy  moral  anomalies  which  are  necessary  in  order  to 
make  them  capable  of  committing  great  crimes  and  of  becoming 
criminal  themselves !  The  facts  which  prove  the  hereditary  de- 
scent of  these  moral  anomalies  are  of  very  frequent  occurrence. 
Sometimes  this  heritage  is  direct,  sometimes  it  leaps  over  a  gen- 
eration, sometimes  it  is  collateral. 

The  cerebral  condition  which  causes  a  manifestation  of  the 
moral  anomalies  with  which  criminals  and  those  who  are  suscep- 
tible of  becoming  criminals  are  affected,  is  not  a  disease  properly 
so  called,  for  the  individuals  in  whom  it  is  found  may  continue  all 
their  life  in  good  health.  This  condition,  though  compatible  with 
health,  ought  nevertheless  to  be  placed  in  the  category  of  organic 
infirmities;  and  this  particular  infirmity  is  closely  related  to  the  ce- 
rebral diseases  which  give  rise  to  insanity,  for  it  sometimes  slides 
into  those  diseases.  Moreover,  the  cases  in  which  the  children  of 
the  insane  show  themselves  to  be  viciously  constituted  in  a  moral 
point  of  view,  and  become  criminals,  are  extremely  numerous. 

The  relationship  which  exists  between  the  organic  condition 
which  gives  birth  to  the  moral  anomalies  necessary  to  the  produc- 
tion of  crime  and  that  which  causes  insanity  is  so  intimate  that 
crime  and  madness  often  spring  from  the  same  stem.  The  fact, 
attested  by  all  medical  men  who  have  made  the  treatment  of  the 
insane  a  specialty,  that  insanity  is  much  more  frequent  with 
criminals  than  with  other  men,  is  a  further  proof  that  crime  and 
madness  (it  may  be  added  suicide  also)  have  organic  ties  which 
bind  them  very  closely  together.  Dr.  Bruce  Thompson,  after  his 
long  experience,  comes  to  the  conclusion  that  the  inmates  of 
prisons  and  lunatic  asylums  have  so  many  points  of  resemblance 
that  it  is  often  impossible  to  fix  the  boundaries  between  them  ; 
that  the  principal  study  of  the  physician  of  a  prison  ought  to  be 
the  mental  state  of  the  prisoners  ;  that  the  diseases  and  causes 
of  death  in  prisons  depend  very  much  on  the  nervous  system  ; 
and  that  the  treatment  of  crime  should  be  made  a  branch  of 
psychology. 

Here,  then,  is  a  second  point  established  by  science  ;  and  the 
two  points  may  be  epitomized  thus  :  (i)  Crime  is  due  to  a  grave 
moral  anomaly  characterized  by  the  absence,  to  a  greater  or  less 
degree,  of  the  moral  sense  in  presence  of  desires  inspired  by 
evil  inclinations  ;  and  (2)  This  moral  anomaly  has  its  principle 
and  source  in  a  defective  cerebral  activity  closely  allied  to  that 
which  is  the  producing  cause  of  insanity. 


6$O  CRIME,  — ITS  CAUSES  AND  CURE.  [BOOK  vm. 


CHAPTER  XVIII.  —  DESPINE'S  VIEW  OF  THE  TREATMENT  OF 
CRIMINALS  SUGGESTED  BY  SCIENCE. 

SUCH  is  Dr.  Despine's  study  of  the  criminal;  such  his  theory 
of  criminality.     His   next  inquiry  is,    What  sort   of   treat- 
ment does  the  science  of  psychology,  as  thus  developed  in  its 
relation  to  criminals,  require  to  be  applied  to  them  in  order  to 
effect  their  cure  ? 

He  answers  :  Science  [considering  crime  as  the  natural  effect 
of  a  moral  disease  which,  as  we  have  seen,  he  calls  a  psycho- 
logical anomaly]  can  have  but  one  aim,  —  that  of  curing  this 
malady,  and  so  of  preventing  its  consequences  which  are  so  dis- 
astrous to  society.  If  it  refuses  to  a  certain  degree  to  recognize 
the  moral  responsibility  of  beings  more  or  less  deprived  of  the 
moral  sense  and  of  the  other  elevated  sentiments  of  humanity,  if 
it  denies  that  punishment  is  the  end  of  the  treatment  to  be  ap- 
plied to  criminals,  it  nevertheless  looks  upon  them  as  civilly 
responsible  for  the  injuries  which  they  have  caused  to  society; 
because,  in  principle,  he  who  inflicts  an  injury  ought  to  bear  its 
consequences  and  to  repair  it  as  far  as  that  may  be  possible,  —  and 
society,  attacked  in  its  dearest  interests  by  crime,  not  only  has 
the  right,  but  is  in  duty  bound  to  defend  itself.  But  what  sort  of 
person  is  it  against  whom  society  has  this  right  of  self-defence  ? 
Is  it  against  a  man  who  has  in  his  conscience,  like  other  men,  the 
necessary  means  to  combat  and  conquer  his  immoral  desires  ? 
According  to  the  description  given  of  the  abnormal  state  of  which 
it  is  claimed  that  all  criminals  are  more  or  less  the  subjects,  it  is 
plain  to  be  seen  that  the  moral  faculties,  which  are  pre-eminently 
the  antagonists  of  the  vicious  sentiments,  are  wanting  to  them  in 
different  degrees.  If  then  these  men,  the  subjects  of  a  real  moral 
idiocy,  are  dangerous,  they  are  at  the  same  time  deserving  of  our 
pity.  To  shield  ourselves  from  the  danger  with  which  they  men- 
ace us,  we  are  under  a  necessity  of  separating  them  from  society. 
This  separation,  with  the  hard  conditions  necessarily  involved  in 
it,  constitutes  in  itself  a  punishment.  But  the  treatment  which 
aims  only  to  punish  for  the  sake  of  punishing  is  dangerous  both 
to  society  and  to  the  criminal ;  it  rarely  improves  the  criminal, 
and  often  makes  him  worse.  In  France  it  produces  from  forty 
to  forty-five  per  cent  of  recidivists. 

If  such  is  the  fact,  we  may  rest  assured  that  it  is  because 
we  have  pursued  a  wrong  road  ;  it  is  because,  having  hitherto 
taken  as  our  guides  on  this  question  only  fear  and  vengeance 
and  not  scientific  data,  we  have  had  in  view  punishment  alone ; 
it  is  because,  never  having  studied  the  moral  state  which  leads  a 
man  to  crime,  we  have  ignored  this  abnormal  condition  alto- 


PART  II.]  DR.  DESPINE'S   VIEW.  651 

gether,  and  we  have  not  been  able  to  perceive,  that,  in  order  to 
arrive  at  a  favorable  result,  we  must  aim  to  bring  down  to  the 
lowest  possible  point  this  anomaly  which  is  so  fruitful  a  source 
of  crime.  The  criminal  is  a  being  apart ;  he  is  different  in  a 
moral  point  of  view  from  other  men.  If  this  is  so,  the  best 
way  to  prevent  crime  and  protect  society  would  be  to  cause  this 
difference  to  cease,  —  if  not  wholly,  since  that  is  impossible,  at 
least  approximately  enough  to  render  the  criminal  a  safe  member 
of  society.  The  legislation  which  takes  this  point  of  departure 
will  surely  attain  a  degree  of  perfection  and  success  which  has  no 
existence  at  the  present  moment ;  for,  as  Beccaria  has  said,  "  All 
legislation  which  stops  with  the  punishment  of  crime  and  does 
not  aim  to  prevent  it  is  imperfect." 

The  direction  which  society  should  take,  under  these  circum- 
stances, is  based  on  a  knowledge  of  the  moral  anomaly  with  which 
criminals  are  affected,  and  on  the  just  necessity  of  protecting  it- 
self against  the  perils  which  they  offer.  In  this  view  its  first 
duty  is  to  segregate  them,  to  place  them  under  the  dependence  of 
the  penitentiary  administration,  —  not  however  for  a  period  fixed 
in  advance,  determined  by  the  nature  of  the  crime  committed.  It 
is  rather  the  moral  state  of  the  criminal  that  is  to  be  taken  into 
account,  for  a  very  dangerous  criminal  may  have  committed  acts 
of  no  serious  gravity,  while  another  whose  moral  state  is  far  less 
depraved  may  have  committed  an  aggravated  crime  in  a  moment 
of  uncontrollable  excitement.  Society  has  the  right  to  defend  it- 
self against  the  wretches  who  attack  it,  and  to  keep  them  segre- 
gated, not  for  a  time  determined  in  advance,  but  so  long  as  they 
continue  to  be  dangerous. 

Here  we  have  a  first  point  in  reference  to  the  treatment  of 
criminals,  —  that  of  the  time  of  sequestration,  —  established  by 
science,  and  which  is  thoroughly  in  accord  with  what  is  demanded 
by  common-sense.  Under  the  system  which  fixes  the  time  in 
advance,  —  a  system  which  recognizes  in  the  prisoner's  sequestra- 
tion only  the  element  of  punishment, —  we  see  daily  set  loose  in 
society  a  multitude  of  malefactors  who  are  known  to  be  danger- 
ous, and  who  prove  themselves  to  be  so  by  the  frequent  relapses 
which  take  place  shortly  after  their  liberation.  Does  not  such  a 
mode  of  action  wear  absurdity  on  its  face  ? 

In  taking  as  a  starting-point  the  principle  that  we  have  here  to 
deal  with  persons  afflicted  with  a  moral  anomaly  which  is  of  the 
nature  of  a  disease,  it  is  evident  that  to  cure  or  at  least  to  lessen 
this  malady  should  be  the  supreme  aim  in  their  treatment.  It  is 
to  this  end  that  all  the  means  employed  ought  to  converge.  Fur- 
ther, as  the  moral  anomaly  with  which  criminals  are  attacked 
varies  almost  infinitely,  it  would  be  as  irrational  to  treat  all  these 
varieties  in  the  same  manner  as  it  would  to  treat  all  the  ail- 
ments of  the  body  alike. 


652  CRIME,  — ITS  CAUSES  AND  CURE.  [BOOK  vm. 

As  regards  systems  of  treatment,  Dr.  Despine  considers  that 
of  life  in  common,  duly  regulated,  as  better  adapted  to  human 
nature  than  life  in  the  cell,  —  which,  however,  he  admits  may 
be  exceptionally  employed  for  a  time.  The  general  conditions 
in  which  criminals  should  be  placed  in  penitentiaries  are  stated 
by  the  author  in  the  three  following  specifications:  I.  Not  to 
allow  isolated  communication  between  these  perverse  and  mor- 
ally incomplete  beings  who,  having  only  the  germs  of  evil  in 
them,  would  but  become  the  more  perverse  by  immediate  con- 
tact with  each  other.  This  end  might  be  effected  by  a  division 
into  small  groups,  by  the  employment  of  a  sufficient  number  of 
overseers,  and  by  placing  the  more  dangerous  in  the  groups  of 
prisoners  already  reformed  and  who  are  nearest  their  libera- 
tion. 2.  Not  to  leave  too  much  alone  and  by  themselves  these 
unfortunates,  more  or  less  morally  imbecile,  who  possess  in  their 
own  conscience  no  means  of  amendment,  or  have  only  such  as 
are  insufficient  to  that  end.  It  is  commonly  thought  that  dur- 
ing his  isolation  in  the  cell  the  criminal  enters  within  himself, 
and  that  through  his  self-communion  he  conceives  at  length  the 
desire  and  purpose  to  reform.  This  error  proceeds  from  igno- 
rance of  the  fact  that  the  criminal  is  not  possessed  of  the  moral 
sentiments  which  inspire  the  wish  and  the  will  to  pursue  an  up- 
right conduct.  Abandoned  to  his  own  proper  forces,  he  either 
corrupts  himself  still  further,  or  he  becomes  brutalized  by  losing 
in  inaction  the  little  that  he  has  of  moral  force,  or  insanity  super- 
venes more  readily  than  in  association.  3.  To  study  the  in- 
stinctive nature  of  each  prisoner,  and  to  take  advantage  of  the 
knowledge  thus  gained  to  lead  his  thoughts  to  good,  to  inculcate 
ideas  of  order,  and  to  give  him  the  taste  and  the  habit  of  labor. 

It  is  not  worth  while,  according  to  the  conception  of  our  author, 
to  dream  of  the  impossible  as  regards  the  moral  amelioration  of 
prisoners,  and  above  all  as  regards  that  of  the  great  criminals. 
All  that  can  be  hoped  of  them  is  to  cause  to  spring  up  in  their 
soul  the  desire  to  change  their  life,  —  to  cause  to  speak  in  them  a 
material  interest  well  understood  instead  of  such  an  interest  ill 
understood  ;  that  is,  to  excite  in  them  sentiments  which  are  not 
indeed  very  elevated,  but  which  are  nevertheless  almost  the 
only  ones  they  are  capable  of  feeling.  We  must  seek  to  give 
them,  by  long  practice,  the  habit  of  professional  labor,  —  a  trade, 
by  which  they  can  earn  an  honest  living  after  their  release,  and, 
by  suitably  rewarding  their  labor  even  during  their  imprisonment, 
to  induce  in  them  a  love  of  work  and  the  definitive  purpose  to 
lead  an  industrious  life.  To  restrict  them  to  a  labor  stupid  in  it- 
self, —  a  labor  which  teaches  them  nothing,  which  disgusts  and 
irritates  them,  and  from  which  they  will  afterwards  be  able  to  de- 
rive no  ad\e.ntage,  —  is  a  misconception  of  the  whole  aim  and 
end  of  prison  treatment.  To  deal  with  them  in  this  manner  is  in 


PART  IL]  DR.  DESPINE'S   VIEW.  653 

some  sort  to  force  these  wretched  creatures,  who  have  no  means 
of  living  and  who  are  repulsed  on  all  sides,  to  return  to  a  life  of 
crime  or  to  perish  with  hunger. 

Chief  among  the  good  sentiments  which  it  is  needful  to  excite 
in  the  heart  of  the  criminal  in  order  to  lift  him  from  the  condi- 
tion of  moral  debasement  in  which  he  is  found,  are  the  religious 
sentiment  and  family  affections.  There  are  also  other  senti- 
ments of  great  power  over  the  human  spirit  which  are  too  much 
neglected  in  prison  treatment.  Fear  is  very  much  relied  upon 
for  the  maintenance  of  discipline  and  to  lead  the  criminal  to 
change  his  Iffe.  It  is  a  bad  agent.  The  psychological  study  of 
criminals  shows  that  they  are  but  little  accessible  to  fear.  In- 
stead, therefore,  of  treating  the  criminal  as  simply  a  degraded 
and  abject  being,  we  must  seek  to  raise  him  in  his  own  eyes  ; 
we  must  sustain  him  by  encouragements  and  by  hope.  He 
must  be  made  to  know  that  his  imprisonment  and  the  severe 
discipline  under  which  he  is  obliged  to  live  are  less  a  punish- 
ment than  a  treatment  having  in  view  to  ameliorate  his  moral 
state,  to  give  him  the  habit  of  a  regular  and  laborious  life,  and  to 
inspire  him  with  respect  for  himself,  for  his  fellows,  and  for  their 
life  and  property.  All  these  are  things  which  he  can  readily  be 
made  to  understand.  We  must  cause  to  resound  without  ceasing 
in  his  heart  the  sweet  name  of  liberty.  We  must  give  him  to 
understand  that  he  holds  his  fate  in  his  own  hands,  and  that  he 
will  not  be  liberated  till  he  shall  have  proved  by  his  industry  and 
his  good  conduct  that  he  can  maintain  himself  in  society  without 
wounding  it  afresh.  He  must  know,  also,  that  the  authorities  are 
on  their  guard  against  hypocrisy ;  and  that,  after  the  rational  and 
humane  treatment  to  which  he  has  been  subjected,  if  he  returns 
to  his  former  life  he  will  be  regarded  as  obdurate,  and  will  be 
kept  in  prison  till  he  shall  have  given  more  complete  proofs  of 
reformation.  The  sentiment  of  personal  dignity  and  self-respect 
must  be  re-awakened  in  the  breast  of  the  criminal ;  his  manhood 
must  be  treated  with  respect,  even  when  under  punishment  for 
infractions  against  discipline :  nothing  will  tend  more  to  make 
him  feel  the  respect  which  he  owes  to  others.  Instead  of  pursu- 
ing such  a  line  of  conduct  towards  the  criminal,  what  is  the 
course  actually  taken  with  him  ?  We  treat  him  with  the  pro- 
foundest  disdain  ;  we  array  him  in  a  repulsive  and  humiliating 
garb ;  we  seek  to  make  him  forget  that  he  belongs  to  a  family,  to 
humanity  ;  we  designate  him  by  a  number  instead  of  a  name ! 
The  principle  of  emulation  should  be  brought  into  play  in  our 
dealing  with  prisoners.  They  should  be  stimulated  to  good  con- 
duct by  means  of  rolls  of  honor,  by  good  marks,  by  premiums 
even,  which  should  be  distributed  to  them  with  a  certain  solem- 
nity in  order  to  strike  their  imagination.  The  safety  of  society 
is  profoundly  concerned  in  such  treatment  of  prisoners. 


654  CRIME,  — ITS  CAUSES  AND  CURE.  [BOOK  vnr. 

There  is  a  Gospel  parable  with  which  we  are  all  familiar, —  a 
parable  most  admirable  in  a  psychological  point  of  view,  since  it 
involves  the  entire  treatment  proper  to  be  applied  to  criminals. 
It  is  the  parable  of  the  Good  Shepherd.  Dr.  Despine  earnestly 
presses  upon  all  the  friends  of  prison  reform  a  careful  study  of 
this  parable.  We  may  say  to  society :  "  You  desire,  in  your  own 
interest,  that  the  lost  sheep  be  brought  back  to  the  fold.  Provide 
then  the  means  of  recovering  him.  Make  it  possible  for  him  to 
return  from  his  wanderings.  Do  not,  by  useless  and  dangerous 
punishments,  sow  with  disgust  and  hatred  the  path  that  leads 
back  to  the  fold,  and  which  you  desire  him  to  take.  Give  to  the 
criminal  the  possibility,  when  once  he  is  free,  of  loving  labor  and 
of  thereby  procuring  the  means  of  existence.  Encourage  him, 
sustain  him,  watch  over  him  during  the  first  years  of  his  free- 
dom, —  a  work  so  well  performed  by  the  patronage  or  aid  socie- 
ties, which  cannot  be  too  warmly  commended  or  too  generously 
supported." 

To  the  intent  that  a  penitentiary  asylum  may  fulfil  the  end 
here  proposed,  it  is  desirable  that  it  should  not  contain  too  large 
a  number  of  prisoners.  The  role  of  the  director  in  these  houses 
ought  to  be  altogether  different  from  that  which  he  is  called 
actually  to  fill.  The  chief  of  the  establishment  ought  to  know 
thoroughly  the  special  moral  ailment  of  each  one  of  his  prisoners 
and  to  find  himself  often  in  contact  with  them,  to  the  end  that  he 
may,  while  directing  them  in  the  right  path,  inspire  them  with 
courage  and  hope.  The  under-officers  ought  to  be  well  instructed 
in  regard  to  the  psychical  condition  of  criminals,  and  also  on  the 
duties  of  charity  and  firmness  which  they  will  be  called  upon  to 
discharge.  It  is  therefore  much  to  be  desired  that  normal  schools 
for  the  special  instruction  and  training  of  prison  officers  be  every- 
where established. 

Such  is  a  rapid  exposition  of  the  views  put  forth  by  Dr.  Des- 
pine touching  the  cause  and  cure  of  crime.  He  insists,  with  the 
utmost  earnestness,  that  the  essential  point  in  this  question  lies 
wholly  in  the  psychological  principles  which  belong  to  it.  These 
principles  once  admitted,  the  practical  consequences  will  flow  from 
them  as  from  a  fountain,  and  it  will  be  the  office  of  experience  to 
fix  them  definitively. 

Although  this  rational  and  scientific  treatment  of  criminals  has 
not  yet  been  generally  adopted  in  prisons,  yet  here  and  there  emi- 
nent men  inspired  by  the  noblest  instincts  of  the  heart,  by  pity 
towards  beings  morally  feeble,  have  undertaken  by  gentle  and 
loving  means  to  lead  them  to  a  regular  and  virtuous  life.  In 
employing  a  system  opposed  to  official  rigor  they  have  succeeded 
in  their  attempt.  What  these  benefactors  of  the  human  race 
have  essayed  under  the  sole  inspiration  of  their  feelings  is  pre- 


PART  n.]  CRITIQUE  ON  DESPINE  >S  PHILOSOPHY.  655 

cisely,  our  author  affirms,  what  is  taught  by  cold,  hard  science, — 
that  is  to  say,  a  treatment  of  criminals  inspired  and  guided 
by  a  knowledge  of  their  psychical  state  and  of  the  laws  which 
govern  the  moral  world.  In  truth,  it  is  impossible  that  science 
should  find  itself  in  antagonism  with  the  highest  moral  teach- 
ing ;  namely,  to  render  good  for  evil.  Science  demonstrates  that 
society,  in  its  own  interest,  should  employ  towards  the  man  who 
has  injured  it  a  treatment  which,  though  marked  by  the  utmost 
firmness,  shall  be  at  the  same  time  humane  and  charitable. 


CHAPTER  XIX.  —  CRITIQUE  ON  DESPINE'S  PHILOSOPHY. 

FIRST,  Dr.  Despine  takes  no  notice  and  makes  no  account  of 
the  Biblical  doctrine  concerning  the  Fall  of  man,  by  which 
the  whole  race,  having  lapsed  from  its  "  original  righteousness," 
has  fallen  into  an  abnormal  moral  state.  But  though  philosophy, 
in  its  pride  of  knowledge  and  wisdom,  may  disdain  such  a  doc- 
trine and  stigmatize  it  as  the  offspring  of  theological  dogma,1  it 
is  none  the  less  a  fundamental  fact  of  humanity,  revealed  with 
infinite  variety  of  expression  in  Holy  Scripture,  and  attested  by 
every  page  of  human  history. 

Secondly,  Dr.  Despine's  doctrine  of  free-will  (fibre  arbitre)  we 
find  ourselves  unable  to  accept.  Not  every  volition,  in  his  view, 
emanates  from  the  will.  He  lays  down  three  limitations,  or  cases, 
in  which  free-will,  as  he  conceives,  has  no  proper  play:  i.  When 
the  desires  and  motives  are  not  opposed  by  contrary  desires  and 
motives.  From  this  it  results,  that,  if  a  person  feels  the  de- 
sire to  steal,  and  that  desire  is  not  met  and  overcome  by  a 
stronger  countervailing  desire,  though  the  individual  who  is  the 
subject  of  it  actually  commits  the  theft,  it  is  not  by  a  proper  act 
of  the  will  that  he  does  it,  but  under  a  sort  of  necessity,  a  com- 
pulsive force  which  he  is  unable  to  resist.  2.  When  the  desires 
and  motives  have  no  relation  to  moral  good  or  evil,  and  conse- 
quently the  conscience  has  no  concern  in  the  choice.  Thus,  if  I 
live  at  Princeton  and  wish  to  go  to  New  York  or  Philadelphia  to 
make  some  purchase,  free-will  has  no  concern  in  the  choice  of 
the  one  place  rather  than  the  other.  3.  When  the  desires  and 
motives  which  oppose  an  immoral  action  are  stronger  than  those 
which  favor  it,  it  is  not  by  an  exercise  of  free-will  that  the  person 
decides  ;  it  is  by  the  desire  alone,  or  the  desire  which  is  strong- 
est. The  decisions  or  choices  resulting  from  the  desires  in  these 

1  We  do  not  say  that  Dr.  Despine  does  this ;  it  would  be  an  injustice  to  him. 


656  CRIME,  — ITS  CAUSES  AND   CURE.  [BOOK  VIH. 

three  sets  of  circumstances,  in  which  the  sentiment  of  duty  or 
moral  obligation   has  no  play,  are  altogether  in  the  nature  of 
things  and  therefore  a  matter  of  course,  since  in  none  of  these 
cases  has  the  man  any  motive  to  act  otherwise  than  according  to 
his  desires.     In  all  of  them  the  decisions,  being  invariably  deter- 
mined by  the  stronger  desires  —  desires  which  the  person  does 
not  give  to  himself  but  is  merely  the  subject  of  —  are  not  really 
free.    According  to  Dr.  Despine,  it  is  only  when  the  desire  which 
impels  to  evil  is  stronger  than  that  which  inclines  to  good,  and 
yet  the  individual  chooses  the  good  instead  of  the  evil,  tfyat  free- 
will decides  and  chooses  the  course  to  be  taken  ;  because  then 
the  man  has  a  motive  to  choose  the  one  or  the  other,  and  is  not 
necessitated  to  decide  invariably  according  to  the  strongest  de- 
sire.    He  can  choose  the  evil  because  he  desires  it  most,  and  he 
can  choose  the  good  because  he  feels  it  a  duty  so  to  do.     This  is 
the  only  conjuncture  of  circumstances  where,  in  Dr.  Despine's 
system,  free-will  has  any  r61e  to  perform,  any  raison  d'etre.    Free- 
will, being  thus  called  upon  to  decide  only  in  cases  where  the 
sentiment  of  duty  intervenes,  has  its  seat  in  moral  liberty  alone, 
and  not  in  the  other  liberties,  which  consist  simply  in  the  power 
of  doing  what  we  desire  when  not  prevented  by  others,  —  a  lib- 
erty possessed  by  children,  insane  people,  and  even  animals. 

We  find  it  impossible  to  accept  this  philosophy,  and  equally 
impossible,  in  the  space  left  us,  to  consider  and  discuss  it.     But 
we  may  remark,  in  passing,  that  the  sentiment  of  duty  is  itself 
a  motive,  and  creates  a  strong  desire  arising  from  the  pleasure 
which  its  performance  always  brings  with  it.     To  say  that  the 
Creator  has  not  tied  the  purest  and  highest  happiness  to  a  con- 
scientious discharge  of  duty  would  be  to  arraign  at  once  his  wis- 
dom and  goodness  ;  for  what  could  be  more  derogatory  to  these 
attributes  than   to  suppose   that  Deity  would  bestow  a  greater 
degree  of   happiness  on  the  man  in  an  abnormal  than  on  one 
in  a  normal  relation  to  himself  ?     What  is  there,  then,  to  differ- 
entiate the  desire  and   motive  created  by  the  feeling  of  moral 
obligation  from  other  desires  and  motives  whose  strength,  accord- 
ing to  our  author,  destroys  free-will  and  draws  after  it  the  conse- 
quence of  converting  men  into  machines  ?    If  the  motive  supplied 
by  the  love  of  ease  or  pleasure  dominating  a  man  destroys  his 
moral  liberty  and  free-will,  what  reason  can  be  assigned  why  the 
motive  supplied  by  the  sentiment  of  duty,  dominating  another 
man,  does  not  equally  destroy  his  moral  liberty  and  free-will? 
Dr.  Despine  suggests  none,  and  it  is  not  easy  to  conceive  any. 
But  this  would  rob  the  race  of  moral  liberty,  banish  free-will  from 
the  earth,  and  destroy  all  moral  responsibility  among  men.     Au- 
tomatism would  then  become  the  one  universal  law  of  human  as 
of  animal  action. 

See,  too,  what  a  restricted  sphere  this  philosophy  leaves  to 


PART  n.]  CRITIQUE  ON  DESPINE'S  PHILOSOPHY.  6$? 

virtue.  There  is  no  virtue  and  no  merit  in  any  human  action 
which  is  not  performed  in  the  presence  of  two  opposing  desires,  — 
the  one  toward  evil,  the  other  toward  good  ;  the  former  being  the 
stronger,  and  being  overcome  by  the  naked  sentiment  of  duty, 
the  desire  of  doing  right  solely  because  it  is  right.  Not  only 
does  this  consequence  flow  from  our  author's  philosophy,  but  it 
is  formally  avowed  and  taught  in  his  books.  A  child  obeys  his 
father  and  mother  because  he  loves  them  ;  but  there  is  no  merit, 
no  virtue,  in  such  obedience.  A  man  obeys  his  God  from  a  like 
principle ;  but  his  obedience  is  equally  devoid  of  any  meritorious 
quality.  We  like  better  the  philosophy  of  the  great  English  poet 
who  wrote  the  "  Night  Thoughts,"  — 

"  Talk  they  of  morals  ?    O  thou  bleeding  Lamb, 
The  grand  morality  is  love  to  thee  !  " 

We  like  better  the  philosophy  of  Paul,  who  taught  that  "love 
is  the  fulfilling  of  the  law,"  —  that  is,  the  principle  and  spring 
of  all  acceptable  obedience.  We  like  better  the  philosophy  of 
the  Master,  who  declared,  "  I  love  them  that  love  me ; "  which 
must  mean,  also,  that  he  is  most  delighted  with  the  obedience 
which  springs  from  affection.  Indeed,  love  to  the  authority  com- 
manding is  the  only  force  which  will  hold  men  steadfastly  to  duty, 
as  magnetism  is  the  only  force  which  will  hold  the  needle  stead- 
fastly pointing  towards  the  north,  and  gravity  the  only  force  which 
will  hold  the  planets  secure  in  their  orbits. 

Thirdly,  Dr.  Despine  maintains  that  all  great  crimes  are  com- 
mitted in  a  state  of  moral  irresponsibility,  either  because  the 
perpetrators  are  wholly  destitute  of  the  moral  sense,  or  because, 
though  possessed  by  them  to  a  greater  or  less  degree,  it  is  for 
the  time  being  held  in  abeyance  by  their  being  in  an  impas- 
sioned state  (Tttat  passiond},  —  dominated,  beyond  all  power  of 
self-restraint,  by  some  violent  passion  such  as  anger,  rage,  jeal- 
ousy, revenge,  or  the  like.  Even  drunkenness  is  held  to  work 
a  like  result,  and  to  render  morally  irresponsible  the  man  who 
commits  a  crime  in  that  condition.  At  the  same  time  he  holds 
that  the  minor  crimes  may  be  committed  by  persons  normally 
constituted  in  a  moral  point  of  view,  and  that  these  persons,  being 
morally  responsible,  are  justly  liable  to  punishment  properly  so 
called ;  while  the  great  criminals,  not  being  morally  responsible, 
are  not  liable  to  punishment  in  the  strict  sense,  though  he  ad- 
mits that  they  are  civilly  responsible  and  may  be  submitted  to 
a  curative  moral  treatment  in  asylums.  This  theory  is  certainly 
liable  to  other  exceptions  ;  but  an  objection  sufficiently  grave  is 
suggested  when  it  is  asked  where  shall  we  find  human  tribunals 
capable  of  drawing  a  line  so  ethereal  and  impracticable,  so  vague 
and  intangible,  especially  as  our  author  himself  admits  that  per- 
sons wholly  devoid  of  the  moral  sense  often  commit  the  minor 

42 


658  CRIME,  — ITS  CAUSES  AND  CURE.  [BOOK  vin. 

as  well  as  the  greater  crimes  ?  In  such  cases  the  courts  would 
be  compelled  to  sentence  to  punishment  persons  who  are  not 
properly  amenable  thereto. 

Fourthly,  our  author  does  not  appear  to  make  any  account  of 
a  process  which  all  observers  of  human  nature  and  human  con- 
duct must  have  noticed  times  without  number,  by  which  the 
conscience,  originally  existing  in  full  strength,  becomes  grad- 
ually enfeebled  and  incapable  of  its  normal  action  through  long 
indulgence  in  evil  courses.  St.  Paul  applies  to  the  conscience, 
when  thus  voluntarily  brought  into  this  state  of  numbness 
and  inaction,  two  epithets  equally  apt  and  striking,  "denied" 
and  " seared,"  —  "defiled"  meaning  so  corrupted  by  vicious  and 
criminal  habits  that  it  no  longer  performs  its  proper  office,  so 
blinded  and  perverted  by  sin  that  it  can  no  more  judge  aright  of 
the  moral  quality  of  actions  ;  "  seared  "  meaning  utterly  hardened, 
extinct  as  it  were,  having  lost  all  sense  and  feeling  of  right  and 
wrong.  Can  the  doctrine  be  accepted  that  such  persons  have 
no  moral  responsibility  for  the  criminal  acts  done  by  them  ?  We 
think  not ;  and  we  think  also  that  our  author  pushes  his  doctrine 
of  the  absence  of  the  moral  sense  too  far,  and  gives  it  too  sweep- 
ing a  force.  The  cases  cited  by  him,  though  striking  and  some 
of  them  even  appalling,  do  not  prove  to  our  satisfaction  that  this 
faculty  is  wanting  or  deficient  to  any  thing  like  the  extent  claimed 
by  him.  As  yet  we  cannot  but  hold  to  the  old  belief  that  there 
are  few  persons  (we  believe  there  are  some)  entirely  destitute  of 
the  moral  sense ;  few  in  whom  there  does  not  exist  some  germ 
or  flickering  of  conscience  ;  few  in  whom  there  is  not  a  moral 
capacity,  which  may  be  developed  by  education  or  perverted  by 
miseducation. 

Nevertheless,  despite  our  inability  to  accept  in  full  the  philoso- 
phy of  Dr.  Despine,  we  gladly  recognize  a  great  element  of  truth 
in  it ;  and  we  thank  him  cordially  for  his  books,  which  are  as 
original,  profound,  and  able,  as  they  are  replete  with  sympathy 
for  human  nature  in  its  weakness  and  for  human  progress  in  its 
best  and  noblest  aspirations.  His  view  of  the  family  likeness  in 
the  three  grand  elements  of  man's  constitution  —  the  physical, 
the  mental,  and  the  moral  —  we  receive  in  principle  without 
hesitation,  since  every  day's  observation  and  experience  attest 
its  truth.  In  man's  bodily  structure  we  see  on  one  side  a  perfect 
animal  organization,  as  represented  in  the  Apollo  Belvidere  and 
the  Venus  de  Medici,  and  on  the  other  little  more  than  a  lump 
of  flesh,  as  depicted  in  Shakspeare's  Caliban  ;  and  between  these 
two  extremes  we  find  every  possible,  every  conceivable,  gradation 
of  perfection  and  imperfection,  the  lines  of  separation  melting 
into  each  other  by  imperceptible  degrees.  In  man's  mental  con- 
stitution we  see  the  same  differences  and  the  same  gradations 
repeated,  from  the  men  so  highly  endowed  intellectually  that 


PART  ii.]  CRITIQUE  ON  DESPINE'S  PHILOSOPHY.  659 

they  create  sciences  and  produce  works  of  imagination,  history, 
and  philosophy  which  instruct  and  charm  the  ages,  down  to  the 
drivelling  idiot  who  lacks  the  intelligence  necessary  to  meet  the 
simple  necessities  of  his  physical  existence.  In  the  moral  con- 
stitution of  man,  why  should  we  not  expect  to  meet  with  diver- 
gences equally  great  and  striking  ?  Such,  in  point  of  fact,  is  the 
case.  We  see  at  one  extreme  of  the  moral  scale  beings  so  finely 
organized  that  we  instinctively  feel  them  to  be  as  incapable  of 
committing  a  criminal  act  as  they  are  of  plucking  the  moon  from 
her  seat  in  the  heavens  ;  and  at  the  other  extreme  we  behold 
creatures  of  so  coarse  a  mould  that  vice  and  crime  seem  to  be 
their  natural,  normal  element ;  and  between  these  two  extremes 
we  find  the  same  gradations,  separated  by  the  same  inappreciable 
lines,  as  in  the  realms  of  physical  and  intellectual  organization. 

Few  have  lived  to  adult  age  without  having  observed  cases  of 
this  sort.  The  writer  of  this  article  recalls  several  such,  one  of 
which  stands  out  with  such  prominence  in  his  memory  that  he 
cannot  refrain  from  a  brief  reference  to  it.  We  once  met  a 
burglar  in  one  of  the  county  jails  of  New  York,  a  man  in  middle 
age,  of  robust  physique,  and  of  more  than  the  average  grade  of 
intellectual  acumen  and  vigor.  In  the  course  of  a  long  conversa- 
tion he  maintained,  with  the  utmost  coolness  and  with  evident 
sincerity,  that  burglary  is  as  proper  a  business  as  that  of  law, 
medicine,  merchandise,  or  any  other  of  the  ordinary  callings  of 
life.  He  said  that  he  had  no  natural  propensity  to  take  human 
life  and  he  would  rather  not  do  it  if  it  could  be  avoided.  But 
he  declared,  that,  if  in  the  execution  of  a  burglary  it  became 
necessary  to  the  success  of  the  enterprise  to  kill  a  man,  he  would 
take  his  life  as  readily  as  he  would  that  of  a  dog,  and  would  do  it 
without  the  slightest  feeling  of  compunction.  All  men,  he  said 
overreached  each  other  when  they  could,  and  the  business  of  a 
thief  or  burglar  was  as  honest  as  that  of  a  merchant  or  a  law- 
yer ;  he  saw  no  difference. 

As  concerning  the  treatment  recommended  by  Dr.  Despine  to 
be  applied  to  criminals  during  their  imprisonment,  we  have  only 
words  of  approval  and  praise  to  bestow  upon  it.  He  regards 
such  treatment  as  flowing  naturally  from  his  theory  of  what  the 
criminal  is  in  himself  and  from  that  of  the  causes  which  have 
made  him  what  he  is.  We  do  not  wish  to  contest  this  point,  for 
if  his  theory  is  correct  the  consequence  is  legitimate.  All  we  now 
claim  is  that  his  philosophy  is  not  necessary  to  originate  that  treat- 
ment. The  rational  and  humane  system  of  criminal  treatment,  the 
system  of  organized  persuasion,  as  Maconochie  calls  it,  existed  long 
before  the  "  Psychologic  Naturelle  "  made  its  appearance.  It  was 
first  announced  by  Pope  Clement  XL  in  the  very  beginning  of 
the  eighteenth  century  (1704),  in  the  motto  placed  by  him  over 
the  door  of  the  prison  of  St.  Michael  at  Rome:  "Parum  est 


660  CRIME,  — ITS  CAUSES  AND   CURE.  [BOOK  vm. 

improbos  coercere  poena,  nisi  probos  efficias  disciplina,"  —  "  It  is 
in  vain  that  we  restrain  the  wicked  by  punishment,  unless  we 
reform  them  by  education."  This  principle  was  made  the  basis 
of  the  discipline  introduced  into  the  prison  of  Ghent  by  its 
founder,  Viscount  Vilain  XIV.,  more  than  a  century  ago.  It  was 
equally  adopted  by  Maconochie  at  Norfolk  Island,  by  Montesinos 
at  Valencia,  by  Obermaier  at  Munich,  by  F.  Despine  at  Albert- 
ville,  by  Crofton  in  Ireland,  by  Sollohub  at  Moscow,  and  by 
Demetz,  Wichern,  and  all  others  in  charge  of  juvenile  peniten- 
tiaries and  reformatory  institutions  for  children  and  youths.  The 
principle  is  now  recognized  by  almost  all  prison  disciplinarians 
the  world  over  who  are  worthy  of  the  name,  though,  alas !  the 
practice  yet  lags  far  behind  the  theory. 

But,  in  any  case,  we  give  a  hearty  welcome  and  a  fervent  God- 
speed to  so  intelligent,  learned,  earnest,  and  able  an  adherent 
and  advocate  of  this  principle,  as  the  illustrious  author  of  the 
"  Psychologic  Naturelle "  and  "  La  Folie  au  Point  de  Vue  Phil- 
osophique"  has  shown  himself  to  be.  May  his  labors  in  this 
field  yield  an  abundant  harvest ! 


PART  HI.]  MODE  OF  EXECUTING  PENALTIES.  66 1 


PART   THIRD. 

STUDIES  IN   PENITENTIARY   SCIENCE.  1 

CHAPTER  XX.  —  MODE  OF  EXECUTING  PENALTIES. 

HOW  far  ought  the  mode  of  executing  penalties  to  be  fixed 
by  the  law  ?  Should  the  penitentiary  administration  be 
clothed  with  certain  discretionary  powers  as  regards  prisoners  in 
cases  where  the  general  system  might  prove  inapplicable  ? 

The  mode  of  executing  a  penalty  is  an  essential  part  of  the 
penalty  itself.  It  is  difficult  to  imagine  a  change  in  the  mode  of 
execution,  without  either  aggravating  or  mitigating  the  penalty  ; 
as  that  to  change  the  one  is  to  increase  or  diminish  the  other. 
It  deserves  serious  consideration  that  mere  trifles,  which  pass  un- 
noticed by  the  man  who  is  in  the  possession  of  liberty,  have  great 
value  in  the  eyes  of  the  prisoner  ;  and  to  deny  them  or  grant 
them  may  be  a  great  misery  or  a  great  consolation. 

Either  the  penitentiary  administration  may  make  laws,  or  the 
statute  law  must  define  with  precision  the  mode  of  executing 
the  punishment  by  determining  the  system  of  imprisonment,  the 
food,  the  clothing,  the  hours  of  labor,  those  of  rest,  those  to  be 
employed  in  moral,  religious,  and  literary  instruction,  what  visits 
and  what  correspondence  should  be  permitted  to  the  prisoner, 
what  rewards  he  may  receive,  what  disciplinary  punishments  may 
be  inflicted  on  him,  and  what  liberty  may  be  allowed  him,  to  the 
end  that  he  may  to  a  certain  degree  have  the  power  of  choice 

1  The  paper  embodied  in  the  chapters  contained  in  this  division  of  my  book  was 
prepared  by  Dona  Concepcion  Arenal,  of  Spain,  for  the  Congress  of  Stockholm,  and 
covers  all  the  questions  formally  considered  by  that  body.  Dona  Arenal  is  a  lady  of 
extraordinary  grasp  and  vigor  of  intellect,  and  of  high  social  and  moral  standing  in 
her  own  country,  who  devotes  her  life  to  the  study  and  exposition  of  social  questions, 
particularly  that  which  relates  to  the  prevention  and  repression  of  crime.  She  is  an 
authority  in  her  own  country  and  in  Europe.  The  present  discussion  covers  sixteen 
questions  in  the  science  of  convict  treatment.  Though  brief,  it  is  thorough  ;  and  no 
lack  of  completeness  is  felt.  It  is  original,  and  profoundly  philosophical  ;  and  the 
method  is  such  that  almost  every  statement  is  in  itself  an  argument.  In  this  respect 
Madame  Arenal  strongly  resembles  Jonathan  Edwards.  Without  agreeing  to  every 
proposition  laid  down  by  the  author,  I  regard  most  of  what  she  has  said  as  sound 
doctrine  on  the  subject  to  which  it  relates,  and  I  think  that  it  will  be  generally  ac- 
cepted as  such  by  the  students  of  penitentiary  science.  InHhe  official  transactions  of 
the  congress  this  paper  was  published  piece-meal,  comprising  parts  of  the  discussions 
on  the  several  questions  considered  in  the  congress.  This  is  the  first  consecutive 
publication  of  it,  so  far  as  I  know,  which  has  ever  appeared.  In  its  present  dress  it 
is  a  translation  from  the  original  French. 


662  STUDIES  IN  PENITENTIARY  SCIENCE.         [BOOK  vnr. 

in  his  actions.  Moreover,  the  law  should  establish  two  scales, 
one  relating  to  infractions  of  the  rules,  the  other  to  disciplinary 
punishments  ;  so  that  the  maximum  and  minimum  of  the  pun- 
ishment may  correspond  to  the  maximum  and  minimum  of  the 
fault. 

The  bestowment  of  rewards  may  be  made  with  greater  free- 
dom, as  there  is  less  inconvenience  in  liberty  there. 

Observe  that,  in  effect,  the  administration  is  nothing  more 
than  the  officers  employed  in  it,  and  that  even  though  we  suppose 
them  honest,  capable,  and  filled  with  the  spirit  of  charity  towards 
the  prisoners,  they  cannot,  without  fixed  rules  laid  down  by  the 
law,  maintain  that  uniformity  of  discipline  in  the  different  prisons 
which  justice  demands.  They  will  employ  a  disciplinary  punish- 
ment for  a  given  offence,  according  as  it  may  have  been  com- 
mitted in  such  or  such  a  prison,  or  in  the  same  prison  under 
different  directors.  If,  as  we  believe,  the  mode  of  executing  the 
penalty  in  all  its  details  forms  an  essential  part  of  the  penalty 
itself,  its  equality. before  the  law  requires  that  it  be  one  and  iden- 
tical always  and  everywhere  ;  and  that,  in  the  manner  of  apply- 
ing it,  we  leave  as  little  as  possible  to  diversity  of  opinion  and 
judgment,  even  supposing  that  we  have  nothing  to  fear  either 
from  a  lack  of  intelligence  or  from  abuses  of  any  sort  on  the  part 
of  the  officers. 

There  is  another  reason,  still  more  potent,  whyjhe  law  should 
define  with  the  utmost  possible  exactness  the  treatment  to  be 
applied  to  prisoners.  The  relations  between  prisoners  and  prison 
officers,  since  the  latter  ought  earnestly  to  seek  the  reformation 
of  the  former,  should  be  ever  kindly  and  benevolent.  It  is  essen- 
tial that  there  be  a  mutual  love  between  them.  To  this  end  it  is 
necessary  that  the  prisoner  see  in  the  officer  of  the  prison,  as  in 
the  judge,  simply  a  person  who  applies  the  law,  which  it  is  not 
competent  for  him  to  modify ;  and  that  he  apply  it,  in  spite  of 
himself  if  it  is  severe,  because  it  is  his  duty.  The  prisoner  who 
knows  this  feels  no  ill-will  and  cherishes  no  resentment  towards 
him  on  account  of  it  ;  and  there  may  exist  in  spite  of  it  the  most 
cordial  relations  between  the  two  parties,  at  the  same  time  that 
the  one  applies  and  the  other  receives  a  chastisement  inflicted  by 
the  law.  From  limiting  the  material  power  of  the  employe  and 
leaving  him  less  discretion,  there  will  result  an  augmentation  of 
his  moral  power,  which  is  his  true  force,  and  will  most  effectually 
promote  the  reformation  of  the  prisoner,  who  can  be  influenced 
to  good  only  through  respect  and  love  towards  his  keeper. 

The  general  discipline  of  a  penitentiary  ought  to  be  such  that 
it  may  be  applied  in  all  cases  where  the  prisoner  is  not  sick  or 
suffering  from  some  physical  defect ;  and  these  are  cases  which 
it  belongs  to  the  physician  to  determine.  If  the  penitentiary 
system  is  not  complete,  if  it  has  not  the  uniformity  to  be  desired 


PART  in.]  ASSIMILATION  OF  PENALTIES.  663 

because  it  is  established  only  in  part,  or  for  any  other  reason,  the 
law  ought  to  lay  clown  rules  for  such  exceptional  cases,  leaving 
to  the  administration  the  duty  simply  of  applying  them,  and  not 
that  of  making  them.  The  legislature  may  and  should  listen  to 
the  prison  administration  as  to  all  other  competent  persons.  We 
can  never  sufficiently  extol  the  advantage,  the  necessity,  morally 
speaking,  of  a  complete  centre  of  information  where  may  be 
gathered  and  concentrated  all  the  knowledge  which  exists  in  a 
country  on  any  given  subject  ;  where,  with  that  of  the  oracle  of 
science,  is  heard  also  the  voice  of  public  opinion,  —  so  that  we  may 
be  able  to  form  an  idea  on  a  given  point  and  at  a  given  moment, 
not  only  of  what  it  would  be  desirable,  but  still  more  of  what  it 
would  be  possible,  to  do.  The  law  being  thus  enacted,  with  all  the 
knowledge  there  is  in  the  country  at  the  time  of  its  enactment, 
it  can  hardly  have  the  imperfections  with  which  those  would 
charge  it  who  should  leave  to  the  administration  the  power  of 
making  laws,  if  not  of  right  and  formally,  at  least  in  fact  and 
in  effect. 


CHAPTER  XXI.  —  ASSIMILATION  OF  PENALTIES. 

WOULD  it  be  desirable  to  continue  the  several  designations 
of  the  penalties  privative  of  liberty ;  or,  instead,  to  adopt 
the  legal  assimilation  of  all  penalties  without  other  distinction 
than  that  of  their  duration  and  the  accessory  consequences  in- 
volved after  the  prisoner's  liberation  ? 

What  is  the  object  of  a  classification  of  penalties  privative  of 
liberty  ?  One  or  other  of  the  four  following  suppositions  ;  name- 
ly, to  make  them  more  afflictive,  more  degrading,  more  terrible, 
or  more  reformatory. 

More  afflictive.  —  The  punishment  which  deprives  of  liberty  for 
a  long  time  or  for  some  months  should  be  undergone  in  a  peni- 
tentiary, the  severity  of  whose  discipline  could  not  be  made  more 
rigorous  without  degenerating  into  cruelty.  The  food  and  cloth- 
ing ought  to  be  what  are  physiologically  necessary  ;  the  labor, 
whether  bodily  or  intellectual,  should  be  constant,  with  only  such 
interruptions  as  are  needful  for  rest ;  the  solitude  and  silence, 
very  painful.  The  uniformity  of  an  inflexible  rule  will  thus  be  of 
an  afflictive  monotony.  Nothing  of  this  can  be  diminished  with- 
out impairing  the  order  of  the  prison,  without  frustrating  the  dis- 
cipline, without  making  impossible  a  good  penitentiary  system  ; 
at  the  same  time  the  rigor  cannot  be  increased  without  converting 
it  into  excessive  harshness  and  even  cruelty.  Resistance  alone 
can  justify  increased  severity,  and  that  only  in  disciplinary  pun- 
ishments which  are  always  of  a  transitory  character. 


664  STUDIES  IN  PENITENTIARY  SCIENCE.  [BoOK  vm. 

More  degrading.  —  Crime  dishonors,  and  therefore  punishment 
degrades.  We  must  not  however  pursue  as  an  objective  this  in- 
evitable consequence,  but,  quite  the  reverse,  avoid  it  as  a  rock 
against  which  the  strongest  resolutions  of  amendment  may  be 
broken.  The  dignity  of  man  is  an  essential  element  of  his  re- 
generation, and  whoever  would  humiliate  him  assails  that  dignity. 
That  his  punishment  may  not  become  an  agent  of  his  debase- 
ment and  of  his  relapse  into  crime,  the  law  should  studiously 
avoid  whatever  degrades  him  in  his  own  or  others'  esteem,  and 
should  seek  on  the  contrary  to  lift  him  up,  and  create  in  him 
anew  the  sentiment  of  self-respect. 

More  terrible.  —  Punishment  with  the  object  of  making  itself 
feared  cannot  withhold  the  means  of  attaining  that  end  ;  and  if 
those  means  are  not  just,  as  would  be  the  case  if  they  involved 
cruelty  and  infamy,  they  are  not  admissible.  It  is  not  necessary 
to  insist  on  this  point  ;  the  world  knows  already  that  the  essen- 
tial condition  of  punishment  is  equity,  and  that  the  element  of 
equity  would  be  wanting  in  a  punishment  which  should  seek  in- 
timidation instead  of  justice. 

More  reformatory.  —  What  modifications  can  be  introduced 
into  public  punishment  that  it  may  reform  with  greater  efficiency 
and  certainty?  These  modifications  may  be  in  the  material 
order,  in  the  moral  order,  or  in  the  intellectual  order. 

/;/  the  material  order.  —  We  have  seen  that  without  cruelty, 
without  putting  in  jeopardy  the  life  or  the  health  of  the  convict, 
nothing  can  be  retrenched  in  a  prison  system  where  only  that  is 
allowed  which  is  physiologically  necessary.  Excessive  harshness, 
far  from  being  a  means  of  amendment,  is  a  means  of  harden- 
ing and  deterioration.  Generally  the  man  who  is  suffering  from 
hunger  or  thirst,  or  any  other  painful  sensation,  is  little  disposed 
to  the  sentiment  of  remorse  ;  and  the  representatives  of  the  law, 
the  delegates  of  the  administration  who  seem  to  him  instruments 
of  torture,  cannot  speak  to  him  words  which  will  reach  either  his 
heart  or  his  conscience.  Convicts  are  not,  ordinarily,  persons  in 
whom  the  intellectual  dominates  the  material,  but,  quite  the  con- 
trary, they  are  in  subjection  to  sensual  appetites.  When  these 
appetites  are  in  the  ascendant,  bodily  mortifications  and  enjoy- 
ments are  alone  capable  of  making  an  impression,  and  he  who 
would  change  a  criminal,  as  must  be  done  in  order  to  reform  him, 
should  avoid  these  things  ;  it  is,  therefore,  our  opinion  that  the 
prisoner  should  have  neither  material  luxuries  nor  physical  mor- 
tifications. 

In  the  moral  order.  —  How  can  the  punishment  be  modified 
so  that  it  may  have  a  greater  reformatory  power,  according  to 
the  gravity  of  the  offence  committed  by  the  criminal  ?  If  peni- 
tentiary science  had  an  indefinite  reformatory  power,  it  might 
increase  its  efficiency  in  proportion  to  the  need  which  the  of- 


PART  in.]  ASSIMILATION  OF  PENALTIES.  665 

fender  has  of  being  reformed.  Knowing  thoroughly  that  neces- 
sity, it  would  be  able  to  meet  it  while  reserving  that  part  of  its 
resources  which  would  not  be  needed.  But  nothing  of  that  sort 
ever  happens.  Penitentiary  science  does  not  know  the  exact 
degree  of  immorality  of  any  particular  convict,  and  it  is  never  in 
possession  of  an  excess  of  reformatory  agencies,  as  it  is  easy  to 
see  by  the  number  of  relapses  which  occur  oftenest  in  the  case 
of  those  who  are  guilty  of  the  lighter  offences.1  It  results  that 
penitentiary  science,  in  order  to  reform  any  criminal  whatsoever, 
must  bring  into  play  all  its  reformatory  forces,  and  can  make  no 
difference  between  criminals  in  that  point  of  view  ;  since  he  who 
gives  all  that  he  has  cannot  give  more,  and  he  who  ought  to 
give  all  at  his  disposal  cannot  give  less.  It  is  not  possible,  there- 
fore, to  form  a  gradation  of  reformatory  agencies  having  relation 
to  the  degree  of  immorality  of  offenders  ;  for  on  the  supposition 
even  that  we  knew  perfectly  the  degree  of  depravity  in  each,  to 
preserve  the  proportion  we  should  have  to  sacrifice  justice  by 
applying  a  minimum  evidently  insufficient,  and  by  substituting 
symmetry  for  equity.  The  moral  treatment  cannot,  therefore,  be 
varied  because  its  greatest  efficiency  is  necessary  even  in  cases  of 
the  smallest  gravity. 

/;/  the  intellectual  order.  —  Neither  can  we  here  any  more  in- 
troduce changes  in  the  mode  of  executing  the  punishment  accord- 
ing to  the  gravity  of  the  offence.  We  can  only  according  to  its 
character  modify  or  suppress  certain  kinds  of  instruction,  which 
modification  might  evidently  become  an  agent  in  promoting  in- 
stead of  preventing  relapses.  Except  in  these  special  cases,  in- 
dustrial like  scholastic  education  is  good  for  all.  To  what  class 
of  criminals  can  we  deny  or  even  limit  it  ?  To  those  who  have 
committed  light  offences  only,  or  to  those  who  have  committed 
grave  ones  ?  Either  instruction  is  good  or  it  is  bad.  If  it  is 
good,  it  ought  to  be  given  to  all ;  if  bad,  to  none.  To  cultivate 
the  intelligence  of  man  is  to  make  him  more  reasonable,  and 
consequently  better,  provided  that  in  proportion  as  we  give  him 
industrial  and  intellectual  instruction  he  receive  also  moral  and 
religious  instruction. 

It  will  be  seen,  then,  that  we  cannot  classify  punishments  on 
the  ground  that  they  are  more  or  less  effective,  more  or  less  de- 
grading, more  or  less  terrible,  more  or  less  reformatory.  It 
results  that  we  can  differentiate  them  only  by  making  them 
longer  or  shorter.  Their  duration  must  be  their  sole  difference 
and  the  only  rule  for  classifying  them.  Whatever  may  be  our 
theory  of  punishment,  its  classification  on  the  basis  of  the  time 
during  which  it  continues  is  convenient.  If  it  is  looked  upon  as 

1  The  fundamental  reason  why  relapses  are  most  frequent  in  this  class  of  prisoners 
is  the  shortness  of  their  sentences,  which  forbids  the  effective  application  to  them  of 
reformatory  agencies. 


666  STUDIES  IN  PENITENTIARY  SCIENCE.         [BOOK  vm. 

an  agent  of  reformation,  a  prolonged  education  becomes  more 
perfect  ;  if  it  is  regarded  as  a  means  of  inflicting  pain,  —  that  is, 
of  deterrence  by  terror,  —  it  is  the  more  efficacious  in  proportion 
to  its  length. 


CHAPTER  XXII.  —  TRANSPORTATION.  —  INSPECTION. 

T  TNDER  what  conditions  may  deportation  or  transportation 
^J  be  made  to  serve  a  useful  purpose  in  the  administration  of 
penal  justice  ? 

We  do  not  find  any  condition  that  can  make  useful  to  justice  a 
punishment  which,  according  to  our  conception,  is  essentially  and 
radically  unjust.1 

What  should  be  the  competence  of  a  general  inspection  of 
prisons  ?  Is  such  general  inspection  necessary  ?  Should  it  ex- 
tend to  all  persons,  and  in  like  manner  to  private  institutions  for 
the  detention  of  juvenile  delinquents? 

The  powers  of  an  official  inspection  should  vary  according  to 
its  organization  and  end.  If  it  is  composed  of  persons  of  worth, 
science,  and  experience  ;  if  these  persons  are  permanent  in  their 
positions  ;  if  they  form  part  of  a  body,  respectable  and  respected, — 
in  such  case  the  inspection  may,  without  harm  and  with  great 
advantage  to  the  public,  be  clothed  with  more  extended  powers. 
Its  character  is  not  alone  fiscal  ;  nor  is  it  intended  merely  to 
look  into  faults  of  execution,  disorders,  etc.  It  has  also  a  more 
important  mission.  The  general  inspection  furnishes  to  each 
particular  prison  that  higher  knowledge,  those  ideas  of  fitness 
and  harmony,  which  are  acquired  by  looking  at  things  from  a 
more  elevated  stand-point,  by  knowing  their  elements,  and  by 
comparing  them  one  with  another.  In  return  it  receives  from 
each  individual  establishment  the  elements  just  mentioned  ;  it 
gathers  facts  of  divers  character, —  it  sees  many  that  astonish  it, 
others  which  it  could  never  have  imagined  ;  and  all  suggest  to  it 
ideas  which  it  would  not  otherwise  have  conceived.  It  passes 
alternately  from  synthesis  to  analysis,  from  analysis  to  synthesis. 
It  gathers  facts,  which  it  employs  to  a  useful  purpose,  and  some- 
times receives  inspirations  that  come  from  an  obscure  employe, 
perhaps  even  from  a  prisoner.  Besides,  it  is  a  bond  of  union 
between  all  who  govern  the  prisons,  which  cannot  fail  to  unite 
their  efforts  and  elevate  their  views.  In  proportion  as  the  inspec- 

1  This  is  dogmatism,  not  reasoning.  It  would  have  been  gratifying  to  have  had 
an  exposition  of  the  reasons  which  led  so  good  a  thinker  as  Madame  Arenal  to  the 
opinion  that  transportation  is  "  essentially  and  radically  unjust,"  for  there  is  evidently 
two  sides  to  the  question, 


PART  in.]  PRISON  STA  TISTICS.  66? 

tion  corresponds  to  this  idea  its  powers  ought  to  be  enlarged  ;  in 
proportion  as  it  departs  from  it  they  ought  to  be  diminished.  In 
Spain  we  have  had  experience  of  inspections  which  give  as  their 
sole  result  the  travelling  expenses  of  the  inspectors  and  the  dis- 
credit of  the  high  function  which  they  exercise. 

An  inspection-general  of  prisons,  then,  seems  to  us  necessary. 
If  it  is  competent,  not  only  does  it  investigate  and  pronounce 
judgment,  as  we  have  already  said,  but  it  also  diffuses  information, 
neutralizes  the  narrow  spirit  of  locality,  and  gives  to  justice  the 
uniformity  which  it  ought  to  have,  which  is  required  by  equality 
before  the  law,  and  which  it  would  lose  if  its  administrators  had 
no  counterpoise  to  their  personal  tendencies.  There  are  also  in 
Spain  numerous  instances  in  which  the  regime  of  the  bagnios  or 
galleys  varies  according  to  the  character  or  the  caprice  of  the 
commandant. 

If  inspection  is  necessary  for  establishments  organized  by  the 
State  and  under  its  immediate  direction,  it  is  absolutely  indis- 
pensable for  those  of  a  private  character.  Granting  that  they 
were  not  established  through  a  desire  of  gain,  or  that  such  desire 
entered  into  them  only  to  an  entirely  lawful  degree,  or  even  that 
it  had  no  part  whatever  in  their  creation,  and  that  their  establish- 
ment was  due  solely  to  a  humanitarian  and  religious  sentiment, 
inspection  is  still  necessary  in  order  to  avoid  the  possible  and 
even  probable  exaggerations  of  mysticism  and  philanthropy  in 
the  case  of  persons  in  whom,  for  the  undertaking  of  so  difficult  a 
work,  there  must  have  been  needed  so  strong  a  spring  of  love  to 
God  and  humanity. 


CHAPTER  XXIII.  —  PRISON  STATISTICS. 

WHAT  formulas  should  be  adopted  for  recording  inter- 
national penitentiary  statistics  ? 

International  statistics,  at  once  the  proof  and  the  effect  of  large 
progress,  may  contribute  to  the  increased  rapidity  of  such  prog- 
ress, provided  it  fulfil  three  conditions  :  i.  That  it  be  exact. 
2.  That  it  be  complete.  3.  That  it  be  accompanied  with  such 
explanations  as  may  be  necessary  to  the  end  that  the  numerical 
data  may  not  lead  to  erroneous  conclusions. 

What  is  the  principal  object  proposed  by  international  peni- 
tentiary statistics  ?  It  is  to  appreciate  the  efficacy  of  punishment 
in  different  countries  under  a  given  form,  or  the  excellence  of  the 
several  forms  or  systems  adopted.  But  a  social  institution,  of 
whatever  kind,  is  not  a  mechanical  apparatus  which  works  in  the 
same  manner  in  one  country  as  in  another.  According  to  the 


668  STUDIES  IN  PENITENTIARY  SCIENCE.        [BOOK  vm. 

circumstances  of  the  people  among  whom  it  is  applied,  the  penal 
law  operates  in  different  manners.  Before  his  offence,  while  in 
prison,  and  after  his  liberation  the  criminal  is  the  subject  of  many 
and  powerful  social  influences,  which  may  be  the  auxiliaries  of 
the  prison  system  or  quite  otherwise.  Two  men  of  the  same  age, 
of  the  same  trade,  of  the  same  degree  of  education,  whose  personal 
condition  is  also  the  same,  enter  a  penitentiary  with  dispositions 
extremely  different,  offering  more  or  less  difficulties  in  the  way  of 
correction  and  amendment  according  to  the  nation  to  which  they 
belong. 

The  perturbation  revealed  by  crime  is  partial,  not  total.  Morally 
considered,  the  criminal  is  a  man  in  part  like  other  men,  in  part 
different.  This  difference  constitutes  the  resemblance  between 
those  who  have  committed  crimes  at  Stockholm  and  at  Cadiz. 
In  the  person  who  steals,  two  things  are  to  be  observed,  —  the 
thief  and  the  man.  These  we  cannot  separate,  and  yet  ought  not 
to  confound.  The  thief  constitutes  the  diseased  part  of  his  being, 
the  man  constitutes  the  sound  part.  This  latter  varies  infinitely. 
There  are  no  two  men  perfectly  alike  ;  but  they  differ  most  ac- 
cording to  the  age  and  country  in  which  they  live,  —  so  that  two 
men  who  have  broken  the  law  under  the  same  external  circum- 
stances may  be  two  men  who  enter  with  dispositions  totally 
different  a  penitentiary  of  Spain  or  of  Sweden.  The  malady  may 
be  the  same  in  both,  but  the  resources  found  in  their  organism  or 
their  character  to  vanquish  it  will  vary  greatly,  and  the  difficulties 
in  the  way  of  re-establishing  the  moral  health  of  each  will  differ 
in  the  same  proportion.  How  often  is  it  said  with  reason  of  a 
person  that  he  does  not  get  well,  not  because  his  disease  is  incur- 
able, but  because  the  forces  of  Nature  are  gone  in  his  case !  Just 
so  in  the  moral  man,  the  cure  depends  on  that  condition  of  mind 
which  reacts  against  the  crime  and  gives  reformation  as  the  re- 
sult,—  a  reaction  favored  or  obstructed  by  the  moral  plane  of  the 
nation  or  the  community  to  which  the  culprit  belongs.  The 
prison  itself  is  not  hermetically  sealed  to  outside  influences. 
With  the  same  architecture,  the  same  rules,  and  the  same  disci- 
pline we  shall  obtain  different  results,  not  only  according  to  the 
disposition  of  the  prisoners,  but  also  according  to  that  of  their 
keepers,  their  masters,  and  their  guides.  These  officials  do  not 
escape  the  influences  of  the  community  in  which  they  live ;  and 
the  system  will  be  a  skeleton  or  a  living  body  according  as  those 
who  are  charged  with  administering  it  shall  have  public  opinion 
or  the  public  example  to  aid  or  to  oppose  it. 

On  leaving  the  prison,  the  outside  influence  upon  the  liberated 
prisoner  is  much  more  perceptible.  Evil  example,  impunity,  the 
difficulty  of  gaining  an  honorable  livelihood,  the  absence  or  feeble- 
ness of  the  religious  sentiment,  the  relexation  of  morals,  popular 
excitements,  —  all  these  circumstances  or  their  opposites  hold 


PART  in.]        PROFESSIONAL  EDUCATION  OF  OFFICERS.  669 

him  from  or  push  him  on  to  a  return  to  crime.  Thus,  then,  the 
formulas  for  international  penitentiary  statistics  ought  to  express 
not  only  the  circumstances  which  it  is  necessary  to  know  of  the 
criminal  in  general,  but  also  the  special  circumstances  of  the 
country  where  he  committed  his  offence;  and  to  that  end  they 
should  mention  all  that  can  make  us  acquainted  with  his  moral, 
intellectual,  economic,  and  religious  condition.  In  this  manner 
alone  shall  we  be  able  to  appreciate  a  given  penitentiary  system 
so  as  not  to  ascribe  to  it  merits  which  it  does  not  possess,  or  faults 
for  which  it  is  not  responsible. 


CHAPTER  XXIV.  —  PROFESSIONAL  EDUCATION  OF  PRISON 

OFFICERS. 

WOULD  the  establishment  of  Normal  Schools  for  the  profes- 
sional training  of  prison  officers  and  employes  be  likely  to 
promote  the  success  of  the  penitentiary  work? 

The  overseers  and  functionaries  of  prisons  should  form  a  per- 
manent penitentiary  corps.  Undoubtedly  the  mission  of  the  em- 
ploye in  the  detention  prison  requires  less  special  education  than 
in  the  penitentiary,  as  it  offers  less  difficulties  ;  but  the  difference 
concerns  rather  the  superior  officers  than  the  subalterns,  the 
supervision  and  care  of  convicts  and  of  prisoners  awaiting  trial 
having  a  great  deal  of  similarity.  The  advantages  arising  from 
the  fact  that  the  employes  in  the  detention  prisons  and  the  pen- 
itentiaries belong  to  the  same  corps  would,  in  our  opinion,  be  very 
considerable.  They  would  then  have  that  esprit  de  corps  which  is 
indispensable  if  they  would  perfectly  fulfil  their  mission.  They 
should  have  a  thorough  knowledge  of  what  they  are  to  do,  and  a 
firm  and  steadfast  will  to  do  it.  If  we  .consider  how  difficult  and 
laborious  are  the  duties  of  the  man  who  is  charged  with  reforming 
the  criminal,  and  how  great  the  self-denial  he  must  practise,  we 
shall  understand  that  it  is  necessary  to  give  him  all  possible  aids, 
moral  and  material,  to  recompense  him  generously,  hold  him  in 
high  esteem,  and  excite  and  cherish  in  him  that  esptit  de  corps 
which,  in  making  the  individual  responsible  for  the  honor  of  the 
whole  body,  and  in  giving  him  a  share  in  their  merit,  is  without 
doubt  a  strong  support  to  virtue.  One  of  the  obstacles  in  the 
way  of  having  a  body  of  officers  as  capable  as  would  be  desirable 
for  the  prison  service  is  the  difficulty  of  securing  adequate  remu- 
neration. This  difficulty  would  be  partially  overcome  by  consti- 
tuting a  single  corps  of  the  employes  in  the  detention  prisons 
and  the  penitentiaries,  as  they  then  would  be  more  numerous  at 


6/0  STUDIES  IN  PENITENTIARY  SCIENCE.        [BooK  vin. 

the  middle  and  especially  at  the  lower  end  of  the  scale.  Lib- 
eral salaries  might  in  that  case  be  paid  to  the  higher  function- 
aries, which  would  be  at  once  a  recompense  to  them  and  an 
encouragement  to  those  below  them.  In  all  things  hope  is  a 
powerful  auxiliary.  The  young  man  who  enters  upon  any  career 
willingly  serves  for  a  moderate  remuneration,  if  he  has  in  pros- 
pect the  certainty  that  at  a  later  day  his  compensation  will 
be  increased.  For  the  same  compensation  on  which  not  one 
tolerable  employe  could  be  found  if  he  were  to  be  forever  held 
to  the  service  of  the  detention  prisons,  there  might  be  had  many 
if  they  only  began  their  career  at  that  point,  and  thus  formed 
part  of  a  general  penitentiary  corps.  Whenever  we  can  grade 
difficulties,  it  is  an  excellent  method  to  overcome  them. 

However  complete  the  theoretical  instruction  received  by  prison 
officers  may  be,  practice  is  still  necessary  ;  and  this  ought  to  com- 
mence in  the  detention  prisons  both  because  the  difficulty  is  less 
there,  and  because  the  inevitable  mistakes  of  inexperience  are  less 
injurious  in  a  detention  prison  than  in  the  penitentiary.  We  have 
said  that  there  ought  not  to  be  any  great  difference  in  what  is 
required  of  subalterns  in  the  detention  prison  and  the  peniten- 
tiary, for  the  reason  that  the  necessities  of  their  position  in  both 
these  classes  of  establishments  are  very  much  alike.  We  add  that 
even  the  higher  officials  have  occasion,  and  that  not  seldom,  to 
employ  all  their  intelligence  and  all  their  self-denial  with  the 
prisoner  awaiting  trial.  Often  he  is  alone  in  his  cell,  with  no 
relative  or  friend  coming  to  impart  to  him  counsel  or  consolation. 
If  he  is  innocent,  what  a  trial  for  his  virtue !  If  he  is  guilty,  what 
agitation  of  spirit !  Perhaps  the  effervescence  of  passion  or  dis- 
ordered appetite  which  pushed  him  on  to  crime  is  not  yet  calmed. 
He  seeks  in  thought  the  means  of  proving  his  innocence  or  ex- 
tenuating his  offence.  He  remembers  that  but  a  few  days  or  a 
few  hours  ago  he  was  an  honorable  man,  he  was  free ;  and  now 
he  is  within  four  walls,  covered  with  infamy.  He  is  irritated  at 
the  thought  that  his  accomplices  are  at  large,  and  angry  with  the 
instigators  of  his  crime  who  mock  at  the  law  ;  or  the  thirst  for 
vengeance,  unsatiated,  makes  him  foam  and  roar  like  a  wild  beast. 
There  are  seen  often  in  the  detention  prison  discouragement,  des- 
pair, rage,  and  fearful  inward  struggles  ;  and  there  are  needed  high 
qualities  in  the  director  and  the  employes  of  such  a  prison.  For 
the  reasons  above-mentioned,  we  would  have  no  other  difference 
between  the  employes  of  the  penitentiary  and  the  detention  prison 
than  that  of  beginning  their  career  in  this  latter. 

As  regards  the  benefits  obtained  by  experiments  made  in  this 
direction  we  have  no  special  knowledge,  and  are  therefore  unable 
to  furnish  any  useful  data  to  the  congress,  but  we  do  not  doubt 
that  the  result  must  have  proved  satisfactory  wherever  the  exper- 
iment has  been  made. 


PART  HI.]  DISCIPLINARY  PUNISHMENTS.  6/1 


CHAPTER  XXV.  —  DISCIPLINARY  PUNISHMENTS. 

WHAT  disciplinary  punishments  may  be  fitly  employed  in 
prisons  ? 

The  detention  prison  so  long  as  it  does  not  overstep  its  just 
limits  is  a  right  of  society,  and  the  duty  of  a  person  arrested  on 
a  charge  or  suspicion  of  crime  is  to  submit  to  its  discipline,  even 
supposing  him  to  be  innocent.  Besides  general  duties,  there  are 
duties  special  to  the  situation  of  each  individual  man.  The 
special  situation  of  the  prisoner  awaiting  trial  has  its  own  duties 
pointed  out  in  the  regulations  of  the  prison.  It  follows  that  dis- 
ciplinary punishment  for  the  arrested  as  for  the  sentenced  is  but 
the  just  and  inevitable  constraint  necessary  to  enforce  the  right 
to  which  he  refuses  to  yield.  The  rule  of  the  detention  prison  is 
not  so  strict  as  that  of  the  penitentiary ;  but,  once  infringed,  there 
is  the  same  right  to  compel  the  transgressor  to  observe  it,  and  by 
the  same  means,  except  the  differences  which  the  difference  of 
situation  involves.  The  prisoner  who  is  simply  charged  with 
crime  and  not  yet  proved  to  be  guilty,  having  more  rights  than 
the  prisoner  convicted  and  sentenced,  the  disciplinary  punish- 
ments applicable  to  him  will  have  a  more  negative  character,  and 
rarely  ought  they  to  be  positive  ;  but  the  occasion  occurring,  his 
punishment  may  be  made  equal  to  that  of  the  sentenced  prisoner 
as  regards  the  privation  of  work,  of  company,  and  even  of  light, 
if  his  brutal  resistance  goes  so  far  as  to  compel  it. 

The  rule  which  we  would  follow  in  establishing  disciplinary 
punishments  would  be  not  to  injure  the  health  of  either  the  body 
or  the  soul,  and,  in  the  sad  case  of  not  being  able  to  maintain  this 
harmony,  to  prefer  the  welfare  of  the  soul  to  that  of  the  body. 
We  believe  that  in  a  prison  where  rewards  are  carefully  studied 
and  equitably  distributed  it  will  rarely  be  necessary  to  resort  to 
punishments  at  all,  but  in  case  of  necessity  these  should  be  em- 
ployed without  hesitation.  Such  punishments  should  be  the 
diminution  of  privileges,  or  in  a  grave  case  the  withdrawal  of  all ; 
the  diminution  or  suppression  of  the  proportion  of  earnings  of 
labor  allotted  to  the  prisoner  ;  the  diminution  or  suppression  of 
communication  whether  by  speech  or  writing.  To  which  add  the 
diminution  of  food,  the  application  of  the  strait-jacket,  and  con- 
finement in  a  dark  cell.  Safely  to  use  the  three  punishments 
last  named,  it  will  be  necessary  to  consult  the  physician,  and  to  be 
well  assured  that  the  punishment  is  not  to  be  inflicted  on  a  sick 
man,  and  especially  not,  as  is  more  probable,  on  a  lunatic.  Men 
treated  with  kindness  and  justice  are  furious  only  exceptionally, 
or  by  reason  of  some  malady.  The  efficiency  of  all  disciplinary 
punishments  would  be  increased  to  an  extraordinary  degree  if  the 


6/2  STUDIES  IN  PENITENTIARY  SCIENCE.        [BOOK  vin. 

days  during  which  they  lasted  were  not  counted  towards  the  ter- 
mination of  the  sentence.  In  that  case  even  the  lightest  punish- 
ments would  become  formidable. 


CHAPTER  XXVI.  —  CONDITIONAL  LIBERATION. 

WHAT  benefits  may  be  expected  from  the  conditional  libera- 
tion of  convicts  ? 

Conditional  liberty  has  one  element  which  renders  it  highly 
useful  in  diminishing  the  number  of  recidivists  ;  it  excites  in  the 
convict  a  fear  of  returning  to  the  prison  at  the  moment  of  leaving 
it.  That  is  a  moment  when  the  strongest  restraint  is  necessary, 
because  the  liberated  prisoner  is  in  imminent  danger  of  abusing, 
all  those  things  whose  use  was  forbidden  to  him  during  his  prison 
life,  and  freedom  often  produces  in  him  a  species  of  intoxication 
and  causes  him  to  lose  his  head.  During  those  critical  days  that 
follow  immediately  on  his  discharge,  the  fear  of  returning  to  the 
prison  for  faults  which  are  not  crimes  'or  even  misdemeanors,  but 
which  put  him  on  the  high  road  to  their  commission,  is  greatly 
salutary,  and  it  is  a  new  reason  for  regarding  provisional  liberty 
as  a  real  progress  in  science. 

But  all  true  progress  of  value  presupposes  other  progress,  and 
the  one  advance  cannot  be  realized  without  the  other.  The 
prisoner  who  is  in  the  enjoyment  of  conditional  liberty  must  be 
subjected  to  kindly  but  vigilant  watching ;  that  is  to  say,  there 
must  be  a  supervising  body  (personnel  de  surveillance],  active, 
honest,  and  sufficiently  intelligent  to  apply  rules,  which,  however 
clear  they  may  seem  to  such  a  class  of  persons,  must  always  leave 
something  to  the  discretion  of  those  who  apply  them.  Now  we 
either  possess  such  a  body  or  we  do  not.  If  we  possess  it,  condi- 
tional liberation  will  be  a  blessing  ;  if  we  do  not,  it  will  degenerate 
into  license  or  tyranny.  The  convict  will  violate  the  rule  with 
impunity,  or  without  violating  it  he  will  be  returned  to  prison; 
and,  in  seeing  himself  unjustly  treated,  he  will  thenceforth  find  a 
greater  difficulty  in  ^being  just.  Conditional  liberty  is  beyond  all 
doubt  a  good  instrument  ;  but  equally  beyond  all  doubt  it  is  an 
instrument  exceedingly  difficult  to  handle,  and  which  a  bad  hand- 
ling may  make  dangerous.  In  this  case,  not  only  does  it  grant  a 
diminution  of  punishment  to  one  who  does  not  deserve  it,  but  it 
also  ministers  a  stimulant,  first  to  hypocrisy  and  then  to  vice.  It 
is  further  necessary  to  take  account  of  the  possibility  that  a  con- 
vict may  have  some  resources,  and  that  he  may  purchase  tolera- 
tion from  the  officer  set  to  watch  him. 


PART  HI.]  CELLULAR  SYSTEM.  6/3 

Even  granting  that  those  who  enjoy  the  boon  of  conditional 
liberty  are  perfectly  and  effectively  watched  over,  we  do  not  think 
that  it  should  be  granted  to  them  before  having  served  out  nine- 
tenths  of  their  sentence.  We  must  guard  against  the  inevitable 
reactions  which  take  place  in  public  opinion,  and  even  in  those 
who  cultivate  the  social  sciences.  Formerly  men  did  not  at  all  con- 
cede to  punishment  a  correctional  character;  to-day  the  tendency 
is  to  recognize  nothing  else  in  it.  In  other  times  the  delinquent 
was  believed  to  be  incorrigible  ;  now  it  is  supposed  by  many  that 
he  may  be  easily  reformed,  and  this  belief  is  entertained  on  the 
ground  of  pure  appearances.  Reason  ought  to  fortify  us  against 
the  exaggerations  of  fancy.  We  may  give  to  punishment  a  char- 
acter expiatory,  deterrent,  or  reformatory.  But  intimidation,  no 
•less  than  expiation  and  education,  requires  time,  and  consequently 
there  ought  not  to  be  too  great  an  abbreviation  of  the  sentence 
because  of  appearances.  So  long  as  a  convict  has  not  absolutely 
recovered  (his  freedom,  we  cannot  certainly  know  whether  he 
is  a  reformed  man,  or  a  hypocrite  and  cunning  actor.  What- 
ever form  may  be  given  to  conditional  liberation,  there  must  ever 
be  one  essential,  condition,  —  a  supervision  intelligent,  watchful, 
and  honorable ;  and  we  must  sedulously  avoid  those  excessive 
abbreviations  of  sentence  which  involve  the  peril  of  impunity  to 
hypocrites. 


CHAPTER  XXVII.  —  CELLULAR  SYSTEM. 

OUGHT  the  cellular  system  to  undergo  certain  modifications 
according  to  the  nationality,  social  condition,  and  sex  of  the 
prisoners  ? 

A  distinction  must  be  made.  If  the  cellular  system  is  applied 
in  all  its  rigor,  —  that  is  to  say,  if  the  prisoner  leaves  his  cell  only 
to  take  a-  daily  promenade,  with  material  precautions  that  he  may 
not  communicate  with  his  fellow-prisoners,  —  in  that  case  the  na- 
tionality, or  rather  the  race,  and  the  social  state,  because  of  the 
difference  in  religious  and  literary  instruction  and  in  intellectual 
activity,  may  render  absolutely  indispensable  some  modifications 
which  otherwise  might  not  be  needed.  The  Spanish  convict,  for 
example,  who  is  ignorant  of  the  art  of  reading,  or  who  generally 
has  but  an  imperfect  understanding  of  what  he  reads  ;  who  never 
read  the  Holy  Scriptures,  nor  any  book  of  devotion  ;  who,  in  the 
matter  of  religion,  is  very  ignorant  and  very  indifferent,  little 
instructed  in  morals,  often  led  astray  by  errors,  and  exasperated 
by  resentments,  —  what  will  such  a  one  do  alone,  receiving  an 
occasional  short  visit,  and  having,  as  his  sole  resource  during 

43 


6/4  STUDIES  IN  PENITENTIARY  SCIENCE.        [BOOK  vm. 

the  rest  of  the  day  and  the  night,  the  Bible  or  the  Liiany,  if 
he  knows  how  to  read  ?  He  will  become  more  and  more  bru- 
talized ;  or,  filled  with  rage  and  rancor,  he  will  be  ill-disposed 
to  correction  and  amendment.  Solitude  is  borne  less  easily  in 
proportion  as  the  subject  of  it  has  less  intellectual  resources. 
It  may  be  that  he  will  neither  fall  sick  nor  become  mad,  —  that 
he  will  experience  none  of  these  visible  ailments ;  but  we  have 
no  guarantee  that  he  will  not  become  more  and  more  debased 
if  he  is  left  alone,  or  without  powerful  aids,  in  his  moral  and 
mental  misery.  Leaving  out  of  view  physical  transitions,  moral 
transitions  are  exceedingly  multiform ;  and  they  are  more  sud- 
den according  to  the  life  of  the  convict  when  he  was  free.  Civ- 
ilization with  its  wants  and  its  customs  establishes  certain  rules 
and  that  sort  of  discipline  from  which  it  is  not  easy  wholly  to 
withdraw  one's  self.  A  convict  who  makes  coals  in  Estremadura 
in  the  open  air,  cutting  wood  on  the  mountains,  and  a  workman  of 
France  or  Belgium  who  works  thirteen  hours  a  day  in  the  atmos- 
phere (often  deleterious)  of  a  manufactory,  must  receive  impres- 
sions very  different  on  finding  themselves  confined  in  a  solitary 
cell.  We  are  therefore  of  the  opinion  that  the  cellular  system 
ought  not  to  be  applied  indiscriminately,  irrespective  of  the  degree 
of  civilization  of  a  country  and  of  the  social  conditions  of  its 
people.  At  the  same  time  we  think  that  the  cellular  system,  in  a 
modified  and  milder  form,  may  be  applied  to  the  prisoners  of  any 
civilized  country  whatsoever. 

As  regards  sex,  it  would  seem  that  no  modification  of  the  sys- 
tem is  necessary,  at  least  until  experience  has  shown  its  necessity, 
—  a  result  which  we  never  expect  to  see.  The  woman  is  more 
docile,  more  resigned  than  the  man  ;  she  has  habits  more  sed- 
entary, and  consequently  accommodates  herself  better  than  the 
man  to  the  reclusion  of  the  cell.  With  her  the  sentiment  of 
religion  is  stronger,  which  gives  her  an  additional  means  of  as- 
suaging the  bitterness  of  solitude. 


CHAPTER  XXVIII.  —  DURATION  OF  CELLULAR  SEPARATION. 

SHOULD  the  duration  of  cellular  separation  be  unalterably 
determined   by  the  law?      May  the  prison  administration 
admit  exceptions  for  other  causes  than  sickness  ? 

The  duration  of  the  punishment,  with  all  its  important  condi- 
tions, ought  to  be  fixed  by  the  law.  It  is  past  doubt  that  there  is 
in  that  an  inflexibility  to  be  regretted,  and  an  imperfection  to  be 
deplored.  This  is  partly  the  consequence  of  human  imperfection, 


TART  in.]  PATROA^AGE.  6/5 

whose  ill  effects  cannot  be  lessened  by  arbitrary  action.  Let  us 
suppose  that  the  arbitrary  power  of  deciding  in  all  cases  upon  the 
important  elements  of  the  punishment  does  not  allow  itself  to  be 
guided  either  by  passion  or  by  interest  on  the  part  of  the  func- 
tionaries of  the  administration,  but  that  it  acts  always  with  honor 
and  in  good  faith,  —  how  many  erroneous  decisions  would  be  made 
from  the  different  ways  of  looking  at  the  subject !  Do  we  not 
see  men  contend,  even  to  the  death,  all  of  them  appealing  to  jus- 
tice in  the  idea  that  they  are  under  its  guidance  and  its  shield  ? 
If  such  has  always  been  the  case,  it  will  be  still  more  so  in  those 
historic  moments  when  all  is  subjected  to  the  crucible  of  discus- 
sion, and  when  by  weakening  the  prestige  of  authority  individual 
opinion  tends  to  lift  itself  into  law.  The  directors  of  penitentiaries 
are  but  men,  and  they  follow  a  disposition  and  habit  natural  to 
man,  —  which  is  not  always  to  appreciate  things  and  persons  in 
identically  the  same  manner;  and  prisoners  would  suffer  for  the 
same  offence  quite  a  different  punishment  if  such  punishment 
might  be  modified  by  the  directors,  whose  opinions  would  infal- 
libly be  converted  into  facts.  The  duration  of  isolation  being 
an  essential  part  of  the  punishment  ought  to  be  fixed  by  the  law, 
so  that  it  may  as  far  as  possible  be  equal  for  all.  The  tribunal 
which  pronounces  sentence  should  have  a  sphere  of  action  broad 
enough  to  graduate  the  punishment  to  the  offence,  and  this  ought 
not  to  vary  according  to  the  different  judgments  of  the  various 
agents  of  the  administration.  Nothing  should  be  left  to  arbi- 
trary will,  except  what  cannot  be  otherwise  dealt  with  ;  in  peni- 
tentiaries this  will  always  be  considerable. 

As  the  exceptions  to  be  made  by  the  administration  relate 
only  to  cases  of  sickness  whenever  it  is  a  question  of  shorten- 
ing the  time  of  cellular  reclusion,  this  does  not  constitute  an  ex- 
ceptional case  properly  so  called ;  it  is  only  a  regulation  made  for 
the  sick. 


CHAPTER  XXIX.  — PATRONAGE. 

HOW  should  the  patronage  of  liberated  adult  prisoners  be 
organized?1     Should   there   be  distinct  societies  for  the 
two  sexes  ? 

The  patronage  of  discharged  prisoners  should  be  so  organized 
as  to  have  unity,  liberty,  generality,  and  independence. 
^  Unity  —  This  may  be  secured  by  establishing  a  centre  in  the 
city  which  has  the  largest  number  of  elements  for  such  a  pro- 

1  Madame  Arenal  here  refers  to  prisoners'-aid  societies. 


6/6  STUDIES  IN  PENITENTIARY  SCIENCE.        [BOOK  vm. 

tective  work.  This  central  section  should  be  in  connection  with 
as  many  particular  sections  as  there  are  penitentiaries  within  the 
district  covered  by  its  work 

Liberty.  —  Effort  should  be  made  to  render  common  to  all  the 
sections  whatever  is  essential ;  but  even  this  should  be  freely  ac- 
cepted after  the  necessary  discussion.  As  regards  what  is  not 
essential,  complete  liberty  of  action  must  be  accorded  so  as  not 
to  thwart  individual  inclinations  or  paralyze  personal  activities, 
which  may  have  different  forms  according  to  diversity  of  circum- 
stances and  characters.  Unity  is  not  symmetry:  it  consists  in 
the  same  spirit,  the  same  end ;  it  requires  that  the  means  em- 
ployed to  a  given  end  be  good,  not  identical.  Unity  and  liberty 
are  two  elements  of  life,  which  must  be  combined  in  fit  propor- 
tions, neither  more  nor  less.  It  is  the  same  in  the  patronage  of 
liberated  prisoners  as  in  every  other  benevolent  work  of  whatever 
kind  Many  such  enterprises  die  or  languish  through  excess  of 
liberty  within  a  restricted  sphere  ;  or  as  the  result  of  a  too  rigor- 
ous unity,  which  is  an  obstacle  to  free  movements. 

Generality.  —  That  the  action  of  patronage  may  be  efficacious 
it  must  be  generalized,  and  that  in  two  ways  ;  namely,  by  seek- 
ing associates  in  all  places  and  in  all  classes.  We  must  avoid 
in  moral  as  in  physical  maladies  the  formation  of  centres  for 
the  agglomeration  of  patients ;  and  if  isolation  in  the  prison  has 
its  raison  d'etre  for  the  incarcerated,  there  is  the  same  reason  to 
avoid  the  grouping  of  discharged  convicts.  Consequently,  be- 
cause of  the  grave  evils  to  which  they  are  exposed  in  large  towns, 
it  is  desirable  to  scatter  them  through  the  small  ones,  and  that 
there  may  not  be  a  village  or  even  a  hamlet  where  patronage 
shall  not  find  an  associate.  It  is  still  more  important  to  seek 
such  associates  in  all  classes  ;  and  that  is  more  difficult  for  sev- 
eral reasons,  —  one  of  these  reasons  being  the  mistaken  idea 
that  we  cannot  take  part  in  charitable  works  without  money. 
Thus  the  poor  are  excluded,  thereby  depriving  them  of  a  means 
of  improvement  and  society  of  immense  benefits.  Fraternity 
does  not  consist  in  granting  rights  which  cannot  be  refused,  nor 
in  giving  alms  in  association  with  such  an  one,  and  with  such 
another  not :  fraternity  is  love,  esteem,  relations  on  a  footing  of 
equality,  a  union  of  hearts.  If  it  is  our  duty  to  fraternize  with 
the  people,  it  is  our  duty  to  commune  with  them,  —  to  commune 
with  them  not  on  the  altar  of  religion  only,  but  on  the  altar  of 
good  works.  For  many  benevolent  works  there  is  no  need  of 
money,  and  there  is  not  one  for  which  money  alone  suffices.  The 
co-operation  of  the  common  people  is  indispensable  in  the  work  of 
aiding  liberated  prisoners.  It  signifies  little  that  the  millionaire 
or  the  savant  patronize  them,  if  they  are  repelled  from  the  work- 
shop. A  godfather  there  would  be  more  useful,  on  occasion,  than 
all  the  patrons  they  might  have  in  the  saloons  or  the  academies. 


PART  in.]  PATRONAGE.  677 

The  services  which  might  be  rendered  to  the  work  of  patronage  by 
associates  in  blouse  are  immense  ;  they  are  found  much  nearer  to 
those  who  are  the  objects  of  patronage,  and  who  perhaps  work 
the  whole  day  at  their  side.  These  see  them  wavering  in  the 
good  way;  they  observe  the  little  faults  which  precede  graver 
offences  ;  they  can  give  counsel  before  passion  has  blinded  them 
and  extend  to  them  the  hand  before  the  great  fall.  Persons  of 
a  different  social  position  have  no  occasion  to  be  well  acquainted 
with  their  proteges  if  these  do  not  seek  them,  and  often  they  do 
not. 

It  will  be  said  perhaps  that  the  "  associate  "  in  blouse  will  be 
wanting  in  authority  toward  his  protege ;  but  we  believe  that  the 
authority  of  his  good  example  will  be  greater  than  that  of  wise 
discourses.  We  scarcely  realize  how  much  an  exhortation  made 
to  an  unfortunate  by  one  who  is  more  fortunate  loses  of  its  moral 
force.  A  person  who  enjoys  the  advantages  of  a  good  social  po- 
sition and  the  general  esteem,  in  advising  the  discharged  convict 
to  resign  himself  to  his  misery  under  the  want  of  work,  and  to 
his  ignominy  under  the  frown  of  a  hostile  public,  must  awaken  in 
the  mind  of  him  whom  he  essays  to  persuade  the  idea  that  it  is 
an  easy  thing  to  exhort  to  the  endurance  of  evils  which  one  does 
not  suffer,  and  that  he  who  exhorts  would  not  be  capable  of  doing 
that  which  he  counsels.  But  when  the  outward  situation  of  the 
protector  approaches  that  of  the  protigt,  when  his  own  task  is  a 
hard  one,  when  he  earns  his  living  in  laborious  obscurity,  un- 
cheered  by  the  flatteries  of  the  world  and  unblest  by  the  favors 
of  fortune,  then  his  voice  speaks  with  authority,  or  rather  he  has 
no  occasion  to  speak.  The  example  of  an  honorable  poor  man, 
who  works  and  struggles  against  his  ill  fortune,  is  more  eloquent 
than  all  the  harangues  of  the  wise  and  the  learned. 

It  may  be  thought  impossible  to  enlist  the  co-operation  of 
working-men  in  the  work  of  patronage  in  behalf  of  liberated 
prisoners.  We  do  not  think  so.  At  all  events,  it  should  be 
attempted  ;  it  is  well  worth  while  to  do  so.  Difficulties  must  be 
encountered  as  a  matter  of  course,  and  we  must  be  content  with 
small  success  at  the  outset.  Where  is  the  rich  man  who  could 
not  find  an  "  associate  "  in  the  working  class  ?  There  is  not  one, 
if  he  would  seek  such  associate  in  earnest.  That  would  suffice 
for  a  beginning ;  and  it  would  have  other  advantages,  the  enu- 
meration of  which  would  lead  us  too  far  away  from  our  subject. 

Independence.  —  The  independence  of  patronage  is  another  es- 
sential element  of  it  ;  for  if  it  were  believed  to  be  under  the 
influence  of,  or  even  in  relation  with,  the  police  it  would  lose  the 
greater  part  of  its  prestige  and  its  power.1  That  the  indepen- 

1  Madame  Arenal  writes  with  the  police  of  the  Continent,  perhaps  especially  that 
of  Spain,  in  her  mind.  In  England  the  whole  body  of  police  co-operate  in  this  work, 
and  such  co-operation  is  found  both  fit  and  effective. 


6/8  STUDIES  IN  PENITENTIARY  SCIENCE.         [BooK  vm. 

dence  of  patronage  may  be  real  and  fruitful,  it  must  show  itself 
supported  only  by  the  generous  enthusiasm  to  which  it  owes  its 
origin,  without  other  force  than  that  which  is  moral,  and  without 
other  constraint  than  the  power  of  the  intellect  and  the  affec- 
tions. All  other  circumstances  being  equal,  the  patron  will  the 
more  easily  influence  the  subject  of  his  patronage  in  so  far  as 
this  latter  believes  him  to  be  independent. 

It  does  not  seem  to  us  to  admit  of  a  question  whether  persons 
discharged  from  prison  ought  to  have  protectors  of  the  same  sex, 
and,  consequently  whether  there  ought  to  be  formed  distinct 
patronage  societies  for  women.  Certainly,  also,  like  the  societies 
for  men,  they  should  combine  in  their  organization  unity,  liberty, 
expansion,  and  independence. 


CHAPTER  XXX.  —  STATE  Am  TO  PATRONAGE. 

OUGHT  the  State  to  grant  subventions  to  patronage  societies, 
and  under  what  conditions  ? 

We  observe,  generally,  that  patronage  societies  complain  of  the 
want  of  funds,  and  ask  them  of  the  Governments  as  a  condition  of 
success.  Considering  that  these  complaints  and  requests  are  con- 
stantly repeated,  we  begin  to  be  in  doubt  whether  our  opinion 
against  patronage  societies  being  aided  by  the  State  is  not  erron- 
eous. The  reasons  which  have,  in  our  mind,  favored  this  opinion 
are  the  following  :  — 

1.  When  too  many  facilities  are  given  to  a  benevolent  work,  it 
is  apt  to  languish  from  the  lack  of  that  energy  which  is  born  of 
constant  struggles. 

2.  Funds  are  dispensed  with  less  circumspection  which  are  re- 
ceived without  labor  than  those  which  are  given  through  sacri- 
fices or  acquired  with  difficulty. 

3.  In  associations  for  the  patronage  of  liberated  prisoners  there 
are  needed  in  the  members  more  intelligence,  zeal,  and  self-denial 
than  money ;  because,  if  they  dispense  large  funds,  they  will  be 
likely  to  be  besieged  by  hypocrites,  who  come  to  them  more  for 
"  the  loaves  and  fishes  "  than  for  advice,  protection,  or  work. 

However,  if  patronage  societies  are  aided  by  the  State,  we 
should  desire  that  it  might  be  without  conditions.  Either  they 
deserve  confidence,  or  they  do  not.  If  they  do  not  deserve  it, 
they  ought  not  to  receive  the  State's  generosity.  If  they  do  de- 
serve it,  there  ought  not  to  be  imposed  upon  them  conditions 
which  might  become  hindrances  instead  of  guarantees. 


PART  in.]  REFORMATORY  INSTITUTIONS.  679 


CHAPTER  XXXI.  —  REFORMATORY  INSTITUTIONS. 

ON  what  principles  should  institutions  be  organized  which  are 
designed  for  offenders  acquitted  as  having  acted  without 
knowledge,  and  placed  under  the  care  of  the  Government  during 
a  term  fixed  by  the  law  ? 

To  answer  this  question  in  a  satisfactory  manner,  it  will  be 
necessary  to  examine  briefly  what  is  meant,  or  what  ought  to  be 
meant,  by  having  acted  without  knowledge. 

How  and  when  does  a  human  being  acquire  that  full  develop- 
ment of  his  faculties,  in  virtue  of  which  a  complete  responsibility- 
is  exacted  of  him  for  his  actions  ?  From  one  hour  to  another, 
in  this  month  or  the  next,  he  does  not  pass  from  an  ignorance  of 
justice  to  the  knowledge  of  it ;  but,  rather,  he  comes  to  an  under- 
standing of  it  little  by  little.  And  is  this  knowledge  like  a  reve- 
lation which,  though  gradual,  has  a  character  of  spontaneity,  or 
does  it  result  from  reflection  ?  Humanity  is  in  possession  of 
many  truths  on  which  it  has  expended  no  effort  of  reflection, 
and  which  are  for  it  strong  beliefs,  and  not  certainties,  reached 
through  force  of  reasoning.  The  things  which  it  must  know  it 
knows  by  intuition,  and  believes  rather  than  knows  them.  To 
reason  upon  these  knowledges  due  to  inspiration,  to  reflect  upon 
these  beliefs,  is  a  progressive  work,  and  it  largely  contributes  to 
progress. 

In  the  life  of  man  there  happens  something  which  bears  a 
strong  resemblance  to  this.  The  notion  of  good  and  evil  pre- 
cedes the  power  of  analyzing  it.  When  the  child  is  very  small  we 
do  not  say  to  him,  "  That  ought  not  to  be  done,"  but  "  You  must 
not  do  that."  The  authority  is  imperative  ;  the  matter  cannot  be 
reasoned,  because  it  concerns  a  being  who  does  not  reason  yet. 
But  does  it  follow  that  he  is  irrational  ?  To  a  horse,  an  ox,  a  dog 
even,  we  do  not  say,  "  That  must  not  be  done ; "  we  beat  him,  or 
we  menace  him,  to  prevent  his  doing  it.  It  is  evident  to  the  most 
ordinary  observer  that  very  early  in  his  life  the  infant  is  treated 
in  a  manner  altogether  different  from  the  brute,  and  that  in  the 
imperative  tone  there  is  found  the  idea  of  duty,  which  is  not  ex- 
plained to  but  imposed  upon  the  child,  who  more  or  less  con- 
fusedly comprehends  it  already.  This  idea  of  right  and  wrong 
soon  becomes  clear,  if  external  circumstances  do  not  obscure  it. 
We  must  not  confound  the  limitation  of  the  sphere  of  intellectual 
action  in  a  child  with  ignorance  of  the  things  contained  in  that 
sphere.  A  child  lacks  many  sorts  of  knowledge,  many  stimu- 
lants, many  passions  ;  he  is  ignorant  of  many  kinds  of  right  and 
wrong  action  ;  but  in  his  little  circle  he  distinguishes  quickly, 
very  quickly,  wrong  from  right.  In  proportion  as  this  circle  is 


68O  STUDIES  IN  PENITENTIARY  SCIENCE.        [BooK  vin, 

enlarged  he  may  be  said  to  be  enlightened.  The  clearness  of  his 
ideas  increases  together  with  their  number  ;  but  between  know- 
ing the  whole  extent  of  right  and  wrong  and  knowing  nothing 
there  is  a  scale  or  gradation,  on  which  the  reasoning  man  stands 
on  the  highest  round,  and  the  insane  man  or  the  brute  —  not  the 
child  —  on  the  lowest.  It  follows  that  when  the  child  has  done 
something  which  the  law  punishes,  and  it  is  said  that  he  has  acted 
without  knowledge,  we  do  not  speak  with  absolute  precision,  and 
in  pronouncing  a  judgment  of  acquittal  we  do  not  do  so  in  strict 
conformity  to  justice.  That  a  child  does  not  know  all  the  wrong 
he  has  committed  is  quite  possible  ;  but  that  he  is  wholly  igno- 
rant of  it  is  not  probable.  The  essential  elements  which  go  to 
make  up  a  sufficient  knowledge  of  a  wrong  action  are  simple  ;  an 
ordinary  man  possesses  them  equally  with  a  philosopher ;  it  is 
possible  that  a  child  may  possess  them  also.  We  say  a  sufficient 
knowledge,  because  nothing  more  is  required  to  moral  or  even 
legal  responsibility,  though  it  may  not  be  all  the  knowledge  possi- 
ble. It  seems  to  us  that  only  exceptionally  do  children  transgress 
without  knowledge  ;  that  is  to  say,  without  the  knowledge  that 
they  are  doing  wrong.  Does  the  law,  which  says  so,  believe  it  ? 
And  does  it  make  the  declaration  in  consequence  of  such  belief  ? 

What  signifies  placing  the  child,  who  is  not  legally  responsible, 
at  the  disposition  of  the  administration  under  such  or  such  con- 
ditions, or  for  such  or  such  a  time  ?  If  there  is  no  knowledge, 
there  can  be  no  offence,  no  punishment ;  and  enforced  reclusion, 
whatever  name  we  may  give  to  it,  is  a  punishment.  It  will  be 
said  that  the  child  must  be  instructed.  And  why  this  child,  and 
not  a  hundred  or  a  thousand  others,  whose  education  no  one  looks 
after  ?  Is  it  supposed  that  this  one  has  greater  need  ?  And  why  ? 
Because  his  manner  of  acting  proves  that  he  has  greater  need  of 
correction.  But  what  he  has  done  is  not  an  isolated  and  fortuitous 
act.  His  hand  did  not  maim  or  steal,  as  if  moved  by  a  mechani- 
cal spring.  Some  relation  must  be  supposed  between  his  manner 
of  being  and  his  manner  of  acting,  without  which  the  law  would 
not  deliver  him  up  to  the  administration  for  correction.  It  re- 
sults that  the  law,  not  to  be  wanting  in  justice,  must  be  wanting 
in  logic,  since  it  punishes  him  whom  it  has  declared  not  responsi- 
ble. It  will  be  said  that  the  punishment  has  for  its  sole  object 
instruction  ;  but  if  these  distinctions  may  be  made  on  paper, 
nevertheless,  in  point  of  fact  correctional  punishment  is  expia- 
tory. We  cannot  correct  one  who  has  offended  in  a  grave  matter 
without  mortifying  him  in  some  degree,  and  without  causing  him 
and  others  to  fear  this  mortification.  Certainly  we  may  congrat- 
ulate ourselves  on  this  harmony  in  the  elements  of  punishment, 
which  some  would  make  exclusive  or  hostile  ;  but  we  must  under- 
stand that  the  law  punishes  the  child  whom  it  orders  to  be  placed 
in  reclusion. 


PART  HI.]  REFORMATORY  INSTITUTIONS.  68 1 

As  regards  the  mode  of  punishing  or  instructing,  it  is  essential 
that  we  know  whether  the  child  has  acted  with  or  without  knowl- 
edge ;  whether  or  not  he  knew  what  he  was  doing.  In  the  latter 
case,  we  have  only  to  await  the  development  of  his  intelligence, 
and  cultivate  it ;  in  the  former,  we  must  rectify  his  will  with- 
out hesitating  to  inflict  the  mortifications  which  he  deserves,  and 
which  he  needs  who  has  a  perverted  will.  It  is  difficult  for  us  to 
believe  that  a  child  who  does  wrong  knows  what  he  is  doing  ;  but 
we  must  not  admit  or  deny  the  facts  because  they  are  agreeable 
or  disagreeable,  but  rather  because  they  are  false  or  true.  Though 
it  is  far  from  agreeable  to  characterize  a  child  as  a  delinquent,  still 
it  is  necessary  to  inquire  whether  he  is  so.  Precocity,  in  all  things, 
is  a  fact  well  established  in  our  times.  Every  day  we  hear  old 
men  say  that  children  are  more  depraved  now  than  in  their  time, 
and  that  they  are  pained  by  the  fact  that  infancy  very  quickly 
loses  its  ingenuousness  and  its  innocence. 

Although  there  may  be  some  exaggeration  in  these  complaints, 
there  is  also  a  good  deal  of  truth,  for  the  fact  which  gives  occa- 
sion for  them  is  in  harmony  with  others.  Let  us  see.  On  every 
side  the  age  required  for  majority  is  diminished,  or  at  least  there 
is  a  tendency  to  abbreviate  it ;  and  although  this  tendency  has 
several  causes,  one  of  these  causes  without  doubt  is  the  observation 
that  young  people  are  in  a  state  to  govern  themselves  earlier  than 
in  other  times.  We  see  numerous  instances  of  a  remarkable  pre- 
cocity in  acquiring  all  sorts  of  knowledge  ;  and  in  the  theatres 
artists  of  extraordinary  merit  make  their  debut  who  might  almost 
be  called  little  children.  Statistics  show  a  wrong  precocity  in 
crime.  It  does  not  belong  to  the  present  essay  to  inquire  into 
the  causes  of  this  ;  but  the  certain  fact  is  that  the  passions  ap- 
pear and  the  intelligence  is  developed  at  a  very  tender  age ;  a  fact 
which  ought  to  make  us  cautious  in  declaring  the  non-responsi- 
bility of  a  young  delinquent. 

There  is  an  oft-repeated  fact,  well  suited  to  lead  to  a  mis- 
conception in  this  matter.  A  child  commits  an  offence ;  in 
attempting  to  reform  him,  years  roll  away  before  the  work  is 
accomplished  ;  but  in  the  end  he  becomes  an  honorable  man. 
From  this  the  conclusion  is  drawn  that  in  committing  that  of- 
fence he  did  not  know  what  he  was  doing,  and  that  as  soon  as  he 
had  knowledge  he  acted  rightly.  There  are  cases  in  which  this 
conclusion  might  be  correct ;  but  there  are  others,  and  they  are  the 
more  numerous,  in  which  it  would  be  erroneous.  A  human  be- 
ing, as  soon  as  he  may  be  regarded  as  a  moral  being,  —  that  is,  as 
soon  as  he  possesses  an  adequate  notion  of  right  and  wrong,  and 
the  power  of  realizing  the  one  or  the  other  (which  happens  in  the 
first  years  of  his  life),  —  experiences  changes  of  transcendent  im- 
portance from  good  to  bad  and  from  bad  to  good  in  his  moral 
physiognomy  as  well  as  in  his  physical.  He  has  crises,  almost 


682  STUDIES  IN  PENITENTIARY  SCIENCE.         [BooK  vm. 

metamorphoses.  Sometimes  the  excessive  development  of  one 
faculty  leads  to  bad  actions  ;  at  other  times,  quite  the  reverse : 
the  disturbing  element  is  in  germ,  and  lacks  the  necessary  de- 
velopment ;  so  that  it  may  happen  that  the  man  is  much  better 
or  much  worse  than  the  youth  or  the  child.  But  because  he  has 
changed  by  becoming  better  it  does  not  follow  that  he  was  not 
bad,  or  that  he  did  wrong  without  knowledge.  Because  during 
that  period  of  life  when  changes  readily  occur  evil  did  not  im- 
press itself  permanently  on  the  character,  we  must  not  infer  that 
it  was  committed  without  being  distinguished  from  good. 

Starting  from  these  principles,  we  would  organize  as  houses 
of  correction  the  establishments  which  should  receive  children 
declared  not  responsible  by  the  tribunals.  We  would  treat  them 
without  forgetting  the  physical  and  moral  conditions  of  their  age, 
cherishing  a  stronger  hope  of  a  radical  cure,  but  persuaded  at 
the  same  time  that  there  is  a  real  disease,  that  there  is  a  depraved 
will,  and  that  it  is  necessary  to  influence  it  to  good  instead  of 
looking  upon  it  as  pure,  and  addressing  our  treatment  only  to 
the  understanding.  It  is  necessary  to  classify  the  children  com- 
mitted by  the  tribunals  to  the  administration  as  not  responsible 
for  the  wrong  they  have  done  ;  for  some  of  them,  in  spite  of  their 
young  age,  have  a  depraved  will,  and  others,  really  free  from  fault, 
have  been  pushed  on  to  evil  by  misery,  desertion,  or  bad  example ; 
or  they  have  been  instigated  and  constrained  thereto  by  those 
who  should  have  guided  them  in  the  way  of  good.  In  pronounc- 
ing upon  the  responsibility  or  non-responsibility  of  children  and 
youths,  we  would  pay  little  attention  to  their  age,  but  rather  to 
the  circumstances  of  their  offence,  their  antecedents,  their  sur- 
roundings, etc. ;  and,  according  to  these  circumstances,  we  would 
have  them  gathered  into  a  house  of  refuge  or  of  correction.  Of 
this  latter  character,  according  to  our  conception,  should  gener- 
ally be  the  houses  which  receive  children  who  have  transgressed 
in  a  matter  of  some  gravity,  and  have  been  declared  irresponsible. 
These  establishments,  whether  agricultural  as  would  be  preferable, 
or  of  some  other  class,  should  aim  to  straighten  out  the  crooked 
and  perverse  wills  of  their  inmates. 


CHAPTER  XXXII.  —  PREVENTIVE  INSTITUTIONS. 

IN  what  manner   should    institutions  be  organized  which  are 
intended  for  the  treatment  of  vagrant,  mendicant,  and  de- 
serted children  ? 

These  institutions  should  vary,  as  they  are  found  in  countries 


PART  in.]  PREVENTIVE  INSTITUTIONS.  683 

where  individual  action  is  feeble  or  strong.  As  regards  those 
countries  which  are  happily  in  this  latter  case,  the  administra- 
tion will  aid  ;  for  the  others  it  will  be  aided.  It  is  desirable  that 
the  direct  action  of  the  State  should  not  be  necessary  in  the  case 
of  the  children  referred  to  in  this  question,  and  that  private  asso- 
ciations should  charge  themselves  with  the  succor  of  these  chil- 
dren physically  and  morally.  These  associations,  without  losing 
their  initiative  or  their  liberty,  should  be  conducted  on  the  same 
general  principle,  that  they  may  mutually  support  and  aid  each 
other,  and  avoid  the  evil  of  isolation.  The  organization  of  so- 
cieties created  for  the  protection  of  neglected,  abandoned,  and 
vicious  children  should  be  organized  in  such  manner  as  not  to 
be  confined  to  the  large  towns,  where  there  would  be  great 
agglomerations  of  them  ;  but,  quite  the  contrary,  where  they 
would  be  diffused  if  possible  over  the  entire  territory,  having 
associates  and  fellow-workers  even  in  the  smallest  villages.  In 
this  way  alone  could  they  effectually  secure  three  objects,  highly 
important  to  the  class  of  children  under  consideration:  i.  To 
place  them  at  a  distance  from  the  great  towns.  2.  To  avoid 
the  formation  of  large  communities  in  the  same  establishments. 
3.  To  procure  for  them  the  advantage  of  family  life. 

We  know  the  disposition  of  the  working  classes  to  crowd  into 
the  cities.  If  this  is  prejudicial  to  adults,  it  is  much  more  so  to 
children,  whose  precocious  depravity  finds  in  the  great  centres 
of  population  attractions  so  dangerous  and  so  fatal.  As  well  to 
invigorate  their  body  enfeebled  by  misery  and  disorders  as  to 
preserve  their  soul  from  excitement  and  temptation,  it  is  impor- 
tant to  keep  the  child  or  the  youth  far  away  from  the  centres  of 
vice,  into  which  they  have  probably  been  already  initiated.  If  it 
is  not  possible  to  employ  them  in  agricultural  labors,  it  is  at  least 
desirable  to  place  them  in  villages,  where  are  not  found  those 
throngs  of  people  who  seem  at  times  to  be  possessed  by  the 
fever  of  pleasure,  which  is  easily  converted  into  a  frenzy  of  vice. 

The  accumulation  of  vicious  boys  in  charitable  institutions  is 
prejudicial  as  well  to  their  moral  as  to  their  physical  health.  In 
view  of  the  fact  that  great  precautions  are  needed  to  preserve 
the  children  of  the  well-to-do  classes,  who  have  received  what  is 
called  a  good  bringing-up,  from  being  corrupted  in  the  great 
colleges,  we  shall  understand  the  danger  of  grouping  into  large 
aggregations  children  the  greater  part  of  whom  will  have  been 
already  initiated  into  the  mysteries  of  vice.  Great  obstacles  will 
have  to  be  overcome  in  making  and  keeping  pure  the  moral 
atmosphere  of  these  asylums  when  their  inmates  are  in  large 
number. 

The  best  means  of  securing  an  honorable  future  to  a  boy  who 
has  been  living  in  destitution  and  disorder  is  to  procure  for  him 
a  home  in  a  truly  respectable  family,  in  the  country  if  possible, 


684  STUDIES  IN  PENITENTIARY  SCIENCE.          [BOOK  vin. 

and  under  the  care  and  watch  of  a  patron,  after  having  passed 
more  or  less  time  in  a  suitable  asylum  in  study  and  under  whole- 
some discipline.  The  object  of  patronage  in  the  case  of  such 
children  indicates  the  mode  of  organization.  It  ought  to  have 
unity.  It  will  have  centres  in  the  great  towns,  where  will  be 
found  the  larger  number  of  its  protege's,  but  it  should  not  con- 
centrate its  whole  life  there.  On  the  contrary,  it  should  diffuse 
its  vitality  over  the  whole  country,  where  its  action  is  necessary. 
It  should  seek  associates  in  the  small  villages,  in  hamlets  even, 
to  the  end  that  it  may  have  representatives  wherever  it  shall  have 
protege's. 


CHAPTER  XXXIII.  —  INTERNATIONAL  POLICE. 

HOW  can  uniform  police  action  be  secured  by  the  different 
States,  with  a  view  to  the  prevention  as  well  as  the  repres- 
sion of  crime  ? 

As  the  police  of  different  States  corresponds  to  the  morality 
and  the  culture  of  their  several  populations,  international  action 
can  do  nothing  effectual,  directly  and  immediately,  to  improve  it. 
States  may  contribute  to  this  result  indirectly  and  gradually,  by 
giving  to  their  peoples  a  more  exact  and  more  elevated  idea  of 
justice  ;  and  especially  might  they  do  so  if  the  honor  of  nations 
would  allow  of  its  realization.  Extradition  treaties  are  an  essen- 
tial preliminary  to  an  international  code,  but  they  are  not  to  be 
taken  as  the  last  word  of  international  justice.  So  long  as  legis- 
lation is  not  uniform,  there  cannot  be,  it  is  said,  an  international 
code.  We  do  not  concur  in  this  opinion.  An  international  code 
might  include  resemblances,  while  it  excluded  differences  ;  and 
though  such  a  code  would  necessarily  be  very  incomplete,  it  would 
nevertheless  be  very  useful.  It  would  tend  to  show  the  universal 
character  of  justice,  at  the  same  time  that  it  would  give  to  it 
greater  majesty  and  force.  It  would  energize  the  tendency,  al- 
ready strong,  to  render  legislation  uniform  ;  it  would  take  from 
the  criminal  the  hope  of  finding  impunity  in  expatriation ;  and, 
finally,  it  would  put  an  end  to  the  thousand  conflicts  that  arise, 
always  to  the  detriment  of  justice,  from  the  partial  and  diverse 
conventions  which  are  entered  into  with  a  view  to  realize  it. 
These  conventions  might  be  continued  as  long  as  should  be 
thought  necessary,  but  without  prejudice  to,  and  in  harmony 
with,  the  international  code  adopted  by  all  civilized  peoples, 
whereby  they  would  agree,  — 

1.  To  define  the  offences  universally  punishable. 

2.  To  designate  the  penalties  which  should  be  applied  to  them. 


TART  in.]  RELAPSE,  685 

3.  To  provide  the  means  of  rendering  the  punishment  effective, 
whatever  might  be  the  nationality  of  the  criminal,  or  the  locality 
where  he  committed  the  offence. 


CHAPTER  XXXIV.  —  RELAPSE. 

WHAT  would  be  the  best  means  of  combating  relapses  ? 
The   causes  of  relapse  being  different,  the   means  em- 
ployed to  combat  it  should  be  different. 

That  which  at  first  blush  presents  itself  as  most  effectual  is  a 
good  penitentiary  system.  If  the  prison,  in  place  of  reforming, 
makes  more  depraved,  we  must  commence  the  battle  against 
relapse  by  changing  this  tendency.  The  probabilities  of  relapse 
diminish  in  proportion  as  the  wholesome  action  of  penitentiary 
education  increases.  Now,  penitentiary  education  as  regards 
relapse  acts  in  two  ways,  —  by  reforming  and  by  intimidating. 
This  it  does  by  the  truths  which  it  teaches,  by  the  sentiments 
which  it  inspires,  by  the  habits  which  it  forms,  and  by  the  suffer- 
ings which  it  inflicts.  There  is  no  need  to  believe  that  punish- 
ment may  not  be  painful  and  reformatory  at  the  same  time. 
There  will  be  many  prisoners  with  whom  the  memory  of  their 
sufferings  in  prison  will  be  a  motive  not  to  return  to  crime ;  and 
while  it  is  neither  the  noblest  nor  the  first,  in  certain  cases  it 
may  be  the  only  one,  or  it  will  at  least  have  great  value  as  an 
auxiliary  to  others. 

The  second  means  of  combating  relapse  is  to  give  to  the  pris- 
oner during  his  incarceration  the  greatest  liberty  and  support 
possible,  or,  what  amounts  to  the  same  thing,  not  to  convert  the 
action  of  authority  into  a  vexation,  and  in  this  manner  to  render 
that  of  patronage  pervading  and  efficacious.  To  this  end  it  is 
highly  desirable  to  establish  classes  among  the  prisoners,  because 
a  certain  degree  of  freedom  of  action  may  be  accorded  to  the 
greater  part.  In  extending  to  the  whole  prison  population  the 
rigors  of  which  only  a  few  have  need,  obstacles  to  reformation  are 
created  in  place  of  facilities.  From  the  moment  that  authority 
allows  its  prudence  to  degenerate  into  suspicion,  it  promotes  in- 
stead of  combating  relapse. 

To  understand  the  high  mission  of  the  work  of  patronage,  we 
must  consider  what  should  be  the  standing  of  the  discharged 
prisoner  before  public  opinion.  It  is  charged  with  repelling  him, 
and  with  making  his  amendment  impossible  by  refusing  to  believe 
in  it.  It  is  charged  with  compelling  him  to  return  to  crime 
through  the  obstacles  which  it  opposes  to  his  regeneration.  We 
will  not  deny  that  there  is  a  great  deal  of  truth  in  this  accusation  ; 


686  STUDIES  IAT  PENITENTIARY  SCIENCE.  [BooK  vin. 

but  the  question  has  two  sides.  Ought  public  opinion  to  receive 
the  liberated  convict  without  any  sort  of  distrust  or  repugnance  ? 
Leaving  out  of  view  material  inconveniences,  and  supposing  even 
that  there  are  none,  must  every  precaution  be  laid  aside  relatively 
to  the  discharged  prisoner,  and  no  distinction  be  made  between 
the  honorable  man  and  the  delinquent  ?  Even  though  the  crimi- 
nal be  reformed,  —  which,  after  all,  cannot  be  certainly  known, — 
does  he  deserve  the  same  consideration,  the  same  esteem,  as  the 
man  who  remains  steadfast  in  virtue  amid  critical  situations  and 
in  spite  of  severe  proofs  ?  Let  it  be  observed  that  the  mass  of 
working-men,  poor  and  miserable  in  the  midst  of  the  luxury  and 
leisure  which  tempt  and  excite  them,  suffer  these  temptations  and 
resist  them.  What  will  the  honorable  poor  man,  who  has  not 
taken  the  goods^of  his  neighbor  though  himself  and  his  children 
were  hungry,  think  if  he  is  placed  upon  exactly  the  same  level*  as 
the  man  who  has  been  convicted  of  theft  and  sent  to  prison  for  it  ? 
Will  it  raise  or  lower  the  public  morals  to  make  no.  distinction  be- 
tween great  faults  and  great  merits,  under  pretext  of  not  cherish- 
ing resentment  against  reformed  criminals  ?  Is  it  a  stimulus  to 
persevere  in  a  virtuous  course  under  great  difficulties  to  see  that 
virtue  inspires  no  more  respect  than  crime  after  the  expiration  of 
the  time  thought  necessary  to  punish  it  ?  Shall  we  grasp  with 
the  same  warm  affection  the  hand  that  dried  the  tears  of  the 
afflicted  and  that  which  shed  the  blood  of  the  innocent,  even 
though  we  are  certain  —  which  for  the  most  part  we  are  not  —  of 
a  sincere  repentance  ?  Are  we  to  hold  in  precisely  the  same 
esteem  one  who  would  have  us  forget  his  past  and  one  who  de- 
sires us  to  remember  it,  —  the  man  who  stands  in  need  of  pardon 
and  the  man  who  asks  only  for  justice?  Human  progress  is 
marked  by  action  and  reaction,  —  a  lamentable  and  probably  an 
inevitable  consequence  of  human  imperfection.  Of  the  convict, 
erewhile  weighed  down  with  horrible  and  impious  anathemas,  we 
would  make  a  candidate  for  the  unconditional  esteem  of  the 
public.  Once  out  of  the  prison,  we  would  lift  him  to  an  equality 
with  the  virtuous  man  by  loudly  declaiming  against  those  who 
would  establish  differences  that  must  become  difficulties  to  him 
who  has  departed  from  the  good  way  and  desires  to  return  to 
it.  It  would  be  well  to  recognize  the  fact  that  these  difficulties, 
to  a  certain  degree  at  least,  are  found  in  the  nature  of  things,  and 
that  this  equality  before  public  opinion,  which  it  is  claimed  ought 
to  exist  between  the  honorable  man  and  the  man  who  has  gravely 
offended  against  the  laws,  cannot  be  established  without  prejudice 
to  morality  and  justice.  But  the  severities  of  justice,  are  more 
equitable  than  that  complaisance  of  a  blind  sympathy  which  to 
offer  facilities  to  the  criminal  would  deprive  the  virtuous  man  of 
that  discriminating  consideration  which,  with  the  testimony  of  a 
good  conscience,  constitutes  his  sole  recompense. 


PART  in.]  RELAPSE.  687 

What  to  do  under  this  state  of  the  case  ?  How  shall  relapse 
be  prevented  ? 

There  are  two  facts:  i.  The  necessity  that  the  door  be  not 
shut  in  the  face  of  the  liberated  prisoner.  2.  The  disposition  of 
the  public  to  shut  it  against  him,  which  up  to  a  certain  point  is 
just. 

What  can  reconcile  these  extremes  and  harmonize  these  dis- 
cords, which  are  so  deeply  rooted? — Charity,  and  nothing  but 
charity.  Charity  —  sole,  courageous,  and  loving  patron  —  stretches 
out  her  hand  to  the  guilty,  sits  down  at  his  side,  calms  him,  guides 
him,  accompanies  him,  knocks  with  him  at  the  gates  of  society, 
which  opens  them  on  beholding  him  protected  by  this  divine 
intercessor.  As  charity  loves  so  strongly,  she  fears  nothing. 
Her  trust,  which  is  illimitable,  binds  the  criminal  by  its  gener- 
osity, encourages  those  who  feared  him  as  dangerous,  lessens  the 
distance  of  those  who  recoiled  from  him,  and  by  her  example  and 
her  love  procures  for  him  the  forgiveness,  the  oblivion,  the  re- 
habilitation which  would  have  been  refused  to  justice,  and  is 
accorded  only  to  the  prayers  of  charity.  To  her  it  belongs  to  re- 
establish the  interrupted  harmony  between  the  criminal  and 
public  opinion ;  to  prove  by  acual  contact  that  he  has  not  lost  the 
essential  qualities  of  a  reasonable  and  moral  being;  and  to  fur- 
nish those  securities  which  seem  rash  to  persons  who  are  without 
faith,  but  to  which  almost  always  respond  the  greater  part  of 
mankind. 

After  a  good  penitentiary  system,  then,  the  first  and  principal 
means  for  preventing  relapse  is  the  patronage  of  liberated  con- 
victs. In  penal  mechanism  this  is  an  indispensable  wheel,  and 
on  its  perfection  depends  in  large  measure  the  result  to  be  ob- 
tained. The  need  of  patronage  is  essential  and  permanent,  —  the 
same  as  the  repulsion  inspired  by  the  liberated  prisoner,  and  the 
obstacle  which  this  repulsion  presents  to  his  living  an  honorable 
man. 

The  general  state  of  society  may  offer  more  facilities  to  virtue 
or  greater  stimulants  to  crime.  These  conditions  have  their 
influence  on  all  men.  In  the  latter  of  the  cases  supposed  they 
increase  vice,  immorality,  crime,  ano!  consequently  their  repetition. 
But  in  this  case  relapse  cannot  be  combated  directly,  though  it 
may  be  indirectly.  Its  remedy,  like  its  cause,  will  be  found  in 
the  manners  of  a  people,  and  will  change  only  with  them.  There 
are,  however,  more  harmonies  than  those  which  are  apparent. 
Neither  a  perfect  penitentiary  system  nor  a  well-organized  system 
of  patronage  is, conceivable  in  a  country  where  the  moral  level  is 
very  low,  —  insomuch  that  wherever  the  tendency  to  a  return  to 
crime  (rfcidive)  may  be  combated  by  the  means  indicated,  this 
same  tendency  will  also  be  opposed  by  public  opinion,  by  na- 
tional manners,  by  justice,  and  by  good  laws. 


688         CHILD-SAVING  INSTITUTIONS    IN  GERMANY.      [BOOK  vin. 


PART  FOURTH. 

CHILD-SAVING  INSTITUTIONS   IN  GERMANY.* 

CHAPTER  XXXV.  —  ORIGIN  OF  THESE   INSTITUTIONS.  —  THEIR 

CHARACTER. 

IN  attempting  a  somewhat  comprehensive  review  of  this  great 
work  of  Christian  benevolence,  the  fact  is  not  to  be  over- 
looked that  very  valuable  information  in  reference  to  it  has  al- 
ready been  given  to  the  American  public  by  Liefde,  Stevenson, 
and  more  especially  by  Dr.  Henry  Barnard,  of  Hartford,  Con- 
necticut. This  last-named  gentleman  has  done  great  service  to 
the  cause  of  reformatory  education  by  his  faithful,  minute,  and 
lucid  account  of  the  reformatories  of  Europe,  and  particularly  of 
Germany,  pointing  out  at  the  same  time  the  points  of  difference 
between  them  and  the  reformatory  institutions  of  America. 

To  do  full  justice  to  the  subject  in  hand,  a  volume  would  be 
needed  instead  of  an  essay.  For  the  statements  contained  in 
this  paper  the  writer  has  drawn  in  part  from  personal  observa- 
tions, in  part  from  the  annual  reports  of  the  more  important  of 
these  institutions,  in  part  from  the  "Flying  Leaves"  of  the  Rauhe 
Haus  at  Horn,  near  Hamburg,  but  more  especially  from  the  ex- 
cellent article  on  this  subject  written  by  Dr.  John  Henry  Wichern, 
of  the  Rauhe  Haus,  and  published  some  years  ago  in  a  German 
encyclopaedia. 

The  child-saving  institutions  of  Germany  date  their  existence 
from  the  beginning  of  the  present  century.  Though,  as  will  be 
seen,  there  had  previously  existed  similar  institutions,  the  charac- 
ter which  they  have  assumed  in  our  day,  the  interest  taken  in  the 
class  of  children  educated  by  them,  the  spirit  in  which  the  work 
has  been  carried  on,  and  the  success  which  has  crowned  them  have 
thrown  all  former  efforts  into  the  shade. 

The  number  of  parents  who  have  troublesome  children  is 
large,  not  only  among  the  poorer  but  among  the  more  wealthy 

1  The  material  for  this  part  of  my  work  has  been  furnished  by  the  Rev.  G.  C. 
Holls,  Superintendent  of  the  Wartburg  Orphan  Farm-School,  near  Mount  Vernon, 
Westchester  County,  New  York.  Mr.  Holls  may  be  said  to  have  been  brought  up  at 
the  feet  of  Gamaliel,  having  been  trained  to  his  work  at  the  Rauhe  Haus,  by  Dr. 
Wichern  himself.  His  duties,  however,  have  been  so  many  and  so  exacting  that  his 
communication  has  been  delayed  beyond  its  proper  date.  But  it  is  just  as  valuable 
here  as  if  it  had  come  in  time  to  go  into  that  part  of  the  present  work  where  it  would 
more  fitly  belong. 


PART  iv.]  HISTORY  OR  689 

and  cultivated  classes  of  society.  If  such  children  become 
amenable  to  the  civil  authorities,  they  are  classed  as  juvenile  de- 
linquents, for  whom  these  authorities  have  their  correctional  or 
punitive  institutions.  Most  parents  dread  to  see  their  children 
placed  in  these  latter  institutions,  and  hence  they  look  anxiously 
around  for  a  place  where  such  children,  who  are  so  difficult  to 
manage,  may  find  a  home  which  shall  meet  all  requirements  of  a 
Christian  education,  —  a  home  where  such  education  is  made  the 
primary  object.  There  exists,  therefore,  a  fundamental  difference 
between  the  private  German  child-saving  institutions  and  the 
Government  houses  of  correction  or  reformatories  for  juvenile 
delinquents,  though  the  depravity  of  the  inmates  of  the  former 
may  be  even  lower  than  that  of  the  inmates  of  the  latter. 

The  correctional  institutions  for  juvenile  delinquents  are,  in 
Germany  at  least,  established  by  the  State  for  the  purpose  of 
punishing  the  offenders  according  to  law,  though  this  punishment 
may  be  and  is  varied  according  to  the  crimes  committed.  The 
other  kind  are  not  established  by  the  State,  but  by  private  char- 
ity, and  never  for  the  purpose  of  punishing.  In  the  former  the 
children  enter  by  the  force  of  law ;  in  the  latter  the  inmates  are 
never  kept  by  the  sentence  of  a  court,  but  solely  by  the  authority 
of  the  parents  who  brought  them  there,  and  by  the  kindness  of 
the  superintendent  and  his  family,  who  act  in  loco  parentis.  The 
fundamental  principle  of  the  house  of  correction,  even  in  its  edu- 
cational arrrangements,  is  the  law  ;  the  fundamental  principle 
which  rules  the  private  institutions  is  the  gospel  with  its  grace. 


CHAPTER  XXXVI.— HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CHILD-SAVING 
INSTITUTIONS. 

IF  we  turn  our  attention  to  the  history  of  the  German  child- 
saving  institutions,  we  find  that  Hamburg,  Liibeck,  and  Bre- 
men, in  North  Germany,  early  followed  the  example  given  by  the 
Dutch  cities  of  Amsterdam,  Leyden,  etc.  It  is  a  remarkable  fact 
that  in  these  primitive  institutions  the  principle  of  classification 
was  adopted.  Jacob  Doepler,  in  his  interesting  publication, 
"  Theatrum  Poenarum,"  published  in  1693,  says  that  the  boys  in 
these  institutions  were  required  to  work,  and  received  instruction 
in  the  elementary  branches.  Parents  were  permitted  to  send  their 
disobedient  children  to  these  houses,  "  that  their  longing  appetite 
might  leave  them."  August  Herman  Franke,  the  founder  of  the 
orphan  asylum  in  Halle,  received  among  his  orphans  many  chil- 
dren who  ought  to  have  been  in  the  institutions  for  vicious 

44 


690         CHILD-SAVING  INSTITUTIONS  IN  GERMANY.       [BOOK  vm. 

children.  Many  orphan  asylums,  even  to  the  present  day,  have 
overlooked  the  important  fact  that  orphanage  as  such  is  not  a 
vice,  and  that  orphans  ought  not  to  be  brought  into  contact  with 
children  who  are  vicious  and  ill-disposed. 

Henry  Pestalozzi  must  be  mentioned  first  in  speaking  of  the 
history  of  the  German  child-saving  institutions.  He  labored  with 
a  heart  full  of  love  towards  the  erring  and  neglected  children  to 
restore  them  to  society.  But  he  never  had  an  idea  that  the  glori- 
ous gospel  of  the  Lord  was  the  only  power  unto  salvation.  In  his 
school  at  Stanz  instruction  and  work  were  pleasantly  combined, 
but  for  religious  instruction  there  was  no  room,  and  none  such 
was  imparted.  At  the  age  of  eighty  he  witnessed  for  the  first 
time  what  he  had  been  striving  for  during  his  whole  life,  when,  in 
1826,  he  saw  the  institution  of  the  venerable  Zeller,  at  Beuggen. 
When  the  children  of  that  institution  presented  him  with  a  beau- 
tiful wreath,  as  they  sang  one  of  their  sweet  hymns,  Pestalozzi 
said  to  Zeller :  "  This  is  what  I  wanted  to  accomplish."  The 
noble  Fellenberg,  of  Hofwyl,  was  also  connected  with  the  labors 
of  Pestalozzi. 

One  feature  of  the  German  child-saving  institutions  we  notice 
from  the  start ;  it  is  the  happy  combination  of  the  true  Christian 
and  national  spirit.  This  it  was  which  called  them  into  being,  and 
has  given  life  to  them  all.  We  can  mention  only  a  few  of  the 
places  from  whence,  independently  of  each  other,  issued  the  move- 
ment for  this  class  of  establishments.  John  Falk,  of  Weimar, 
the  friend  of  Goethe  and  Herder,  was  the  leader  in  this  work. 
Not  merely  as  a  philanthropist,  but  in  a  true  Christian  faith,  he 
established  the  first  German  house  for  child-saving  work.  In 
company  with  his  friend,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Horn,  he  formed  the 
"  Society  of  Friends  in  Need,"  and  three  hundred  children  were 
soon  placed  under  the  care  of  worthy  mechanics  and  farmers. 
With  the  assistance  of  his  own  pupils,  prepared  by  their  appren- 
ticeship, he  built  his  "  Lutherhof."  Not  long  after  the  comple- 
tion of  this  large  building,  he  was  called  to  his  eternal  home. 
Rector  Charles  Reinthaler,  the  friend  and  admirer  of  Falk,  estab- 
lished the  Martinstift,  in  Erfurt  (1819).  The  writer,  during  a  visit 
to  this  institution,  was  deeply  impressed  by  the  heroic  faith  of 
that  noble  man  and  devoted  Christian.  He  entered  into  all  the 
details  of  his  work,  not  forgetting  to  show  the  interesting  relics 
of  the  great  reformer,  Martin  Luther,  in  whose  honor  he  named 
his  institution.  Reinthaler  gathered  children  from  the  streets 
and  out  of  the  prisons  into  his  schools,  in  which  he  practised  the 
so-called  historical-liturgical  method  of  instruction.  In  twenty- 
two  years  he  had  received  and  trained  to  virtue  and  piety  three 
thousand  six  hundred  and  nineteen  children.  Several  other  es- 
tablishments, similar  in  their  plans  and  management  to  those  of 
Reinthaler,  were  instituted  in  different  parts  of  Germany. 


PART  iv.]  HISTORY  OF.  '  691 

The  very  extensive  work  of  child-saving  by  the  Counts  Adalbert 
von  Werner  and  Van  der  Recke  was  commenced  in  Diisselthal 
about  the  same  time  as  that  of  Falk.  The  father  of  the  two  counts 
had  as  early  as  1789,  established  a  normal  school  for  teachers 
of  the  children  of  the  poorer  classes.  The  Rettimgahaus  proper 
(child-saving  house)  was  opened  October  4,  1819,  with  four  children. 
The  means  came  from  all  parts  of  Germany.  All  classes  contri- 
buted their  offerings.  Gold  rings  and  other  jewels  were  cheerfully 
given  for  the  institution  at  Dusselthal.  The  success  was  astonish- 
ing. In  forty-eight  years  two  thousand  five  hundred  and  eighty- 
one  children  have  been  discharged,  after  receiving  an  education 
which  has  been  the  means  of  their  salvation.  The  institution 
possesses  four  hundred  and  ninety-three  acres  of  land.  Agricul- 
ture and  trades  are  taught.  The  establishment  has  a  large  staff 
of  officers  and  foremen  as  superintendents.  Three  hundred  and 
fifty  children  and  youths  are  supported  in  the  institution,  including 
the  normal  school  and  the  institution  of  "Brothers"  connected 
with  the  same  since  1848. 

Beuggen,  near  Basle,  on  the  southern  boundary  of  the  Grand 
Duchy  of  Baden  is  among  the  most  important  child-saving  insti- 
tutions of  Germany.  Established  in  1816,  it  was  the  first  of  its 
kind  in  Southern  Germany.  It  has  a  most  interesting  history. 
On  the  spot  where  Beuggen  now  stands,  St.  Fridolin,  the  Irish 
monk,  first  planted  his  flag  emblazoned  with  the  cross,  in  the  pur^ 
pose  to  preach  Christ  crucified  to  the  heathen  Allemanns.  This 
establishment,  though  having  in  general  only  from  eighty  to  ninety 
inmates,  has  attracted  special  interest  and  importance  on  account 
of  its  normal  school  in  which  "poor  school-teachers  for  the  poor" 
are  educated,  whose  self-denying  labors  in  almost  all  parts  of  the 
world,  but  always  among  the  poor,  will  only  be  known  when  all 
secrets  are  revealed.  Among  the  heathen  in  Patagonia,  among 
the  poor  German  emigrants  in  Southern  Russia,  in  Siberia,  in  the 
vast  deserts  of  Central  Australia,  may  be  found  the  "  poor  school- 
teachers for  the  poor,"  who  have  been  educated  by  the  venerable 
father  Christian  Henry  Zeller,  who  died  in  1860  at  the  age  of 
eighty  years.  It  has  been  the  happy  fortune  of  the  writer  to  sit 
at  the  feet  of  this  venerable  man,  and' to  listen  to  the  excellent  in- 
struction imparted  by  him  to  the  young  men  and  children  under 
his  care.  Zeller  took  charge  of  Beuggen  in  1820,  and  remained 
at  his  post  for  forty  consecutive  years.  His  work,  entitled  "  Teach- 
ings of  Experience  for  Schoolmasters  in  the  Country  and  among 
the  Poor,"  in  three  volumes,  deserves  to  be  translated  into  all 
languages  for  the  simple,  popular,  sensible,  and  thorough-going 
instruction  contained  in  it.  Zeller's  son-in-law,  Herr  Volter, 
author  of  the  work  on  the  child-saving  institutions  of  Wurtemberg, 
was  director  of  the  institution  at  Lichtenstern,  which  also  has  a 
normal  school  for  teachers  similar  to  the  Beuggen  school. 


692         CHILD-SAVING  INSTITUTIONS  IN  GERMANY.       [BOOK  vm. 

In  this  connection  we  may  mention  the  labors  of  Gustavus 
Werner,  the  travelling  preacher.  His  work,  "  Industrial  Asso- 
ciations for  the  Amelioration  of  the  Condition  of  the  Poor,"  is 
worthy  of  the  attention  of  every  Christian  philanthropist.  He  is 
the  founder  of  ten  different  institutions,  which  possess  together 
three  hundred  and  twenty-three  acres  of  land  and  many  industrial 
establishments.  In  these  separate  establishments  the  laborers 
form  one  family  under  a  very  perfect  social  arrangement,  granting 
liberty  of  action  to  each  individual.  About  eight  hundred  adults 
and  four  hundred  children  are  cared  for,  and  more  than  seven 
hundred  have  already  left  their  home.  The  agricultural  schools 
of  Wurtemberg  begin  their  work  after  that  of  the  public  and  pri- 
vate child-saving  institutions  is  done.  They  take  twelve  to  fifteen 
of  these  boys  and  put  them  either  on  some  farm  belonging  to  the 
Government,  or  into  the  family  of  an  experienced  Christian 
farmer.  The  latter  has  the  control  of  the  boys  and  the  benefit  of 
their  work,  but  must  clothe  and  board  them.  They  have  regular 
instruction  and  every  chance  to  become  good  farmers.  Ludovicus 
Vb'lter,  in  his  work  mentioned  above,  has  given  a  detailed  report 
of  all  the  child-saving  institutions  in  Wurtemberg  down  to  1845. 
The  central  committee  of  the  charitable  institutions  in  that 
country,  similar  to  our  State  Board  of  Charities,  reports  thirty-two 
of  these  institutions  (twenty-three  Protestant,  five  Catholic,  and 
one  Jewish).  They  supported  in  1867  twelve  hundred  and  sixty- 
nine  inmates.  The  total  number  of  children  who  have  passed 
through  these  institutions  in  Wurtemberg  since  1820  is  about 
twelve  thousand.  Besides  these  regular  institutions,  there  is  a 
number  of  societies  in  Wurtemberg  which  seek  to  find  places 
in  families  for  this  class  of  children.  In  no  other  German 
State  has  child-saving  work  accomplished  so  much  as  in  the  little 
Kingdom  of  Wurtemberg.  The  same  authority  reports  the  fol- 
lowing institutions  of  a  preventive  character :  one  hundred  and 
eighty  infant  asylums  with  10,000  children  ;  fourteen  hundred  in- 
dustrial schools  with  65,000  children  ;  eleven  societies  for  the  care 
of  vagrants  ;  one  institution  for  juvenile  delinquents  ;  five  deaf  and 
dumb  asylums  ;  two  for  idiots ;  two  asylums  for  the  blind  ;  five 
hospitals  for  children  ;  one  institution  for  epileptics  ;  one  dea- 
coness institution  ;  one  training  school  for  servant  girls  ;  one  asso- 
ciation for  the  protection  of  discharged  prisoners  ;  one  training 
school  for  female  teachers  in  infant  schools.  We  must  not  pass 
by  the  excellent  work  done  in  Bavaria  by  Charles  von  Raumer, 
who  gave  the  first  impulse  to  the  establishment  of  an  institution 
in  1825,  such  as  we  have  been  describing.  The  establishment  of 
another  similar  home  at  the  Neuhof,  near  Strasburg,  Alsace,  by 
the  pious  carpenter  Phil.  lae.  Wurtz  in  1825,  will  forever  remain 
an  inspiring  example  of  Christian  faith. 

Here  would  be  the  place  to  enter  upon  the  interesting  history, 


PART  iv.]  LEADING  PRINCIPLES.  693 

the  internal  arrangements,  the  progress  and  the  remarkable  suc- 
cess of  the  most  renowned  child-saving  institution  of  Germany, 
the  Rauhe  Haus  near  Hamburg,  and  its  institution  of  "Brothers ;  " 
but  the  great  number  of  excellent  publications  on  this  subject 
have  induced  the  writer  to  be  silent  here. 

So  far  as  the  authorities  in  his  possession  enable  the  writer  to 
determine,  there  is  to-day  a  total  of  about  three  hundred  and 
sixty  child-saving  institutions  of  all  the  different  classes  in  the 
several  States  composing  the  German  Empire.  More  than  three 
hundred  of  these  have  been  established  since  1848.  This  rapid 
increase  is  due  to  the  memorable  events  of  that  year,  which 
opened  the  eyes  of  both  Christians  and  patriots  to  the  perils  of 
communism,  which  threatened  to  destroy  all  social  ties.  But 
this  noble  work  has  not  yet  reached  its  terminus.  There  are 
still  many  localities  where  such  institutions  are  a  necessity,  but 
are  not  yet  found.  In  some  of  these  work  is  either  already 
begun  or  is  in  active  preparation.  On  this  account  it  is  impor- 
tant not  only  for  Germany,  but  for  other  parts  of  the  Christian 
world,  that  the  leading  principles  of  the  work  should  be  fully  un- 
derstood. 


CHAPTER  XXXVII. — LEADING  PRINCIPLES.  —  CONDITIONS  OF 
SUCCESS.  —  CONGREGATE  AND  FAMILY  SYSTEMS. 

SPEAKING  of  the  inmates  and  their  classification  as  to  re- 
ligious confession,  sex,  age,  and  social  surroundings  before 
they  are  received  into  the  institutions  under  consideration,  it  is 
important  to  know  that  such  institutions  ought  to  be  free  from 
all  obstacles  which  might  be  detrimental  to  their  normal  develop- 
ment. We  find  in  Germany  hardly  an  institution  in  which  Prot- 
estant and  Catholic  children  are  mixed  ;  in  one  or  two  cases  this 
was  tried,  but  soon  discontinued. 

It  is  clear  that  child-saving  institutions  for  both  sexes  ought  to 
be  established,  though  the  question  whether  the  two  sexes  should 
be  brought  together  under  one  management  has  its/ray  and  cons. 
Where  the  local  arrangements  in  reference  to  separate  houses 
can  be  effected  in  such  a  manner  that  the  necessary  supervision 
is  ample  and  complete,  the  answer  should  be  in  favor  of  com- 
bination under  one  management  ;  where  this  cannot  be  done, 
it  should  be  in  the  negative.  The  number  of  girls  is  always 
smaller  than  that  of  boys  ;  but  quality  takes  the  place  of  numbers 
in  this  case.  The  morally-fallen  girl  reaches  a  lower  plane  than 
the  boy  under  the  same  general  conditions. 

The  average  age  for  the  reception  of  the  inmates  is  from  eleven 


694         CHILD-SAVING  INSTITUTIONS  IN  GERMANY.      [BOOK  vnr. 

to  twelve  years  ;  but  the  younger  will  be  below  while  the  older 
are  above  this  average.  They  are  generally  kept  from  three  to 
four  and  even  five  years.  The  general  disposition  is  to  discharge 
them  between  the  ages  of  seventeen  and  eighteen  years. 

The  social  condition  of  the  inmates  prior  to  their  entrance  de- 
serves consideration.  It  is  a  deplorable  fact  that  the  well-to-do 
people  and  the  rich  furnish  a  large  contingent  of  the  inmates  of 
these  institutions,  though  it  will  always  remain  true  what  Herr 
Volter  says  :  "  At  the  foot  of  the  tropical  mountain  regions  we 
find,  as  a  rule,  that  the  waters  coming  down  from  the  mountains 
form  a  swamp  in  which  not  only  the  wild  beasts  and  the  poison- 
ous reptiles  find  a  refuge,  but  where  also  dangerous  miasms  and 
malignant  fevers  prevail.  A  swamp-region,  similar  to  this,  we 
find,  as  proved  by  history,  in  all  civilized  nations  and  in  the  lower 
strata  of  society.  The  inhabitants  of  that  region,  who  live  at  the 
boundary  of  civilization,  where  Christianity  and  heathenism  can 
hardly  be  distinguished  from  each  other,  share  the  fate  of  all  that 
live  on  a  boundary  line,  —  they  do  not  acquire  or  unite  within 
themselves  the  advantages,  but  the  disadvantages,  the  vices,  of 
the  two  provinces." 

As  the  German  child-saving  institutions  are  not  intended  to  be 
hospitals,  they  refuse  to  receive  sick  children,  idiots,  epileptics, 
or  imbeciles  ;  and,  as  already  stated,  they  are  careful  not  to  enter 
into  such  arrangements  with  the  State  Governments  by  which 
they  would  be  compelled  to  receive  children  on  whom  the  courts 
have  passed  sentence,  and  by  which  arrangements  they  would  lose 
their  character  as  private  homes,  and  would  become  houses  of 
correction.  Institutions  which  are  intended  for  girls  have  also 
to  guard  against  the  reception  of  fallen  females,  for  whom  other 
institutions  are  provided. 

The  following  extract  from  the  tenth  annual  report  of  the 
Rauhe  Haus  will  show  the  kind  of  children  for  whom  applica- 
tion is  generally  made.  Dr.  Wichern  instances  twenty-five  such 
applications,  of  which  two  must  suffice  here :  — 

"  i.  A  girl  aged  fourteen  years.  According  to  the  statement  of  the 
mother,  who  is  anxious  that  the  child  should  be  received,  '  a  very  good 
child,'  only  that  '  she  steals  to  such  a  degree  that  nothing  is  safe  within  her 
reach,'  —  at  home,  in  school,  with  the  neighbors,  or  grocers.  The  mother 
further  states,  that,  '  with  the  exception  of  this  great  misfortune,  the  child 
is  very  good,  only  that  she  lies  in  the  same  degree  that  she  steals.'  You 
may  die  in  asking  her,  but  you  will  not  get  at  the  truth.  She  has  passed 
through  all  kinds  of  punishments.  Mother,  teachers,  ministers,  have  tried 
every  thing  with  her,  but  in  vain.  Mother  was  never  married.  Her  ille- 
gitimate husband  ran  away  on  account  of  the  child. 

"  2.  A  boy,  aged  nine  years.  Illegitimate  child.  Lies,  steals,  leads  the 
life  of  a  vagabond,  uses  blasphemous  language  against  his  father,  reveals 
the  crimes  of  the  latter,  and  adds  stories  of  new  ones  which  are  not  true. 


PART  iv.]  LEADING  PRINCIPLES.  695 

He  is  initiated  into  the  most  shameful  secrets,  scratching,  biting,  swearing ; 
no  child,  but  an  old  man  in  sins ;  has  been  discharged  from  school.' 

We  have  known  boys  of  twelve  to  fourteen  years  of  age,  one  of 
whom  was  convicted  ninety  times  by  the  magistrate  for  all  kinds 
of  transgressions  ;  another  had  kept  a  whole  village  of  a  rural 
district  in  great  excitement  because  he  threatened  to  set  fire  to 
their  houses  /and  barns  ;  a  third  was  a  girl  of  eleven  years,  who 
actually  did  set  fire  to  the  houses  of  three  successive  mistresses 
because  she  did  not  like  to  have  fault  found  with  her  work.  All 
of  them  were  the  inmates  of  institutions  founded  with  a  view  to 
saving  just  such  children. 

This  may  suffice  to  show  that  the  German  child-saving  houses 
have  to  do  with  youths  of  the  most  dangerous  classes  of  society, 
as  well  as  with  the  offspring  of  the  higher  classes  who  have  be- 
come dangerous  by  various  reasons  and  surroundings,  for  which 
the  higher  position  of  their  parents  cannot  be  held  responsible. 

This  would  be  the  place  to  consider  the  oft-repeated  and  vari- 
ously-answered, but  very  important  question,  whether  the  child- 
saving  institution  or  the  family  proper  is  the  more  propitious 
place  for  the  reception  of  such  children. 

It  is  not  our  province,  within  the  narrow  limits  to  which  we 
are  necessarily  confined,  to  attempt  a  satisfactory  treatment  of 
this  question.  Though  there  are  hundreds  of  institutions  prov- 
ing by  their  very  existence  that  an  equivalent  for  them  has  not 
been  found,  at  least  not  to  a  sufficient  extent,  yet  the  answer  to 
that  question  with  a  great  many  is  decidedly  in  favor  of  the  family 
proper  over  and  against  all  institutions.  In  reference  to  children 
whose  misfortune  consists  simply  in  their  poverty  or  orphanage, 
or  who  have  remained  morally  intact,  this  view  is  fully  justified. 
But  this  is  not  the  class  of  children  of  which  we  are  speaking. 
Where,  we  ask,  are  the  families  who  are  willing  and  qualified  in 
every  respect  to  open  their  hearts  and  homes  for  the  reception  of 
morally  dangerous,  vicious,  and  depraved  children  ?  To  answer 
this  question,  we  may  be  permitted  to  quote  the  words  of  Dr. 
Wichern,  who  is  certainly  one  of  the  most  competent  judges  in 
this  matter. 

He  says  :  "  We  must  exclude  all  those  families  who  might  be 
ready  to  undertake  this  work  simply  for  the  sake  of  making 
money,  or  who  bid  lowest  at  the  so-called  auction  of  children  ;  also 
all  those  in  whose  midst  the  life  of  Christ  is  unknown.  Thus  we 
would  have  to  confine  ourselves  to  a  very  small  number  of  truly 
pious  Christian  families.  This  number  would  considerably  de- 
crease if  we  take  it  for  granted,  as  we  are  compelled  to  do,  that 
not  all  of  these  families  would  be  willing  or  could  be  expected  to 
open  their  homes  for  the  reception  of  strange  children,  nor  would 
all  of  them  be  qualified  pedagogically  to  undertake  such  work. 


696          CHILD-SAVING  INSTITUTIONS  IN  GERMANY.      [BOOK  vili. 

But  suppose  we  could  find  such  families,  then  the  question  arises 
whether  they  would  be  qualified  by  their  peculiar  social  positions, 
or  by  the  character  of  their  own  children,  or  by  not  having 
children  of  their  own.  The  children  of  whom  we  are  treating 
here  have  in  a  measure  lost  their  own  family  homes,  —  they  are 
given  up  by  their  parents  ;  teachers,  neighbors,  ministers,  and 
magistrates  are  despairing  as  to  what  should  be  done  with  them. 
What  family,  accidentally  found,  would  be  equal  to  the  problem  of 
adopting  a  thievish,  unchaste,  vicious,  stubborn,  lying  boy  or  girl, 
and  to  grant  them  that  full  share  of  confidence  and  love  of  which 
such  children  are  in  need  ?  " 

We  will  pause  here,  though  Dr.  Wichern  goes  on  to  point  out 
the  dangers  to  which  the  children  belonging  to  such  family  would 
be  exposed.  Taking  it  for  granted  that  one  such  family  could  be 
found,  which  in  spite  of  the  difficulties  and  dangers  pointed  out 
would  actually  try  the  experiment  for  once,  would  that  family  try 
it  the  second  time  ?  But  hundreds,  nay,  even  thousands  of  such 
families  would  be  constantly  required  for  the  reception  of  all  these 
candidates  for  the  child-saving  houses.  For  these  reasons  it  is 
clear  that  institutional  arrangements  have  to  be  made  which  will 
so  far  as  possible  approach  the  idea  of  a  Christian  home,  having 
all  needful  qualifications  for  the  work.  It  is  impossible  to  describe 
these  qualifications  in  detail  in  connection  with  this  general  out- 
line of  German  child-saving  institutions.  From  what  has  been 
said,  no  one  will  doubt  that  our  houses  of  correction  and  our 
reform  schools,  with  their  solitary  confinement  for  the  inmates, 
are  disqualified  to  perform  the  work  which  is  required  here. 

We  know  full  well  that  most  if  not  all  of  our  reformatories 
originated  in  true  Christian  sympathy  for  the  unfortunate  youth 
of  our  cities  and  the  country  at  large.  Nor  can  it  be  denied  that 
in  all  of  them  are  found  officers  of  true  Christian  devotion  to  their 
work  ;  yet  these  reformatories  are  not  families.  The  spirit  that 
should  be  felt  by  the  child  on  entering  the  child-saving  institu- 
tion must  be  stronger  than  all  partition  walls,  —  stronger  than  the 
law  of  perfect  silence,  stronger  than  bolts  and  locks,  stronger  than 
hard  labor,  great  severity,  instructions,  fines,  punishments,  and 
rigorous  supervision  by  the  officers.  The  spirit  of  Christ  alone 
and  his  Holy  Word  are  and  ought  to  be  the  soul  and  centre  not 
only  in  all  normal  Christian  families,  but  in  all  such  institutions 
which  have  child-saving  work  for  their  object.  This  spirit  ought 
to  manifest  itself  in  every  thing  that  concerns  the  temporal  or 
spiritual  welfare  of  the  child. 

The  comparative  value  of  the  congregated  or  the  family  sys- 
tem of  education  in  these  institutions  ought  to  be  considered  in 
this  connection  ;  but  first  of  all  the  family  system,  as  understood 
and  carried  out  at  the  Rauhe-Haus  and  hundreds  of  other  insti- 
tutions, should  be  fully  explained.  This  may  seem  strange  to 


PART  iv.]  LEADING  PRINCIPLES.  697 

many  who  have  probably  given  a  great  deal  of  attention  to  these 
two  systems  in  reference  to  reformatory  institutions  in  this  coun- 
try. Much  as  has  been  said  in  favor  of  either  system,  the  author 
is  sure  that  much  more  might  be  said  in  favor  of  the  family  sys- 
tem, which  has  hardly  received  a  passing  notice  by  some  of  the 
writers  on  this  subject.  In  a  certain  sense  the  family  system  has 
been  tried  in  several  instances  in  this  country,  for  instance  at  the 
Ohio  State  reform-farm  in  a  most  extensive  manner ;  yet  the  ab- 
sence of  a  true  family  life  in  that  institution  as  a  whole,  and  in 
each  separate  building,  has  been  felt  by  the  noble  gentlemen  who 
have  been  connected  with  the  management  of  the  same  from  its 
beginning.  Space  does  not  permit  me  to  enter  into  details  of 
what  is  meant  by  the  family  life  of  such  institutions,  but  a  few  of 
the  most  necessary  conditions  must  receive  some  attention  in  this 
paper  on  the  child-saving  institutions  of  Germany,  in  order  that 
they  may  be  better  understood  by  true  friends  of  the  child-saving 
work. 

The  locality  of  these  institutions  is  of  the  first  importance. 
They  ought  not  to  be  located  either  in  or  too  near  great  cities,  or 
even  in  villages  or  towns.  In  Germany  there  are  many  instances 
where  large  castles  or  public  buildings  have  been  generously 
donated  to  the  societies  intending  to  establish  child-saving  insti- 
tutions. This  was  the  case  in  Beuggen,  in  Hesse-Darmstadt, 
and  some  other  places.  Wherever  it  was  practicable,  larger  or 
smaller  tracts  of  land  were  acquired  in  order  to  give  useful  em- 
ployment to  the  children  in  the  garden  and  on  the  farm. 

For  the  erection  of  proper  buildings  no  definite  plan  can  be 
laid  down,  though  it  is  absolutely  necessary  to  use  particular  care 
in  the  internal  arrangements.  The  location  of  a  door,  a  staircase, 
or  the  kitchen  may  be  of  no  little  importance  for  the  better  super- 
vision of  the  inmates  and  for  other  purposes.  On  the  whole,  the 
German  child-saving  homes  show  in  the  simplicity  of  their  build- 
ings, where  these  have  not  been  in  existence  before,  that  they  wish 
to  impress  their  inmates  with  the  idea  of  modesty  and  frugality  so 
far  as  outward  appearance  is  concerned.  There  is  no  instance  to 
be  found  where  large  and  expensive  palaces  have  been  built  for 
the  reception  of  those  unfortunate  children. 

One  of  the  fundamental  conditions  of  success  in  this  work  is 
not  the  abundance  of  means  to  carry  out  the  plans,  but  above  all 
the  person  or  persons  who  have  it  in  charge. 

The  original  founders  of  many  of  the  German  homes  have  also 
taken  the  important  position  of  heads  of  these  establishments. 
They  have  cheerfully  made  it  the  calling  of  their  life,  and  have 
given  up  all  other  prospects  to  devote  time,  talent,  thought,  and 
strength  to  this  sacred  cause.  John  Falk,  Count  Van  der  Recke, 
Christian  Henry  Zeller,  Charles  Reinthaler,  and  John  Henry 
Wichern  stand  foremost  in  this  noble  band.  Henry  Pestalozzi  and 


698          CHILD-SAVING  INSTITUTIONS  IN  GERMANY.      [BOOK  vni. 

Fellenberg,  though  inspired  by  different  motives,  belong  to  the 
same  class  of  men  in  Switzerland ;  as  do  M.  Demetz  in  France, 
Mr.  Swimgar  in  Holland,  and  Mary  Carpenter  in  England. 

The  order  of  the  house  is  another  of  the  prime  principles  on 
which  the  child-saving  institution  must  take  a  firm  position  from 
the  beginning.  We  do  not  mean  by  this  any  mere  set  of  rules 
and  regulations,  but  rather  the  spirit  which  ought  to  pervade  the 
whole  institution  in  all  the  details  of  its  daily  life.  The  house- 
father and  his  wife  must  be  the  living  order  of  such  an  institu- 
tion. The  day  begins  and  ends  with  the  teachings  of  the  Word 
of  God  ;  the  supervision  of  the  individuals,  the  meals,  instruction, 
recreation,  and  work,  the  care  of  the  sick,  —  in  fact,  each  and  all  of 
the  daily  occurrences  must  be  sanctified  by  that  truly  Christian 
spirit  which  ought  to  inspire  all  those  to  whom  a  share,  be  it  ever 
so  humble,  is  allotted  in  this  great  work  of  reformation. 

The  industrial  labor  performed  in  the  various  homes  of  Ger- 
many is  nowhere  used  as  a  means  to  make  money  or  to  turn  the 
institution  into  a  great  manufactory,  thus  degrading  the  family  of 
the  institution  again  to  the  position  of  those  families  who  furnish 
a  very  large  contingent  of  their  inmates.  All  mechanical  work 
which  in  itself  does  not  convey  any  stimulus  or  inspiration  to  the 
laborer  is  detrimental  to  his  spiritual  development,  and  ought  to 
be,  as  it  is  in  Germany,  excluded  from  all  institutions  of  this 
kind.  The  various  requirements  of  a  well-conducted  household 
give  sufficient  employment  to  a  great  many  young  hands,  espe- 
cially if  field,  and  garden,  and  stable  are  not  wanting  in  such  an 
institution. 

The  regular  instruction  in  the  school  of  the  German  child- 
saving  institutions  consists,  first  of  all,  in  a  thorough  religious 
training  in  the  catechism  and  in  Bible  history,  besides  the  common 
branches  of  education.  In  the  smaller  institutions  the  house- 
father is  the  main  teacher ;  in  larger  ones  regular  schoolmasters 
with  their  assistants  are  employed.  One  of  the  most  important 
means  of  education  is  music.  Dr.  Wichern  of  the  Rauhe  Haus, 
when  once  asked  by  what  means  he  was  able  to  produce  such 
wonderful  changes  in  the  conduct  of  the  children  under  his 
care,  said,  "  By  the  Word  of  God  and  music."  Sacred  music  and 
hymns,  but  also  the  best  popular  songs  of  the  fatherland,  so  rich 
in  sweet  melodies  and  inspiring  tunes,  are  taught  in  those  homes 
of  the  depraved,  and  are  heard  in  the  workshops,  the  field,  and  the 
garden.  In  some  institutions  where  there  are  inmates  who  have 
had  the  advantage  of  a  classical  education,  arrangements  are  made 
for  continuing  their  education.  At  the  Rauhe  Haus,  for  instance, 
we  find  a  large  class  of  youths  in  the  so-called  "  Pensionate," 
where  they  receive  the  same  education  as  in  the  best  German 
gymnasia. 

Those  who  are  acquainted  with  the  national  characteristics 


PART  iv.]  DISCIPLINE,  ETC.  699 

of  the  Germans  will  easily  understand  that  in  their  child-saving 
institutions  not  every  thing  is  work  and  instruction.  The  families 
in  these  institutions,  as  well  as  any  other  German  family,  want 
their  recreations,  festivals,  and  plays.  In  most  of  these  homes 
the  birthday  of  each  individual,  from  the  house-father  to  the 
smallest  or  youngest  inmate,  is  remembered  ;  and  something  of 
such  remembrance  is  visible.  At  the  playground,  whether  in- 
doors or  outside,  the  child  generally  appears  in  its  true  nature. 
While  children  are  usually  fond  of  play,  especially  the  little 
girl  with  her  doll,  with  which  she  lives  the  life  of  a  mother,  even 
in  a  German  reformatory,  —  that  life  with  all  its  joys  and  pleas- 
ures, and  cares  and  sad  events,  —  there  are  some  children  who 
must  be  taught  to  play,  because  they  actually  do  not  wish  to  be 
so  engaged.  Dr.  Wichern  pronounces  that  man  who  cannot  play 
and  enter  into  the  plays  of  childhood  with  his  whole  heart  as  un- 
fit to  be  an  assistant  in  a  child-saving  institution.  In  some  of 
these  establishments  we  find  regular  instruction  in  gymnastics, 
military  drill,  swimming,  etc.  Wherever  it  is  practicable,  each 
child  has  its  own  flower-bed,  with  its  deep  roots  of  childlike 
happiness  ! 


CHAPTER  XXXVIII.  —  DISCIPLINE.  —  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION. 
—  DISCHARGE. 

/CONCERNING  discipline  and  punishment,  we  find  that  in 
V^  most  cases  this  paternal  right  is  placed  where  it  belongs, — 
in  the  hands  of  the  house-father  or  superintendent.  There  are 
some  institutions  where  the  managing  committee  have  assumed 
the  right  to  pronounce  the  punishments,  and  to  direct  some 
person  in  the  household  to  carry  out  their  resolution.  If  we  con- 
sider the  institution  as  a  family,  we  must  not  forget  that  the 
right  to  punish  belongs  to  the  father  of  the  family,  and  cannot  be 
conveyed  without  conditions  to  an  assistant.  For  all  minor 
offences  the  latter,  as  the  representative  of  the  house-father,  uses 
the  right  of  punishment  only  so  far  as  it  has  been  delegated  to 
him.  Corporal  punishment,  deprivation  of  meals  or  parts  of 
meals,  the  house-father  alone  can  inflict  All  kinds  of  punish- 
ments customary  in  the  houses  of  correction  or  in  the  prisons 
must  be  and  are  excluded  from  the  German  child-saving  estab- 
lishments. 

The  religious  training  of  the  children  holds  the  foremost  place 
in  their  education.  The  Holy  Word  of  God,  being  the  most 
powerful  means  in  the  correction  of  the  depraved  human  heart, 
is  brought  near  to  the  inmates  in  the  most  direct  way.  The 


7OO          CHILD-SAVING  INSTITUTIONS  IN  GERMANY.      [BOOK  vin. 

morning  and  evening  family  worship  and  prayer  at  the  table  are 
customary  in  all  these  institutions.  Sunday  is  of  course  the  day 
on  which  the  whole  family  attends  public  worship,  together  with 
the  congregation  of  the  village  or  town  near  which  the  home  is 
situated.  The  denominational  character  of  the  institution  de- 
pends upon  the  denomination  to  which  the  director,  the  board 
of  managers,  etc.  belong.  They  are  either  Lutheran,  Reformed, 
Unionistic,  or  Catholic.  It  is  hardly  necessary  to  state  that  the 
religious  festivals  of  the  church-year  are  celebrated  faithfully  and 
regularly  in  these  homes.  Christmas,  Easter,  Pentecost,  etc.  are 
never  forgotten,  and  have  their  particular  festive  character. 

With  all  the  religious  agencies  mentioned  above,  we  must  not 
forget  that  these  institutions  are  carefully  guarded  against  a 
sickly,  mechanical,  external  show  of  piety.  As  the  kingdom  of 
God  does  not  come  by  observation,  so  the  regeneration  of  the 
individual  is  only  caused  by  the  pure,  sound  doctrine  of  the  Word 
of  God  and  the  influence  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 

The  discharge  of  the  inmates  from  the  German  child-saving 
institutions  meets  with  the  same  difficulties  as  are  found  every- 
where. In  or  near  the  larger  cities  or  towns  boys  are  placed  as 
apprentices  with  some  mechanic.  The  masters,  however,  are 
more  and  more  unwilling  to  take  the  apprentices  into  their  own 
families,  except  for  selfish  purposes.  The  boys  are  thrown  into 
the  cheap  boarding-houses,  with  their  bad  influences.  In  institu- 
tions located  in  the  country  many  discharge  their  male  inmates 
to  the  farmers  of  the  neighborhood,  and  these  are  generally 
happily  placed.  The  girls  readily  find  places  as  servants,  and  are 
much  easier  controlled  after  their  discharge  than  the  boys,  though 
great  care  is  taken  to  keep  an  eye  on  both.  In  such  cases  where 
the  parents  are  yet  living,  and  capable  to  take  care  of  the  future 
of  their  sons  and  daughters,  the  institution  will  give  them  up  to 
their  natural  parents  ;  but  in  doing  so  many  other  difficulties 
have  to  be  encountered,  as  very  often  the  parents  by  their  in- 
fluence will  destroy  what  has  been  done  in  the  home. 


CHAPTER  XXXIX.  —  RESULTS. 

IF  the  question  arises,  What  are  the  results  of  the  education  in 
the  German  child-saving  establishments  ?  only  a  very  general 
and  therefore  not  very  satisfactory  answer  can  be  given,  though 
on  the  whole  the  results  themselves,  as  will  be  acknowledged  by 
all  who  have  any  knowledge  of  the  facts  in  the  case,  are  satis- 
factory under  all  circumstances.  In  order  to  answer  the  question 


PART  iv.]  RESULTS.  701 

to  the  satisfaction  of  all  inquirers,  hundreds  of  circumstances 
would  have  to  be  taken  into  the  account ;  and  yet  even  if  this 
could  be  done,  the  absolutely  true  result  of  that  kind  of  education 
will  remain  hidden  to  all  human  eyes. 

If  we  speak  of  the  results  in  child-saving  institutions,  and 
employ  figures  only,  we  may  get  at  the  exact  quantity,  but  we 
have  no  certainty  of  the  quality,  which  cannot  be  measured  by 
human  instruments.  Some  figures  may  suffice  for  our  present 
purpose. 

Seventy-nine  institutions,  of  which  Dr.  Wichern  speaks  in  the 
article  repeatedly  referred  to,  received  up  to  November,  1867, 
10,527  inmates,  of  whom  7,223  had  been  discharged.  After  the 
closest  searches  and  calculations,  it  was  ascertained  that  of  those 
discharged  4.7  per  cent,  or  339,  had  relapsed,  and  entered  upon  a 
criminal  course  of  life.  Humanly  speaking,  we  must  say  that 
every  one  of  the  7,223  children  was  on  the  road  to  be  placed 
before  a  criminal  court,  if  the  helping  hand  of  the  home  had  not 
been  extended.  This  will  throw  some  light  upon  the  results  of 
child-saving  institutions. 

There  is  much  encouragement  here  to  self-devotion  and  self- 
sacrifice.  Let  us  arise  and  gird  to  the  work !  Our  whole  duty 
towards  the  destitute,  neglected,  and  vicious  children  in  our 
midst  cannot  be  regarded  as  fulfilled  until  the  intellectual  and 
moral  wants  of  ALL  are  met,  according  to  their  several  necessities, 
and  in  imitation  of  the  example  of  Him  who  came  to  seek  and  to 
save  the  lost ! 


APPENDIX. 


A  PLAN  FOR  GIVING  BREADTH,  STABILITY,  AND  PERMANENCE 
TO  THE  WORK  OF  CRIME-PREVENTION  AND  CRIME-RE- 
PRESSION. 

IN  the  year  1875  the  author  of  the  foregoing  work  addressed  a 
communication  to  a  few  gentlemen  interested  in  the  question 
of  Prison  Reform,  in  which  he  suggested  the  creation  of  some  sort 
of  Academy  or  Institute  having  in  view  the  object  named  in  the 
caption  to  this  Appendix,  and  requested  their  opinion  as  to  the 
policy  and  probable  usefulness  of  such  an  institution.  The  plan 
contemplated  the  establishment  of  a  great  Journal  to  be  pub- 
lished in  the  four  most  widely  spoken  languages  of  the  earth, — 
the  English,  the  French,  the  German,  the  Spanish,  —  to  be  con- 
ducted by  a  staff  of  five  editors,  the  editor-in-chief  to  have  his 
office  in  London,  and  to  be  master  of  all  four  languages ;  the  four 
assistant  editors  to  reside  severally  in  North  America,  South 
America  or  Mexico,  France,  and  Germany  ;  and  all  five  to  serve 
in  the  capacity  of  lecturers  in  the  countries  where  they  have 
their  several  residences,  —  "  travelling  luminaries,"  as  Dr.  Wool- 
sey  has  expressed  it,  "giving  courses  here  and  there,  now  in  one 
part  of  the  country,  now  in  another ;  lecturing  perhaps  to  legis- 
latures or  to  law  schools,"  and,  I  will  add,  also  to  the  students 
of  the  larger  colleges,  and  even  to  popular  assemblies. 

The  reception  given  to  the  suggestion  by  the  gentlemen 
addressed  will  appear  from  their  responses,  printed  in  extenso  as 
follows :  — 

Letter  from  THEODORE  WOOLSEY,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  Ex-President  of  Yale 
College,  and  now  Professor  of  International  Law  in  the  same. 

NEW  HAVEN,  April  16,  1875. 

MY  DEAR  DR.  WINES,  —  I  received  a  letter  from  you,  dated  April  7, 
some  days  after  it  was  written,  and  I  now  sit  down  to  send  a  brief  reply. 
You  will  remember  speaking  to  me  confidentially  on  this  matter  in  your 
brief  interview  the  day  when  I  went  to  New  York,  the  Monday  after  your 
address  here,  March  30.  I  have  thought  over  the  subject  again,  and  beg 
leave  to  suggest  the  following  thoughts  :  — 


704  APPENDIX. 

1.  It  would  be  of  great  use  to  have  some  one  or  more  devoted  profes- 
sionally to  the  subject  of  poenology,  and  able  to  give  courses  here  and 
there  over  the  country,  as  should  be  thought  fit.    They  could  be  travelling 
luminaries,  now  in   one  part  of  the  Union,  now  in   another,  lecturing 
perhaps  to  legislatures  or  to  law  schools,  and  aiding  in  the  general  work 
also  in  which  you  are  now  the  main  spoke  of  the  wheel. 

2.  But  I  beg  leave  to  add,  that  in  my  judgment  such  a  professor  ought 
not  to  be  confined  to  poenology  in  the  strict  sense,  but  to  have  criminal 
law   and   punishment   as  his   province.     There  is  danger,  if  a  person 
devotes  himself  exclusively  to  prisons  and  punishment,  that  humanity  and 
regard  for  the  prisoner  should  occupy  a  chief  place.     There  is  danger,  on 
the  other  hand,  if  criminal  law  is  separated  from  the  practical  subject  of 
modes  of  punishment,  degrees,  etc.,  that  justice  and  the  interests  of  the 
community  should  occupy  his  mind.     "  Omne  tutit  punctum,"  who  has 
both  within  his  view.     Then  he  would  be  able  to  correct  criminal  law 
by  a  right  theory  of,  and  by  right  practical  rules  concerning,  penalty,  and 
to  correct  penalty  by  a  right  theory  of  criminal  law. 

I  am,  dear  Sir,  respectfully  yours, 

THEODORE  D.  WOOLSEY. 


Letter  from  HON.  THEODORE  W.  DWIGHT,  LL.D.,  President  of  the 
Columbia- College  Law  School,  and  President  of  the  Prison  Association 
of  New  York. 

8  GREAT  JONES  STREET, 
NEW  YORK,  May  3,  1875. 

MY  DEAR  SIR,  —  I  have  given  such  reflection  as  the  great  pressure 
upon  my  time  at  this  season  of  the  year  would  permit  to  your  suggestions 
addressed  to  me  on  the  yth  ult,  as  to  the  propriety  of  an  attempt  to 
establish  professorships  of  poenology  both  in  Europe  and  America. 

I  am  quite  clear  that  the  time  has  arrived  when  a  plan  such  as  is 
briefly  sketched  to  me  should  be  inaugurated.  If  the  professorships  were 
well  endowed  and  manned,  an  extraordinary  impulse  would  be  given  to 
the  study  of  prison  discipline  in  all  its  branches,  the  interest  of  the  com- 
munity would  be  quickened  in  a  subject  which  now  receives  but  languid 
attention,  and  the  interests  of  society  would,  in  my  judgment,  be  greatly 
promoted.  Of  course,  much  would  depend  upon  the  mode  of  selection 
of  the  professors,  and  upon  the  nature  and  amount  of  work  assigned  to 
them.  If  a  proper  organization  should  be  worked  out,  I  believe  that  both 
philanthropists  and  statesmen  would  have  good  reason  to  rejoice  at  the 
results  achieved. 

I  heartily  approve  of  the  general  outlines  of  the  scheme  which  you 
have  submitted  to  me. 

With  sincere  regard,  yours  very  truly, 

THEODORE  W.  DWIGHT. 
REV.  DR.  E.  C.  WINES. 


APPENDIX.  705 


Letter  from  FRANCIS  WAYLAND,  LL.D.,  President  of  the  Yale-College 
Law  School,  and  of  the  Board  of  Managers  of  the  State  Prison  of 
Connecticut. 

YALE  COLLEGE,  LAW  DEPARTMENT, 

NEW  HAVEN,  CONN.,  April  14,  1875. 
REV.  E.  C.  WINES,  LL.D.: 

DEAR  SIR,  —  The  project  unfolded  in  your  communication  of  April  7 
seems  to  me  highly  useful,  and  entirely  feasible. 

The  lamentable  indifference  of  the  public  mind  as  to  all  questions  of 
prison  reform  results,  I  am  convinced,  mainly  from  ignorance.  Any 
scheme  which  aims  to  disseminate  information  on  this  subject,  from 
sources  entitled  to  command  confidence,  cannot  fail  to  be  productive  of 
great  good. 

The  plan  which  you  propose,  combining  instruction  from  competent 
professors,  and  "the  best  thought  of  the  world  upon  this  question," 
contained  in  the  pages  of  "  an  international  organ  of  penitentiary  science," 
is,  in  my  opinion,  the  best  means  yet  devised  for  the  attainment  of  the 
benevolent  object  to  which  you  have  devoted  your  life. 
Very  respectfully  yours, 

FRANCIS  WAYLAND. 


Letter  from  the  REV.  W.  G.  ELIOT,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  Chancellor  of 
Washington  University,  St.  Louis,  Missouri. 

WASHINGTON  UNIVERSITY, 

ST.  Louis,  April  29,  1875. 

MY  DEAR  SIR,  —  I  think  your  suggestion  good  and  eminently  practical. 
The  only  Eutopia  element  is  the  money  part ;  and  if  you  already  find  one 
great-hearted  man  to  endow  one  Professorship  (of  Penal  Jurisprudence?), 
others  will  appear.  I  should  advise  the  prompt  and  unconditional 
endowment  of  one  man,  say  for  North  America,  and  let  him  go  to  work 
at  once.  If  the  right  worker  is  found,  the  demonstration  of  useful  results 
would  insure  the  others.  Faith  and  work  beget  faith  and  workers.  Such 
an  enterprise  cannot  be  supported  by  general  subscription ;  it  must  be 
from  a  few  individuals  who  work  in  the  "  great  Task-master's  eye,"  and 
for  the  work's  sake. 

Yours  very  truly,  W.  G.  ELIOT. 

REV.  DR.  WINES. 

P.S.  If  your  friend  could  endow  two  such  workers  (God  bless  him  even 
for  having  such  a  thought !),  wherever  placed,  the  good  results  would  soon 
come  out.  The  publication  should  not  be  in  too  heavy  shape,  and  ought 
not  to  be  very  expensive.  In  ten  years  we  should  see  the  beginning  of 
extensive  reform. 

No  man  could  consecrate  his  wealth  to  a  nobler  effort.  It  would  be 
better  than  the  endowment  of  a  college,  and  would  not  cost  one-fourth  as 
much.  There  is  an  originality  in  such  an  enterprise,  indicative  of  large 
thought,  and  of  a  kind  of  faith  in  the  possibilities  of  humanity  by  no 
means  common. 

45 


7O6  APPENDIX. 


Letter  from  the  REV.  HOWARD  CROSBY,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  Chancellor  of  the 
University  of  New  York,  and  President  of  the  New  York  Society  for 
the  Prevention  of  Crime. 

*  306  SECOND  AVENUE,  April  10,  1875. 

MY  DEAR  DR.  WINES,  —  Your  plan,  so  far  as  engaging  the  four  most 
extended  languages  of  the  civilized  world  in  the  work  of  spreading  truth 
on  the  important  subject  of  poenology,  commands  my  hearty  Amen  !  But 
I  cannot  believe  that  four  editors  at  different  corners  of  the  earth  will  be 
able  to  constitute  one  editorial  staff. 

I  should  rather  propose  to  make  the  four  professors  contributors  (by 
contract,  quarterly,)  to  a  Review  published  in  London  or  Paris  or  Berlin, 
or  in  all  three  simultaneously,  under  a  single  editorship. 

If  the  money  can  be  obtained,  it  will  be  a  grand  move  in  the  right 
direction. 

Yours  ever  truly,  HOWARD  CROSBY. 


Letter  from  the  late  WILLIAM  CULLEN  BRYANT,  ESQ.,  Editor  of  the 
"  New  York  Evening  Post" 

NEW  YORK,  May  3,  1875. 

DEAR  SIR,  —  I  did  receive  a  note  from  you  stating  your  plan  for  aiding 
in  the  prevention  of  crime,  and  answered  it  soon  afterwards.  Your  note 
was  dated  "  Broadway,"  without  any  number,  and  I  therefore  addressed 
my  answer  to  "  New  York." 

In  answering,  I  said  that  you,  with  your  experience  and  knowledge  of 
the  subject,  must  be  a  much  better  judge  of  the  probable  usefulness  of 
your  plan  than  I  can  be  ;  but  that  if  the  expenses  attending  it  were  sure  to 
be  defrayed,  I  thought  well  of  it ;  and  that  I  am  confident  that  the  obser- 
vations and  researches  of  enlightened  men,  stationed  in  different  countries, 
in  regard  to  the  subject  of  crimes  and  punishments,  when  brought  together 
and  compared,  could  not  fail  of  leading  to  valuable  results.  Another 
consideration  now  occurs  to  me,  —  namely,  that  your  plan  would  keep 
the  subject  continually  before  the  reading  world,  and  make  it  matter  of 
more  frequent  reflection  than  it  now  is. 

I  am,  Sir,  faithfully  yours, 

W.  C.  BRYANT. 
REV.  DR.  E.  C.  WINES,  Irvington-on-Hudson. 


Letter  from  BARON  FRANZ  VON  HOLTZENDORFF,  Professor  of  International 
and  Criminal  Law  in  the  Royal  University ',  Munich,  Bavaria. 

MUNICH,  24th  November,  1878. 

MY  DEAR  DR.  WINES,  —  Considering  again  your  idea  to  found  an  inter- 
national academy  for  the  study  of  prison  discipline  and  prison  reform,  I 
am  struck  with  the  greatness  of  your  scheme,  and  the  difficulty  you  will 


APPENDIX.  707 

have  to  meet  in  carrying  it  out.  It  is  a  truly  American  conception,  — 
no  European  Government  would  venture  to  give  it  a  fair  support.  Is 
there  among  your  countrymen  any  individual  noble  enough  to  appro- 
priate a  considerable  sum  to  the  object  you  have  in  view?  If  so,  his 
name  would  belong  to  the  Pantheon  of  humanity.  Your  country  is  just 
now  celebrating  the  centenarian  glory  of  her  Independence.  The  memory 
of  that  time  could  in  no  better  way  become  sanctified  than  by  setting  an 
example  of  how  you  are  anxious  to  keep  your  position  in  prison  reform. 

Is  it  not  strange  that  the  first  impulse  towards  political  freedom  has 
been  associated  by  Americans  with  the  first  serious  trial  in  prison  reform, 
belonging  to  Pennsylvania?  Before  the  war  of  Independence,  the  prison 
might  have  been  said  to  be  the  final  destiny  of  all  the  antagonists  opposing 
tyrants.  The  modern  idea  is,  Liberty  even  for  the  prisoners  !*  Such  are 
the  ways  of  Providence  :  first,  in  the  beginning  of  mankind  the  prison 
allotted  to  the  martyrs  of  liberty ;  and  now  liberty  as  the  end  of  prison 
reform  !  All  countries  have  received  their  particular  task  in  the  common 
work  of  human  civilization.  Your  country  should  remain  the  foremost  in 
the  continuance  of  her  glory  won  in  the  practical  inauguration  of  prison 
reform.  The  foundation  of  such  an  academy  as  you  are  undertaking  to 
call  into  life  would  form  a  wonderful  machinery  in  promoting  steady 
progress. 

I  need  not  say  how  deeply  European  statesmen  and  politicians  would 
be  interested  in  the  final  triumph  of  your  efforts. 

Believe  me,  my  dear  Dr.  Wines,  very  faithfully  yours, 

FR.   VON   HOLTZENDORFF. 

The  object  of  bringing  this  subject  and  these  letters  to  the 
notice  of  the  public  will  perhaps  be  readily  divined.  In  the 
course  of  the  year  in  which  the  correspondence  occurred, .  the 
author  had  sounded  a  wealthy  American  resident  abroad,  with  a 
view  to  awaken  his  interest  in  the  project  to  such  a  degree  as  to 
secure  from  him  a  donation  sufficient  to  serve  as  a  permanent 
endowment  of  the  proposed  Institute.  After  holding  the  matter 
under  consideration  for  two  or  three  years,  he  finally  decided 
against  it.  I  therefore  now  cast  this  "  bread  upon  the  waters," 
in  the  confident  expectation  that  it  will  be  "found  again  after 
many  days."  I  am  not,  indeed,  without  the  hope  that  I  may 
be  permitted  to  greet  its  reappearance  in  my  'own  day ;  but  if 
not,  I  shall  pass  away  from  these  earthly  scenes  in  the  assured  be- 
lief that  it  will  reappear  in  God's  own  time,  and  be  a  seed  of 
"  healing  to  the  nations."  I  am  the  more  confirmed  and  confident 
in  this  hope  from  the  fact  that  a  sufficient  number  of  Govern- 
ments have  given  their  adhesion  to  the  work  of  International 
Prison  Reform  in  its  organized  shape  to  assure  not  only  its  per- 
manence, but  its  increasing  success.  Some  generous  soul  will 
one  day  DESIRE  to  serve  God  and  humanity  by  consecrating  his 
wealth  to  so  holy  a  cause,  —  a  cause  which  treads  so  closely  in  the 
footprints  of  the  Master,  whose  mission  and  whose  joy  it  was  to 
SEEK  and  to  SAVE  the  lost.  The  disciple  who  desires  to  get 


;o8  APPENDIX. 

nearest  to  his  Lord  by  doing  good  on  the  broadest  and  most  com- 
prehensive scale  can  hardly  hope  for  a  better  opportunity ;  and 
if  a  lower,  but  still  neither  an  improper  nor  unworthy,  motive 
may  be  appealed  to,  it  may  be  said,  that,  in  return  for  a  benefac- 
tion to  humanity  such  as  that  here  suggested,  generations  yet 
unborn  will  "rise  up  and  call  him  blessed."  His  name  will  be 
inscribed  high  on  the  roll  of  Fame  as  the  deliverer  of  those  who 
"  were  ready  to  perish/'  and  as  the  world's  benefactor  to  "  the 
latest  syllable  of  recorded  time." 


INDEX. 


INDEX. 


ABERDEENSHIRE,  extinction  of  Juvenile  Crime,  224. 
Abuses  of  Prisoners,  i,  6,  8,  22,  241,  242,  371,  584. 
Accessibility  to  family  friends,  336,  638. 

Voluntary  Workers,  16,  54,  536. 
Acquittal  of  Young  Offenders,  63,  350,  679. 
Administration  of  Prison  System,  95,  105,  604,  617. 

Central  Authority,  217,  227,  606. 

Institutional,  334,  623. 
Adult  and  Juvenile  Criminals,  626,  695. 
Admonition,  in  discipline,  62. 
Adult  Reformatory  versus  Prison,  96,  120,  613. 

Maconochie's  System,  33. 
Africa,  Spanish  Prisons,  367,  377. 

Liberia,  xx.,  575. 

Morocco,  xx.,  578. 

Cape  of  Good  Hope,  283. 
African  Race,  Criminals  of,  95. 
Agencies  of  Crime-Repression,  606,  609,  616. 

Desire,  Hope,  Faith,  Work,  617. 
Age  of  Criminals,  113,  626. 

Reformatories,  694. 

Preventive  Institutions,  694. 

Proportion  of  Juveniles,  113,  626. 
Agricultural  Work,  485,  627.  [485. 

Agricultural  Penitentiary  Colonies,  81,  166,  342,  471, 

Intermediate  Prisons,  485.  [121,  418. 

Aid  and  Sympathy  to  discharged  Prisoners,  12,  56, 

State  aid  to  Patronage  Societies,  678. 
Aim  and  End  of  Punishment,  29,  38,  49,  54,  613,  619. 
Alabama,  Prison  System,  197. 

Lease  System  of  Labor,  198. 
Alcoholic  liquors,  excessive  use,  113. 

Connection  with  crime,  152. 
Alms  to  Prisoners,  477. 
America,  Canada,  and  British  Possessions,  248. 

United  States,  viii.,  87-214. 

Mexico  and  Central  America,  xvii.,  533-568. 

South  America,  547. 

American  Female  Guardian  Society,  127. 
American  Propositions  in  Prison  Reform,  49. 

Modifications  in  London  Congress,  54. 
Amsterdam  Cellular  Prison,  398. 
Amusements  for  Prisoners,  238,  398,  422. 
Ancient  Nations,  Prisons,  and  Punishment,  i. 
Andaman  Islands,  Convict  Colony,  327. 
Anomalies,  Moral,  in  Criminal  Acts,  644. 
Antigua,  Prisons,  273.  [607. 

Apprenticeship,  and  Apprentice   Schools,  341,  429, 

Associated  and  State  Corporation,  608. 
Architecture  of  Prisons,  19,  54,  103,  346. 

Reformatories,  697. 
Arenal,  Dona,  Penal  System  of  Spain,  365. 

Studies  in  Penitentiary  Science,  661. 
Argentine  Republic,  Prison  System,  565. 
Armengol,  Senor,  Prison  Society  in  Spain,  382 
Arnheim  Model  Reformatory,  400. 
Assistant-warders,  of  Prisoners,  325. 
Assimilation  of  Penalties,  663. 


Association,  of  old  and  young  criminals,  80,  113,  348. 

Men  and  Women  Prisoners,  18,  24,  348,  349. 

Criminals  of  different  degrees,  19,  346. 

Criminals  generally  for  any  purpose,  158,  346,  457. 
Labor,  104,  457. 

Common  life  under  conditions,  107,  361. 
Associations  for  Preventive  Work,  683. 
Associations  for  Prison  Work,  18,  23. 

Municipal  and  Local,  19 

State  or  Nation,  17,  19,  23,  36. 

International,  42. 
Athens  and  Sparta,  Prisons,  3,  4. 
Auburn,  Prison  System,  25,  27,  103. 

Silent  and  Solitary  at  night  and  in  cell,  27,  91. 

Silent  and  Congregate  in  labor,  27. 

Association  and  Reformation,  104. 

Struggle  with  friends  of  Pennsylvania  System,  25. 
Auction  of  Prison  Labor,  412. 

Disposal  of  Destitute  Children  to  lowest  bidder,  695. 
Audacity  not  Courage,  647. 
Australia,  Prison  Systems,  304,  312. 

Crofton  or  Irish  System,  304. 
Austria,  Prison  System,  xiv.,  14,  447. 

Hungary  and  Croatia,  Progressive  System,  455. 

BADEN,  Grand  Duchy,  Prison  System,  416. 

Cellular  System,  with  exceptional  cases,  418. 

Schools  and  Library,  books  preferred,  417 
Bagnios  or  Galleys,  332,  334 
Bahamas,  Prison  System,  267. 
Baltimore,  Preventive  and  Reformatory  Work,  212. 
Baker,  Barwick,  Gloucester  Prison,  29. 
Barbadoes,  Prison  System,  267. 

Barnard,    H.,   Preventive  and  Reformatory  Institu- 
tions, 688. 

Bastinado  and  the  Lash,  99,  376,  583 
Bath,  warm,  440. 
Bathing  entire  person,  429. 
Bavaria,  Prison  System,  32,  419. 
Beccaria,  Crimes  and  their  Punishments,  3,  9,  651. 
Belgium,  Prison  System,  xii.,  10,  42,  352. 

Cellular  System,  Ghent,  Louvain,  42. 

Peculium,  Pistole  usage,  354 

Moral  Lectures,  Religion,  356. 

Reformatory  and  Preventive  Work,  363. 
Beltrani-Scalia,  Cruelties  to  Prisoners,  3. 

Training  of  Prison  Officers,  246,  485. 
Benefactions  and  Bequests,  473. 

Reformatory  and  Preventive  Work,  527,  528. 
Bengal,  Jail  Code,  316. 
Bentham,  Jeremy,  Panopticon,  16. 
Berden,  M.,  Industrial  Labor,  357. 
Bermuda,  Prisons,  255. 

Beuggen,  Child-saving  Institution  1816,  691. 
Bible,  in  Prisons  and  Reformatories,  101,  698. 
Bible-class,  Kansas  Prison,  181 
Biblical  Doctrine  of  the  Fall  of  Man,  655. 
Biography  of  Criminals,  Registered,  360,  633. 


7L2 


INDEX. 


Blackstone,  W.,  Commentaries,  1765,  9. 
Boards  of  Prison  Supervisors,  175. 

Prison  Inspectors,  28. 
Boards  of  State  Charities,  95,  174. 
Boarding-out  Pauper  Children,  235. 
Bogota.  Panopticon  Prison,  34,  548. 
Book  of  Character,  Petersen,  516. 
Book  of  the  Law,  Hebrews,  67. 
Books  for  Prisoners,  417. 
Borel,  M.,  Bequest  to  Neuchatel,  527 
Boston,  Prisons  and  Prison  Reform,  19,  23. 

House  of  Reformation,  80. 

Farm-School,  and  other  Preventives,  80. 
Botany  Bay,  and  Convict  Settlement,  15,  30. 
Boundary  region  in  social  life,  694. 
Brace,  Charles  Loring,  Labors  for  Children,  127. 
Brain,  Modes  of  Activity,  Diseased,  649. 

Organ  of  the  Soul-faculties,  648. 
Bremen,  Prison  System,  534. 
Branding,  Cropping,  Whipping,  22,  23. 
Bray,  Thomas,  Newgate  in  1699,  6. 
Brazil,  Prison  System,  xviii  ,  552. 
Brenton,  E.  P.,  Children's  Friends'  Society,  1830,  78. 
British  Colonial  Possessions,  xi.,  248. 
British  Columbia,  Prisons,  255. 
British  Guiana,  Prisons,  278 
British  Honduras,  Prison,  274. 
British  Indian  Empire,  xi.,  314. 
Brockway,  Z.  R.,  Detroit  House  of  Refuge,  89. 

Reformatory  at  Elmira,  96,  102. 
Brothers,  in  German  Reformatory  Work,  415,  619. 
Bruchsal  Prison,  418. 

Brunn,  F.,  Director-general  of  Prisons,  491. 
Brunswick,  Duchy,  Prison  System,  430. 
Brussels,  International  Prison  Congress,  44. 
Bryant,  W.  C.,  Prison  Reform  Institute,  706. 
Buenos  Ayres,  Penitentiary  System,  567. 
Burglary,  as  a  recognized  industry,  659. 
Burlington,  Home  for  Destitute  Children,  149. 
Buxton,  T.  F.,  Inquiry  into  Prison  Discipline,  18 

CAGE  and  Sedan  Chair,  for  moving  criminals,  591. 
California,  Prison  System,  184 

Advanced  position  of  Constitution  of  1879,  184. 

State  contributions  to  Orphan  Asylums,  186. 
Canada,  Prisons  and  Reformatories,  248. 

Ontario  Province,  250. 
Cape  of  Good  Hope,  Convict  Stations,  283. 
Capitalists  in  Crime,  52,  632. 
Carlyle,  T.,  on  Howard,  13. 
Carpenter,  Mary,  698. 
Catholic  Institutions,  Chaplains,  417,  482. 
Cell,  Early  History,  go- 
Number  in  the  United  States,  93. 
Cellular  System,  100,  114,  496,  673. 

Philadelphia,  Eastern  Prison,  go,  158. 

Applicable  to  first  stage  of  graduated  treatment, 
352,  392,  579,  612,  674. 

Experience  of  New  Jersey  and  Rhode  Island,  25 
Ghent  and  Louvain,  42. 
German  Model  Prisons,  414,  418. 

Detention  Prisons,  332,  497,  612. 
Central  America,  Prisons,  533. 
Central  Authority  in  Administration,  227,  606. 

Examples,  227,  248,  427. 
Absence,  533. 

Absence  in  our  State  Systems,  95. 

Medical  Service  in  England,  242. 
Cerebral  condition  of  Criminals,  647. 
Certified  Industrial  Schools,  79,  223,  609. 
Ceylon,  Prisons,  289. 
Chains,  ^43-    . 
Chair,  Coercion,  417. 
Channing,  W   E.,  Society  and  Crime,  71. 
Chaplain,  Resident,  101,  174,417. 

Examples,  141,  147,  208. 
Charities,  Board  of  State,  135,  136 

Swedish  System,  505,  508. 
Charity,  Prime  Motive-Power,  687. 
Charlestown  State-Prison,  91. 
Character  Book  of  Prisoners,  516. 


Chastel,  Charity  of  Primitive  Church,  69. 

Children,  declared  by  courts  not  responsible,  679,  682. 

Special  Confinement  and  Treatment,  81,  223. 
Children's  Aid  Societies,  126. 

New  York,  work  done,  78,  81,  121. 
Child-Placing  in  Families,  695. 

Child-Reforming  and  Child- Saving  different,  679,  689. 
Child-Saving  Institutions,  viii.,  xxii.,  67,  132,  225. 
Ancient  Hebrews,  67. 
Primitive  Christian  Church,  69. 
Denmark,  85,  492. 
Germany,  73,  85,  427,  688. 
Great  Britain,  75. 
England,  25,  223. 
Scotland,  232. 
Ireland,  239. 
France,  81,  338. 
Holland,  84,  400. 
Italy,  85,  484. 
Poland,  470. 

United  States,  80,  8r,  127. 
Discharged  Inmates,  427,  700. 
Results,  130,  170,  224,  402,  701. 
China,  Prisons  and  Criminal  Law,  585. 
Early  Prison  Lessons,  2. 
Impartial  Treatment  of  Offenders,  2. 
Classification,  587. 

Christian  Associations  of  Young  Men,  112,  208. 
Christian  Associations  in  Prison,  172,  208. 
Christian  Charity,  687,  696. 
Christian  Homes  for  endangered  Children,  696. 
Christiania  Penitentiary,  515. 
Christianity  and  Roman  Law,  5. 

Reformatory  work,  69. 

Christian  Knowledge  Society,  Prison  Reform,  6,  8. 
Cities,  American,  School  Attendance,  131. 

Centres  of  Corrupting  Influence,  Escape  from,  683. 
City  Prisons  and  Houses  of  Correction,  117,  172. 

Examples,  33,  148,  172,  176. 

Civilization,  Public  Authority  or  Personal  Will,  5. 
Classification,  333,  366,  372,  495,  637. 
Crimes,  230,  353,  494. 
Sentences,  332,  663. 
Prisons,  92,  231,  352,  345,  637. 
Prisoners,  92,  231,  290,  495,  518,  663 
As  to  national  peculiarities,  673. 
Social  condition,  674. 
Vicious  basis,  18,  606. 
Clay,  John,  Preston  Jail,  29. 

Deterrence  and  Amendment,  29. 
Cleanliness  of  Person  and  Cell,  426. 
Cleveland,  Ohio,  Industrial  School,  167 
Clemency,  Executive,  96,  119 
Codes,  Criminal,  Reforms,  640. 
Coercive  System  of  Discipline,  635. 
Coldwater,  Michigan,  State  Public  School,  162. 
Coleman,  Dr.,  Cellular  System,  215. 
Colonie,  Agricole,  Reform  Farm-School,  353. 
Belgium,  353. 
Denmark,  498. 
England,  323. 
France,  81,  338,  350. 
Germany,  688. 
Holland,  84. 
Italy,  485. 
Ohio,  166. 
Poland,  471. 

Colorado,  Prison  System,  182. 
Columbia,  United  States  of,  Prisons,  547. 
Columbia,  District  of.  214. 
Common  or  Social  Life  for  Criminals,  652. 
Jommon  Schools  in  Crime-Prevention,  606 
Commutation  Laws,  24,  123,  155. 

American  Trials,  124,  155 
Commutative  Sentence,  220. 

Communication  with  family  and  friends,  638.        [607. 
Compulsory  School  Attendance,   131,  135,  156,  574, 
Jonciergene  at  Paris,  346 
Conditional  Liberation,  62,  123,  427,  428,  672. 

Benefits  to  Society,  672. 
Conduct,  Prison  Standard,  98,  141. 


INDEX. 


713 


Confinement,  for  trial,  479. 

Punishment,  613. 

Reformation,  610,  613. 

Probation,  614,  615. 

Congregate  System  versus  Family,  104,  690. 
Congresses,  National  and  International,  42,  65. 
Connecticut,  Prison  System,  138. 

Old  Newgate,  22. 

State  Reform  School,  Girls'  Industrial,  139. 

Preventive  Institutions  and  Agencies,  140. 
Construction  of  Prisons,  19,  53,  103,  116. 
Contagion  of  good  example —  Influence,  361. 
Contract  System  of  Labor,  108-1 10,  628. 

Detrimental  to  discipline  and  reform,  109,  509. 
Convict  Colonies,  30. 
Convict  Prisons,  630. 
Copenhagen,  Cellular  Prison,  497. 
Cordier,  H.,  Alleghany  County  House,  89. 
Corporal  Punishment,  in  discipline,  174. 

Reformatories,  699. 

Prisons,  423. 
Correction,  Houses  of,  114,  629. 

Examples  of  good,  114,  148,  164,  176. 
Correctional  Imprisonment,  353. 
Correspondence  of  Prisoners,  98,  248,  432,  541,  638. 
Cos-Gayon,  Prison  Reform  in  Spain,  383. 
Cost  of  Crime  and  Prisons,  93,  352. 
County  Jails,  115,  611,  629. 

Badly  managed,  153,611. 
Absence  of  Employment  and  Instruction,  102, 612. 

Reconstruction  and  Substitution,  612,  629. 
Craig,  Major,  Iowa  Prison,  178. 
Crawford,  W.,  Report  on  American  Prisons,  22,  27. 

Results,  Inspectors  of  Prisons,  28. 
Crete,  the  Cretana,  4. 
Crime,  Causes,  113,  159,  397,  422.  5°2,  538,  562- 

Conditions,  cold-blood  or  passion,  648. 

Character,  112,  434,  483. 

Peculiarities,  ethnological,  434,  484,  538,  558. 

Prevention,  225. 

Crime,  a  Psychological  Anomaly,  650. 
Crime-prevention  and  Crime-repression,  703. 
Criminal  Legislation,  35,  640. 
Criminal  Psychology,  Despine,  641. 
Crofton,  Sir  Walter,  Progressive  Classification,  32, 233. 

Irish  System  of  Prison  Discipline,  230. 
Croatia  and  Hungary,  Prison  System,  454. 
Cropping,  Branding,  Pillory,  Stocks,  22,  23. 
Crosby,  Howard,  Prison  Reform  Institute,  706. 
Cubitt,  the  Treadmill,  21. 
Cumulative  Sentences,  116. 
Cyprus,  Prison,  387 

DANNER,  Asylum  for  Deserted  Children,  498. 

Danjan,  Prize  Essay  of  Royal  Prison  Society,  37. 

Dante,  cited,  i. 

Dark  Ages  of  Prison  Discipline,  1-22. 

Dark  Cell,  362. 

Day-routine  in  Prison,  358,  453. 

Death-penalty,  Limitations,  24,  4677  557. 

Results  of  Abrogation  on  convictions,  174. 
Death-rate,  120. 
Debating  Society,  181. 
Debt  and  Debtors,  Society  for  Relief,  10. 

Abolition  of  Imprisonment,  24,  397. 


lal  System,  160. 
Delay  of  Trial,  witnesses  and  accused,  39,  115. 

Abuses  in  Portugal,  479. 
Demetz  and  Mettray,  82,  341. 

Four  Principles  observed,  342. 
Denmark,  Prisons  and  Penal  System,  491. 

Irish  Progressive  System,  493. 
Denominational  Character  of  Reformatories,  700. 
Denne,  Separation  of  Prisoners  1722,  9. 
Despine,  F.,  Reforms  in  Savoy,  32,  641. 

The  Criminal  in  the  Psychical  Conditionj  641 

Treatment  of  Criminals  suggested  by  Science,  650. 

Criticism,  by  Dr  Wines,  655. 
Destitute  and  Deserted  Children,  64,  127,  470,  695. 


Deterrence  from  Crime,  38,  96,  337. 
Detention  Prisons,  368,  423. 
For  Trial,  362. 
For  Sentence,  347,  368. 
De  Tocqueville,  cited,  109,  in,  119. 
Detroit  House  of  Correction,  89. 
Dickens,  Charles,  401. 
Dietary,  98,  120,  221,  322. 

Reasons  for  generous,  180. 
Discharged  Prisoners,  Aid  and  Sympathy,  121,  616, 

625,  675. 
Relations  to  the  State,  122,  625,  678. 

Baden,  418. 

Belgium,  359. 

Brunswick,  433. 

Denmark,  491. 

France,  338,  351. 

Great  Britain,  225. 

Hamburg,  440. 

Holland,  398. 

Italy,  489. 

Saxony,  429. 

Sweden,  512. 

Wiirtemberg,  429. 

United  States,  121,  136. 
Discipline  of  Priso«s,  62,  95,  362. 
Penal  and  Reformatory,  634. 
Reformatories  and  Asylums,  699. 
Discretion  as  to  Sentence,  24,  97,  661. 

Executive  Clemency,  119,  122. 
Disgraceful  Punishments,  24,  99,  376,  664. 
District  Prisons  in  Ideal  System,  629. 
District  of  Columbia,  Prison  System,  214. 
Dixon,  Hepworth,  Life  of  Penn,  7. 
Doepler,  Jacob,  Theatrum  Poenarum,  1693,  689. 
Dominica,  Prison,  280. 
Dormitory,  single  and  common,  520. 
Dread  of  Discharged  Criminals,  615,  686. 
Drainage  and  other  Sanitary  Precautions,  120. 
Ducpetiaux,  Prison  and  Reformatory  Work,  42. 
Dublin,  Prison  System,  237. 

Diisselthal  Rettinghaus,  Child-saving  Asylum,  691. 
Duty,  the  Sentiment,  656. 
Dwight,  T.  W.,  Prison  Reform  Institute,  704. 

EARNINGS  of  Prisoners,  55,  94,  123,  510. 

Portion  to  his  support,  94,  354. 
Support  of  family,  125. 

Reserved  for  discharge,  123. 

Lease  System,  in,  191,  200. 
East  India  Empire,  Prison  System,  xi.,  314. 
Eastern  Nations,  Cruel  Treatment  of  Prisoners,  3. 
Education  and  Crime,  102,  606,  622. 
Educational  Agencies,  100. 

Education,  General,  Duty  of  Governments,  73,  607. 
Ekert,  M.,  Director  at  Bruchsal,  418. 
Eliot,  W.,  City  Prisons,  Lock-ups,  or  Stations,  117. 

Prison  Reform  Institute,  705. 
Elmira  Reformatory  Prison,  96,  97,  152. 
Emulation,  the  principle,  653. 
Employments  in  Prison,  107,  423. 

Variety  in  American,  197. 
Encouragements,  98,  122,  420,  534,  614. 
Endless  Revolvers,  639. 
Ends  of  Punishment,  29,  39. 

Protection  of  Society,  29. 

Repression  of  Crime.  29,  38. 

Reformation  of  Criminals,  29,  342. 
England,  Penal  and  Reformatory  System,  217. 

Howard's  Prison  Work,  12. 

Movements  anterior  to  Howard,  6,  12. 

Prison  Construction  and  Discipline,  28. 
Parliamentary  Commissions,  27,  240. 

Societies  for  Improvement,  17,  19. 

Preventive  and  Reformatory  Work,  223. 

Discharged  Prisoners'  Aid  Societies,  225. 
Erzroum,  Turkish  Prison,  387. 
Escapes  trom  Confinement,  193,  346. 
Evening  School  in  Elmira  Reformatory,  98. 
Examples  of  severity  not  necessarily  deterrent,  635. 
Example,  Influence  on  the  Young,  668. 


INDEX. 


Executive  Clemency,  ng,  395,  542. 

Influence  on  Convicts,  120. 
Execution  of  a  Penalty,  66r. 
Exploit,  Exploitation,  369. 
Extradition  Treaties,  International,  65,  683. 

FAITH  in  Reformatory  Work,  55,  617. 
Falk,  John,  Children-saver,  74,  690. 

Friend  in  Need  —  Lutherhof,  690. 
Falkland  Islands  Prison,  ^55. 
Family-Reception  of  Vicious  Children,  471. 

Christian  Charity,  695. 
Family,  the,  for  Homeless  Children,  64,  144,  684,  695. 

Conditions  of  a  suitable  Home,  695. 

Institutions  organized  to  resemble,  63,  139,  342,  696. 

Earliest  Examples,  76,  341,  470,  689. 

Wichern's  Rauhe  Haus,  74,  695. 

Skarbet  in  Poland  in  1827,  470. 
Family  Life  in  Institutions,  162,  697. 
Family  of  Criminals,  248,  536. 
Family-placing  in  the  West,  129. 
Family  System  in  German  Reformatories,  696. 
Farm  School  for  City  Juveniles,  47,  82,  84,  142. 
Farmingham,  Boys'  Home,  528. 
Fear  and  Hope,  39,  653. 
Female  Criminals,  Special  Treatment,  137,  630. 

Progressive  Classification,  630. ' 

Refuge  for  Discharged,  226,  512. 
Fences  and  Screens  for  Criminals,  632. 
Festival-days,  177,  507,  699. 
Field  Work  and  Shop  Work,  144,  401,  473. 
Fiji  Islands,  Prisons,  297. 
Financial  Aims  and  Results,  89,  151. 
Fines,  worked  out,  148,  559. 
Finland  Prison  System  and  Question,  467. 
First  Offence  —  Treatment,  240,  612. 
Foreigners  in  American  Prisons,  94. 

Children  of  Foreign-born  Parents,  127. 
Florida,  Abuses  of  Lease  System,  194. 
Flogging,  Scourging,  etc.,  99. 
Food,  177,  180,  37Z,  425. 
Forbes,  A.,  Turkish  Prisons,  387. 
Frankfort,  International  Congress,  43,  44. 

Prison  System,  430. 
France,  Prisons  and  Reformatories,  xii.,  329. 

Nomenclature  and  Classification,  329,  330,  336. 

Early  Movements,  36. 

Government  Commission,  1872—75,  40. 

Child-Saving  Work,  81,  338,  342. 

Superior  Council  of  Prisons,  41. 

National  Prison  Association,  41. 

National  Patronage  Society,  41,  338,  350. 

Royal  Prison  Society  1819,  19. 

Naval  and  Military  Prisons,  344. 
Franke,  A.  H.,  Orphan  House  at  Halle,  73,  689. 
Franklin,  Benjamin,  90. 
Fraternity  in  Prison-work,  676. 
Free-will,  Limitations  to,  Despine,  655. 

Biblical  Doctrine,  655. 
Fry,  Mrs.  E.,  Prison-work,  16,  20,  493. 

GALLEYS,  and  Penal  Colonies,  332,  344,  486. 
Gambia,  Prison,  285. 

Gangs,  or  Companies  in  Public  Work,  285,  491. 
Generous  sentiments  wanting  in  the  Criminal,  646. 
Georgia,  Prison  System,  192. 

New  Doctrine  of  State  Responsibility,  192. 
Germany,  Child-saving  Institutions,  688,  700. 

Congregate  and  Family  System,  693. 

Religious  Education,  696,  699. 
German  Empire,  403. 

New  Penal  Code,  and  Prison  Reform,  403. 

Progressive  Classification,  406. 
German  States,  Individual,  xiv.,  403-446. 
Ghent,  Early  Example  of  Improvement,  u. 
Gibralter,  Prison  and  Station,  281. 
Ginx's  Baby,  72. 
Girls,  Neglected  and  Homeless,  64,  693. 

Asylums  and  Industrial  Schools,  139. 

Vicious  and  Criminal,  694. 
Gloucester  Penitentiary,  15,  29. 


Golden-Bridge  Refuge,  237. 

Third  Sta^e  01  Irish  System,  237. 
Good-behavior,  Motives,  141,  416,  495. 
Gouldsburg,  M.,  Qualification  of  a  Prison  Officer,  284. 
Government  Relations  to  Crime,  192,  609. 

International  Treaties,  65,  683. 
Gradation  of  Penal  and  Preventive  Institutions,  606. 
Great  Britain,  Prison  Systems,  x.,  217-327. 

England,  217-232. 

Ireland,  233. 

Scotland,  228-232. 

East  India  Empire,  314. 

Canada,  248. 

Other  Colonies  and  Settlements,  xL 

New  Prison  Act,  1877,  1878,  217. 

Royal  Commission,  1878,  240. 
Greece,  Ancient  Prisons,  3. 

Modern  Prison  System,  529. 
Grenada,  Prison,  266. 

Grotenfelt,  A.,  Prison  Question  in  Finland,  467. 
Griffith,  G.  C,  Model  Contractor,  109. 
Guatemala,  Prisons,  539. 
Guizot,  cited,  5. 
Guiana  Penal  Colony,  344. 
Guillaume,  Dr  ,  Swiss  Penal  System,  526. 

HABIT,  of  Virtue,  or  Vice,  39. 

Habitual  Criminality,  necessary  conditions,  632. 

Habitual  Drunkards,  639. 

Hague  Detention  Prison,  400. 

Haines,  Governor,  155. 

Hamburg  Prisons,  437. 

Appointment  of  Officials,  438. 
Hanway,  Jonas,  Plan  of  Reform,  14. 
Hard  labor,  106,  556. 
Havdening  influence  of  bad  association,  478. 

Excessive  harshness,  664. 
Haussonville,  Viscount  de,  40. 
Hawaii,  Prison  System,  569. 
Hay,  William,  in  1735,  9. 
Hayes,  Rutherford  B.,  46. 
Hebrew  Book  of  the  Law,  2. 

Parental  and  Filial  Duty,  67. 
Hill,  Florence  Davenport,  308. 
Hill,  Frederic,  28,  619. 

Indeterminate  Sentences,  619. 
Hill,  Matthew  D.,  28. 
Hindu  Code,  i. 

Hoare,  London  Prison  Society,  20. 
Holidays,  177,  180,  699. 
Holland,  Prisons  and  Penal  System,  392. 

Cellular  Classification,  Activity,  393. 
Holls,  G.  C.,  Wartburg  Orphan  Asylum,  688. 
Holtzendorf,  Baron  von,  403. 

Prison-Reform  Academy,  707. 

Irish  System,  409. 

Home-father  and  House-mother,  German,  698. 
Home-feeling  to  be  cultivated,  362. 
Home-placing  of  Neglected  Children,  129. 
Homes  for  Destitute  Children,  143,  683. 

Examples,  148. 
Honduras,  Prisons,  273. 
Hong  Kong,  Prisons,  311. 
Howard,  John,  Prison-work,  12. 
Hope  and  Fear,  38,  54,  96,  286,  424,  431,  458,  613. 
Horticulture  for  Prisoners,  107,  237,  325. 
Hospitals  for  the  Sick,  429. 
Houses  of  Correction,  92,  629. 

Examples,  114,  148,  176. 

Household  Duties  and  Work,  for  Children,  698. 
Howe,  George  E.,  139. 
Humphrey,  W.,  161. 

Hungary  and  Croatia,  Prison  System,  454. 
Hunger-torture,  590. 
Hygiene  of  Prisons,  120,  358,  511. 
Hypocrisy,  in  Criminals,  360,  653. 

ICELAND,  Prison,  499.  [605. 

Ideal  System  of  Crime-Prevention  and  Repression, 

Realized  by  Maconochie,  631. 
Identification  of  Criminals,  633. 


INDEX. 


715 


Idleness,  in  and  out  of  Prison,  113,  116,  608. 

Compulsory,  in  Jail,  612. 
Ignorance  and  Illiteracy,  101,  337,  355,  395,  422,  562. 

Countries  with  the  least,  428,  520, 

Religious,  152,  502. 

Industrial,  421,  423,  608. 
Ignorance  and  Crime,  103,  272,  275. 
Illinois,  Penal  and  Correctional  System,  171. 

Preventive  and  Reformatory,  173. 
Illiteracy,  Statistics,  325,  337,  606. 
Imbecile  and  Idiotic  Prisoners,  240. 
Indemnity  for  illegal  and  unjust  confinement,  633. 
Indeterminate  Sentences,  619. 
Indiana,  Prisons  and  Reformatories,  168. 
Incorrigibility,  617. 
Individualization  in  Prison  Treatment,  106,  411,  618. 

Basis  of  Cellular  System,  158,  424. 
Individual  Reformers,  23,  689,  697. 
Individual  Sympathy  and  Personal  Aid,  608. 
Indulgence  and  Severity,  equally  unsuitable,  55,  636. 
Industrial  Asylums  and  Farm-Schools,  74,  125,  609. 

France,  341. 

Germany,  74,  441,  688,  692. 

Great  Britain,  75,  223. 

Poland,  471. 

Scandinavia,  498. 

United  States,  129. 
Industry  in  Prison-life,  107,  147. 

For  a  Reformatory  end,  432,  698. 
Infant  Nurseries,  339,  607. 
Infant  Schools,  339,  692. 
Insane  Criminals,  Separate  Asylums,  63,  172,  335. 

Originating  in  the  Discipline,  447. 
Insanity  and  Crime,  647. 
Insensibility  of  Criminals,  Moral,  647. 
Inspection,  Official,  173,  507,  623,  666. 

Unofficial  but  authorized,  241,  242,  624. 
Instinctive  Nature  of  each  Criminal,  652. 
Institutional  Life,  and  the  Family,  139,  683,  696. 
Instruction  to  Prisoners,  96,  325. 

Industrial,  151,  158,  357,608. 

Intellectual  and  Literary,  102,  356,  395,  665,  698. 

Moral,  100,  356,  664,  698. 

Religious,  too,  333,  356,  395,  698. 
Intellectual  Knowledge  and  Crime,  647. 
Intemperance  and  Crime,  272. 
Intermediate  Prison  System,  236,  237,  325,  406. 

Experience  at  Luskand  Golden  Bridge,  236. 
International  Prison  Congresses,  42. 

Brussels,  44. 

Frankfort,  434. 

London,  45. 

Stockholm,  57. 
Intimidation,  39.  685. 
Intoxication  in  Norway,  522. 
Iowa,  Prisons  and  Reformatories,  178. 

School-house  within  Prison  precincts,  180. 
Ireland,  Penal  and  Reformatory  System,  232. 

Crofton  or  Irish  System,  233,  409. 
Modifications,  410. 

Irons,  491.  [643, 

Irregular  Action  of  the  Moral  Sentiments  in  Crime] 
Isolation  of  Prisoners,  158,  616. 

Accused  and  waiting  for  Trial,  456. 
Italy,  Prisons  and  Penal  System,  xvi.,  481-490. 
Early  Movements,  Pope  Clement,  7,  66. 
Normal  School  for  Prison  Officers,  487,  489. 

Juvenile  Prisons,  Patronage  Societies,  489. 

JAILS,  115,  148,  612. 

Reconstruction  necessary,  612. 
Jamaica,  Prison  System,  257. 
fapan,  Prison  System,  595. 
Tebb,  Captain  J.,  Pentonville  Prison,  28. 
ewish  Faith  respected,  428. 
oliet  Penitentiary,  171. 
_  ournal  of  Prison  Work,  499. 
Judas,  Overseer  in  Magas  Prison,  346. 
Julius,  Dr.,  Visit  to  American  Prisons,  404,  407. 
Jurisdiction,  National  and  State,  87,  413. 

American  difficulty,  87. 


German,  403,  413. 

Russian,  413. 
Juvenile  Crime  and  Offenders,  80,  113. 

Disproportionate  excess  over  adult,  626. 

French  Code,  63,  350. 

Special  Treatment,  64,  625. 
Home,  Instruction,  Work,  Aid,  64,  350. 

Experience  of  different  countries,  398. 

Patronage  Society  for  Liberated  Juveniles,  350. 
Juvenile  Prisons,  Examples,  7,  349,  502,  625. 

England,  Parkhurst,  78,  79. 

Reformatories  practically  Prisons,  Places  of  Con- 
finement, 349. 

Elmira  Reformatory,  97,  152. 

KANSAS,  Prisons  and  Jails,  180. 

Labor  managed  by  State,  181. 
Kentucky,  Prison  System,  205. 

Lease-Labor  System,  112. 

Juvenile  Reformatory  at  Louisville,  206. 
Kicki,  Count,  Bequest  to  Industrial  Asylum,  474. 
Kingsmill,  Prison  Work  at  Pentonville,  2^. 
Kirwan,  Mrs.,  Women's  Intermediate  Prison,  237. 

Liberty,  Confidence,  and  Work,  237. 

Kitchen,  Garden,  Laundry,  238. 
Knowledge,  apart  from  Moral  Sentiments,  647. 
Koranic  Law,  and  Crime,  582. 

LABOR,  Prisoners,  n,  107,  337,  357,  508,  622. 

Unintelligent  and  Unproductive,  652. 

Penal,  or  Hard,  for  punishment,  106,  286,  373,  436. 

Productive  and  Useful,  106,  158,  286,  322,  357. 

Reformatory,  151,  321,  627,  698. 

Individual  isolated,  104,  158. 

Silent  and  Associate,  373,  457,  652. 
Labor  System,  106-112. 

Profitable  to  Prison,  106,  108. 

Participation  in  Earnings  by  prisoner,  151. 
Family  or  Children,  158,  698. 
Reserved  till  Discharged,  230. 

Disposed  of  by  Auction,  412. 

Contract  System,  108,  483. 

Lease  System,  in. 

State  Management,  108,  418,  522. 
Labuan,  Prison,  299. 
Lama,  Dr.  T.,  Penitentiary  at  Lima,  562. 
Lamarque,  Jules  de,  338. 
Lambelet,  M.,  Bequest  for  Girls'  Asylum,  527. 
La  Petite  Roquette  Prison,  349. 

Saddest  Spectacle  in  Paris,  350. 
La  Sant(5,  the  Model  Prison  of  Paris,  349. 
Lash,  painful  and  disgraceful,  99. 

Gradual  and  general  disuse,  24,  99. 
Lastres,  Senor,  Prison  Reforms  in  Spain,  384. 
Latimer,  London  Prison  in  1550,  6. 
Lease  System  of  Prison  Labor,  in,  191,  200. 

Abuses,  112,  320. 
Lectures  to  Prisoners,  99,  137. 
Liberty,  its  attractions,  653,  654. 

Moral  Free-will,  656. 

Deprivation,  reasons  for,  663. 
Liberia,  Prisons,  575. 
Legislation  respecting  Criminals,  60. 
Liberated  Prisoners,  62,  359,  487,  645. 

Need  sympathy,  advice,  and  money,  122. 

Public  distrust,  686. 

Libraries  for  Prisons,  102,  353,  355>  4«»  425*  45*- 
Lichtenstern,  under  Herr  Volter,  691. 
Literary  and  Moral  Instruction,  395. 
Livingston,  E.,  Code,  23,  126. 
Livy,  Prisons  of  Old  Rome,  5. 
Lodging-house  for  Vagrants,  128. 
Local  Council  of  Supervision,  353. 
Locality  of  Reformatories,  697. 

Lock-up,  or  City  Stations  for  detention,  117,  186,611. 
London  Prisons  and  Prison  Reforms,  6. 

Philanthropic  Society,  19,  76,  778. 

Prison  Discipline  Society,  1815,  18,  19. 

Ragged  School  Union,  225. 

International  Prison  Congress,  45. 
American  propositions,  49 ;  Modifications,  54. 


716 


INDEX. 


Louvain  Penitentiary,  42,  362. 

Love,  an  Agent  of  Discipline,  ir,  618. 

In  Humane  Activity,  657,  687. 
Liibec,  Prisons,  442. 
Lucas,  Charles,  Principles,  38. 

Publications,  37,  38. 
Lusk,  Irish  Intermediate  Prison,  236. 
Lynde,  Elam,  109. 

MACAULAY,  Lord,  Prison  Reform  in  India,  314. 
Mack,  Mr.  and  Mrs.,  Orphans'  Home,  142. 
Maconochie,  A,  Prison  Discipline,  32,  106,  614,  637. 

Indeterminate  Sentence,  619,  621. 
Maiming  and  torture,  491. 
Maine,  Penal  and  Reformatory  System,  145. 

Influence  of  the  Maine  Law,  145. 
Malta,  Prisons  and  Lock-ups,  288. 
Mark-System  for  Progressive  Classification,  33,  310. 

Applied  at  Ehnira,  97. 

Martin,  Henry,  Duty  of  Society  to  Children,  475. 
Maryland,  Prisons  and  Reformatories,  211. 

Preventive  Institutions  and  Agencies,  212. 
Massachusetts,  Penal  and  Reformatory  System,  133. 

Boston  Prison  Discipline  Society,  1824,  19. 

State-Prison  at  Charlestown,  Concord,  91. 

State  Workhouse  at  Bridgewater,  134. 

State  Primary  School  for  Abandoned  Children,  135. 

Women's  Prison  at  Sherburne,  134. 

Reform  School  for  Boys,  135. 

Industrial  School  for  Girls,  135.  [135. 

Farm  Schools,  and  other  Preventive  Institutions, 

Truant   Schools,    Visiting  Agency,   Orphan    Asy- 
lums, 136. 

Materialism  a  Cause  of  Crime,  434. 
Maximum  and  Minimum  Sentences,  630. 
Mazas  Prison,  Paris,  Cellular,  346. 
Meat  in  Prison  Diet,  120. 

Medical  Service  of  Prisons,  Superintendent,  242. 
Mercer,  A.,  Adult  Reformatory  for  Women,  250. 
Mettray  and  DeMetz,  82,  341. 

Based  on  certain  Principles,  342. 
Mexico,  Prison  System,  533. 
Michigan,  Penal  and  Reformatory  Work,  161. 

Prisons,  Houses  of  Correction,  Jails,  161. 

Reform  School,  162. 

Public  School,  and  Home  for  Waifs,  162. 

Visiting  Agencies  for  Young  Delinquents,  163. 
Middletown,  Girls'  Industrial  School,  139,  610. 
Military  Discipline,  376,  636. 
Military  Prisons,  344,  398 
Mill,  John  Stuart,  cited,  241. 
Minimization  of  Crime,  605. 
Minnesota,  Prison  System,  177. 
Minority,  Division  into  three  Periods,  470. 
Minors  exposed  to  Temptation,  64. 

Large  Proportion  of  Criminal  Population,  471,  626. 

Special  Prison  and  Treatment,  626. 
Mississippi,  Prison  System,  196. 
Missouri,  Prisons  and  Reformatories,  201. 
Mittermaier,  405. 
Moabit  Prison,  near  Berlin,  414. 
Molesworth,  Sir  W.,  Transportation,  30 
Monitor,  substitute  for  House-father,  401. 

Employed  by  Maconochie  and  Montesinos,  637. 
Montesinos,  Reformatory  Work  in  Spain,  30,  637.. 
Montesquieu,  Spirit  of  Laws,  9. 
Moral  Amelioration  of  great  Criminals,  652. 
Moral  Anomalies  in  Crime,  644. 
Moral  Biography,  Classification  by,  360. 
Moral  Forces  versus  Physical,  51,  99,  172,  237,  017. 
Moral  Instruction  and  Agencies,  336,  356. 
Moral  Sense  or  Conscience,  645. 
Morey,  Motive  on  Labor  Contractors,  in,  194,  199. 
Morocco,  Prisons,  578. 
Mortality,  326. 

Moscow,  Prison  System  of  Sollohub,  33. 
Moses,  Ordinances  respecting  Children,  68. 
Motives  in  a  good  Life,  96,  155,  621. 
Mottoes  on  Walls  of  Prisons,  402. 
Mouat,  Intermediate  Imprisonment,  326. 
Mullen,  W.  J.,  Philadelphia  Prison  Society,  122. 


Munich,  Obermaier  Reforms,  32,  422. 
Mumford,  Colonel,  Volunteer  Work,  204. 
Murder,  Difficulties  for  Conviction  of,  176. 

Death-Penalty,  and  Life  or  Term  of  Years,  176. 
Murray,  Miss,  Victoria  Asylum,  78. 
Music  for  Amusement  and  Devotion,  182. 

Reformatory  Agency,  148,  698. 
Mutual  Corruption  in  Prison  Association,  38. 

NATAL,  Prison,  282. 

National  Prisons  in  United  States,  100. 

National  Prison  Reform  Conventions,  45. 

Associations,  46. 
Naval  Prisons,  344. 
Nebraska,  Prisons,  182. 
Neglected  Children,  Asylums,  130,  132,  427. 

German  System,  by  Dr.  Holls,  688. 
Netherlands  Mettray,  84,  400. 
Netherlands,  Reforms  by  Maria  Theresa,  10. 
Nevis,  Prison,  279. 

New  Brunswick,  Prisons  and  Jails,  253. 
New  Caledonia,  Penal  Colony,  344- 
New  England  States,  Prisons,  133. 
Newfoundland,  Prisons,  251. 
Newgate  Prison,  Connecticut,  32. 
Newgate  Prison,  London,  6,  20. 
New  Hampshire,  Penal  and  Reformatory  System,  142. 

Orphans'  Home  on  the  Webster  Homestead,  142. 
New  Jersey,  Prison  and  Reformatory  System,  154. 

Trial  of  Cellular  System,  25. 

Family  System  of  Reformatories,  156. 
New  York  City,  Reformatory  Work,  80,  125. 

Child-Saving  Work,  127. 

Female  Guardian  Society,  127. 
New  York,  State  System  of  Prisons,  149. 

Reformatory  and  Preventive,  125,  154. 

Inspection,  State  Officers,  100. 
Unofficial  but  Authorized,  241. 

System  with  Discharged  Prisoners,  122. 

State  Industrial  Reformatory.  97,  152. 
News-Boys'  Lodging- Houses  in  New  York,  128. 
New  South  Wales,  Prison  System,  301. 
Newspapers  admitted,  439. 
New  Zealand,  Prison  System,  294. 
Nomenclature,  148,  329,  405. 
Norfolk  Island,  Maconochie's  Work,  631. 
Normal  School  for  Prison  Officers,  62,  66,  669. 

Preventive  Institutions,  342,  691. 

Prison  Teachers,  401. 
North  Carolina,  Prisons,  201. 

Labor  System,  202. 
Norway,  Prison  System,  513. 

Classes,  Administration,  Treatment,  514. 
Nova  Scotia,  Prisons,  253. 
Numbers,  Sympathy  of,  105. 

Should  not  exceed  individual  attention,  38,  64. 
Nya-Varfort,  Model  Juvenile  Prison,  502. 

OUTRUN,  Pastor,  Infant  Schools,  339. 
Obermaier,  Prison  Reform  at  Munich,  32,  422. 
Occupations  in  Prison,  235,  419,  608. 
Officers,  62,  93,  354,  624,  669. 

Gradation  in  Rank  and  Responsibility,  51. 

Qualities  of  Character,  62,  430,  616. 

Qualifications,  no,  285,  414,  502,  624. 

Training,  55,  65,  246,  342,  624,  669. 

Trial,  426,  503,  675. 

Appointment,  100,  150,  160,  42I»  426« 

Tenure,  no,  150,  428. 

Salaries,  51,  62,  94,  66q. 

Pensions,  419. 

Examples  of  Good,  29,  104,  145,  207,  515. 
Oglethorpe,  Gen.,  Reforms  in  1728,  3. 
Ohio,  Penal  and  Reformatory  System,  164. 

Prisons,  Houses  of  Correction,  Jails,  164. 

Juvenile  Refuge-home   for  Girls,  165. 

State  Reform  Farm,  166,  697. 

Asylums,  County,  Industrial  Schools.  167. 
Ontario  Province,  Prison  System,  250. 

Industrial  Prison  for  Women,  250. 
Oral  Methods  and  Conversations  with  Adults,  505. 


INDEX. 


717 


Oregon,  Prisons  and  Jails,  186. 
Organization  of  Penal  System,  95,  622. 

Defects  in  United  States,  95. 

Excellent  Specimens,  499. 
Organized  Persuasion,  617. 
Orphans  and  Destitute  Children,  69,  498,  512,  607. 

Family  Placing,  129,  135. 

Special  Institutions  home-like,  73,  131. 

Private  Resources  and  Management,  175. 

Public  Aid  and  Inspection,  223. 

Examples,  137,  142,  163,  165. 
Oscar,  Prince,  Punishments  and  Prisons,  34. 

Practical  Application  as  King,  35. 
Oslebshausen  Prison,  Radiating  Cellular,  434. 
Out-of-prison  Work,  452,  519. 
Outsiders  and  Criminals,  477. 

PAIN  and  Suffering  as  motives  to  be  good,  635.  [654. 
Parable  of  the  Good  Shepherd  in  prison  treatment, 
Pardons,  Executive,  119,  379,  459>  542- 

Conditional,  1 19,  458. 
Parental  Duty  and  Neglect,  224,  679. 

Hebrew  Book  of  the  Law,  67. 

Responsibility  for  Expense  of  Minors,  224. 
Paris,  Prison  System,  345. 
Parkhurst  Juvenile  Prison,  78,  79. 
Parkington,  Sir  J.,  Lord  Hampton,  56. 
Participation  of  Earnings  by  Prisoners,  123,  510. 

Salutary  Influence,  124. 
Patronage  Societies,  41,  338,  675,  687. 

For  Females  Discharged,  338,  351. 

State  Aid,  678. 

Paul,  Sir  George  O.,  Reform  in  1790,  15. 
Pauper  Children,  Scotch  system  of  placing,  225. 
Peculium,  333,  45°,  653. 
Peel,  Sir  Robert,  18. 

Penalties,  Assimilation  versus  Classification,  665. 
Penitentiary,  original  meaning,  191. 
Penitentiary  Question,  39,  661. 
Penitentiary  Journal,  Copenhagen,  499. 
Penitentiary  Reform,  23,  61,  158,  159. 
Penal  Codes  and  Prison  Practice,  35,  60,  365. 
Penal  Colonies,  French,  344. 
Penal  Labor,  106,  286,  337. 
Pennsylvania,  Penal  and  Reformatory  System,  157. 

System  of  Individual  Treatment,  25,  90. 

Western  Penitentiary,  26. 
Pensions  for  Prison  Officers,  419. 
Pentonville  Prison,  28. 
Persia,  Prisons,  582. 

Persuaders  and  Organized  Persuasion,  50,  638. 
Personal  Influence  of  Prison  Teacher,  506. 
Peru,  Prison  System,  560. 
Perversity  in  Criminal  Courses,  39,  652. 
Pestalozzi,  Henry,  Child-saving  Work,  690. 
Pestalozzi  Asylums,  441. 
Petersen,  R.,  Christiania  Penitentiary,  515. 
Philadelphia,  Prison  Work,  22,  25,  157. 

Society  to  Ameliorate  Miseries  1776,  19,  121. 

House  of  Refuge,  80. 

Cellular  System,  25,  29,  158.  [159- 

Abandoned  in  Pittsburgh  Western  Penitentiary, 
Philanthropic  Society?  London,  1788,  19,  76. 
Photography  and  Registry  of  Criminals,  633. 
Physical  Force  versus  Moral,  99. 
Pillory,  Stocks,  Whipping,  Branding,   22,  23. 
Pilsbury,  Father  and  Son,  89,  109,  622. 
•  Grandson,  151. 

Pistole,  a  Privileged  Class,  353.  [26. 

Pittsburgh  Western  Penitentiary,  Trial  of  Systems, 
Plato,  Ideal  Prison  System,  4. 
Plays  in  Child-saving  Institution,  699. 
Plutarch,  Ancient  Prisons,  4. 
Poland,  Prisons  and  Reformatories,  470, 

Child-saving  Institution,  470,  475. 

Model  Organization,  471,  472. 
Police,  co-operation  with  voluntary  efforts,  65,  246. 

International  Action,  684. 
Politics,  in  Prison  Administration,  109,  605,  620. 

Modes  of  Avoidance,  150,  606,  610. 
Pope  Clement  XL,  Prison  Reformer,  7,  659. 


Portugal  Penal  System,  476. 

Short-comings  and  Abuses,  477-479. 
Powell,  Birmingham  Asylum,  78. 
Powers,  Gershom,  109. 

Premiums  and  Prizes  for  Good  Conduct,  395,  435. 
Prevention,  213,  225,  607. 
Preventive  Institutions,  144,  212,  343,  607,  682. 

Governmental,  Voluntary,  Combined,  607. 

Action  of  Stockholm  Congress,  63. 

American  Children's  Aid  Societies,  127,  130. 

Belgium  and  Holland,  363,  400. 

French  System,  341,  343.  [700. 

German  Systems  of  Family  Institutions,  688,  693, 

Great  Britain,  vast  System  and  Results,  223,  608. 

Poland,  early  and  recent  Establishments,  470,  474. 

Scandinavian  States,  498,  512,  524. 

Italy,  484. 

Prison-bird,  Odium  of  Imprisonment,  19. 
Private  Charity  in  Reformatory  Work,  678,  689. 
,    Initiative  and  Management,  610. 

Aided  and  Inspected  by  State,  610. 
Privileges  of  Prisoners,  496,  638,  671. 

Correspondence  with  Friends,  638. 

Monitors  and  Assistants,  637. 

More  Generous  Diet,  62. 

Out  of  Prison  Work,  and  less  Restraint,  452. 

Participation  in  Earnings,  34,  555. 

Shortening  of  Sentence,  417. 

Transferrence  to  less  coercive  Prison,  418. 
Probationary  Discharge,  494. 
Probationary  Stage  of  Confinement,  458. 
Proclivity  to  Crime,  Educational  Restraint,  644. 
Progressive  Classification,  289,  460,  486. 

Results,  490,  495,  550. 

Providence,  R.  I.,  Prevention  and  Reform,  137. 
Protection  of  Society,  54,  144,  613. 
Protestant  Brotherhoods  for  Christian  Work,  415. 
Provisional  Liberation,  300,  317. 
Prussia,  Prison  System,  411. 
Psychological  or  Soul  Faculties,  648. 
Psychology  of  the  Criminal,  642. 

Moral  Anomalies,  Feebleness  or  Absence,  645. 
Publication  of  Official  Reports,  45. 
Public  Opinion,  Institutional,  35,  105,  244,  361. 
Punishment,  in  Prison,  end  of,  38,  54,  613,  620. 

Dark  Cell,  Bread  and  Water,  362. 

Penal  or  Hard  Labor,  106. 

Corporal  Punishment,  the  Lash,  99. 

Reprimand,  417. 

Deprivation  of  Privileges,  417,  671. 

Treadmill,  417. 

Irons,  Stocks,  Branding,  22. 

Bastinado,  376,  583. 

Torture,  22. 

QUEENSLAND,  Prisons,  311. 

RADIATING  Blocks  of  Cells,  415. 
Ragged  School  Union,  225. 
Raune  Haus,  near  Hamburg,  693. 

General  Principles  and  Results,  693. 

Pensionate  or  Boarding  Pupils,  698. 

Brothers  for  Prison  Work,  4 19. 

Results  in  Germany,  700.  ^ 
Raumer,  Charles  von>  Destitute  Children,  692. 
Read  and  Write,  ability  to,  158. 
Reading  Prison,  1844,  29- 
Reading-room,  Prison,  99. 
Recidivists,    Relapses.  337,  484,  520,  687. 
Reconvictions  and  Cumulative  Sentences,   116,  261, 

421,  422. 
Record  of  Criminal  Convictions,  360. 

Causes,  Conditions,  Persistence,  360. 

Marks  in  Irish  System,  235. 
Recreations  at  Noon,  422. 
Reduction  of  Prison  Term,  620. 

Motive,  and  Reward  of  Good  Conduct,  96,  155,  621. 
Reformation  of  Criminal,  29,  120. 
Reformation  Sentences,  627. 
Reformatory  Schools,  610,  672. 

Origin,  73,  125. 


7i8 


INDEX. 


Not  Families,  but  Institutions,  696. 

Inmates  received  on  Sentence  of  Court,  173,  679. 

Belgium,  363. 

England,  19,  225. 

France,  338,  343. 

Germany,  73,  687. 

Ireland,  239. 

United  States,  125,  166. 

Results,  126,  141,  224,  610. 
Reform  of  Prisons,  1-68. 
Reform  the  end  in  Farm  School,  341,  366. 
Registers  of  Criminals,  and  Photography,  633. 
Rehabilitation,  24,  49,  287. 
Reinthaler,  C.,  the  Martinstift  at  Erfurt,  690. 
Relapse  of  Reformed,  136.  137,  229,  415,  603,  665,  685. 

How  to  combat,  685. 
Religion  in  Reformatory  Work,  55,  100,  622,  653,  698. 

Convictions  respected,  64,  451,  693. 
Religious  Instruction,  100,  170,  699 

Belgium,  356. 

England,  221. 

France,  336. 

Germany,  690,  699. 

Ireland,  234,  239. 

Scotland,  229. 

United  States,  99,  141. 

Religious  Men  in  Prison  Administration,  415. 
Repeated  Commitments,  52,  397,  687. 
Rescue  Institutions,  498,  512. 
Resistance  of  the  Prisoner  to  Discipline,  663. 
Resident  Chaplain,  ior. 

Responsibility  of  Children  for  their  Acts,  682. 
Retribution,  in  Discipline,  49. 
Reuss,  Prison  System,  443. 
Rewards,  System,  49,  336,  360. 
Rhode  Island,  Penal  and  Preventive  Institutes,  136. 

Trial  and  Abandonment  of  Cellular  System,  26. 

State-Farm  Prison  School  at  Cranston,  137. 

Pnsoners'-Aid  Friends  Society,  Nursery,  &c.,  138. 
Right  and  Wrong,  Knowledge  of,  679. 

How  far  Intuition,  679. 

When  sufficient,  689. 
Rijsselt,  Netherland  Mettray,  400. 
Rome,  Ancient,  4  ;  Modern,  490. 
Royal  Commission  on  Convict  Prisons,  1878,  240. 
Rush,  Benjamin,  Criminals  can  be  reformed,  154. 
Russia,  Penal  and  Reformatory  System,  472. 

Banishment  to  Siberia,  462,  466 
Rutland,  Vt.,  House  of  Correction,  148. 
Ruysselede  Farm-school,  364. 

SAFE-KEEPING,  Accused  and  Witnesses,  38,  115. 
Salaries  of  Officers,  94. 
Sallust,  Prisoners  of  Rome,  5. 
Sampson  at  work  in  Prison,  54,  120. 
Sandwich  Islands,  569. 
Sanitary  Conditions,  54,  120,  240. 
Santa  Lucia  Prison,  271. 
Saving  and  Protection,  67,  131. 
Savings-banks  in  Children's  Aid  Society,  127. 
Savoy,  Despine's  Work,  32. 
Saxony,  Prison  System,  424. 
Scandinavian  Countries,  xvi.,  491-524. 

Denmark,  491  ;  Sweden,  499;  Norway,  513. 

Labor  System  different  in  each,  522. 
Scarbet,  Count  F.,  Neglected  Children,  1837,  47°- 
Schools  versus  Prisons,  224,  487. 
Schools  and  education  in  relation  to  Crime,  224,  482. 

Day  or  Evening,  in  Prison,  98,  179,  355,  423. 

School-mistress  for  Women,  507,  482. 

School-masters,  Resident,  409,  506. 

Model  Methods  in  Sweden,  505. 
Science-study  of  Crime,  Despine,  649-660. 
Science-treatment  of  Criminality,  641,  650. 

In  harmony  with  Moral,  655. 
Scourging,  99. 
Scotland,  Transitional  Condition,  228. 

Prisons,  Perth,  Paisley,  Ayr,  228,  251. 

County  Jails,  Chaplains,  Schools,  Libraries,  229. 

Longer  Sentences,  230. 

Aid  on  leaving  by  instalments,  230. 


Payments  proportionate  to  Behavior,  230. 

Child-saving,  Insane  Prisoners,  232. 
Seaside  Summer  Excursions,  129. 
Seiss,  M.,  Prison  teacher  and  correspondent,  519. 
Self-help,  50,  55,  145,  236. 
Self-interest,  49,  237,  618,  645. 
Self-respect,  50,  245,  618. 
Sentences,  long  or  short,  109,  119,  261,  619. 

Maximum  fixed  by  States,  619. 

Minimum  until  Reformation,  627. 

Discretion  of  Court,  119,  353. 

Determined  by  Administrators,  114,  620. 

Subject  to  Executive  Clemency,  119. 
Examples,  France,  332. 

Practically  determined  by  prisoner's  reformation, 

Separate  Cells  at  all  times,  91,  114,  346,  352. 

Sequestration  an  element  in  punishment,  651. 

Seward,  W.  H.,  23. 

Sewerage  and  Sewer-gas,  421. 

Sex,  in  crime  and  exposure,  24,  94,  694. 

Prison,  63,  64. 

Treatment,  63. 

Asylums,  143,  693. 
Short  Sentences,  252,  518. 
Silence  and  Solitude,  8,  673. 

First  Stage  of  Penal  Treatment,  614. 
Siam,  Jail  and  Punishments,  581. 
Siberia,  Banishment  to,  462,  469. 
Size  of  Prison,  93,  102,  106,  116. 
Sisters  of  Charity,  237,  331,  540,  549. 
Slaves,  Imprisonment,  504. 
Sleep,  511. 

Snedaker,  Kentucky  Penitentiary,  199. 
Social  condition  of  inmates  of  Reformatories,  687, 

Socialistic  Movement,  441. 

Social  Nature,  104,  106,  159,  361,  614,  652. 

Societies  for  Prison  Reform,  18,  23. 

England,  17,  19. 

France,  36. 

Holland,  398. 

Spain,  382. 

Switzerland,  43. 

United  States,  23. 

Society  and  Crime,  53,  72,  82,  615,  686. 
Socrates,  Prison  Life,  3. 
Soldiers'  Orphans,  Asylums  and  Homes,  142. 
Solitary  Confinement,  64,  104,  243. 

Not  suitable  to  Criminals  of  moral  infirmity,  652. 
Solitude  and  Silence,  16,  674. 
Sollohub,  Count,  Reforms  at  Moscow,  33,  46,  361. 
South  American  States,  Prison  Systems,  547. 
South  Australia,  Prisons,  304. 
South  Carolina,  Prisons  and  Jails,  196. 
Southern  States,  188-213. 

Lease  System  of  Labor,  197,  200. 

Neglect  of  Schools  and  Education,  192. 
Spain,  Penal  System,  365,  383. 

Wretched  Condition,  365-379. 

Montesinos'  Labors,  31,  375. 
State  Aid  to  Discharged  Prisoners,  192,  433. 
Stat^  Central  Authority,  606. 
State  (in  United  States)  Penal  Institutions,  133. 

Prisons  and  Administration,  120,  606. 

Reformatories,  126. 

Workhouses,  114. 

Asylums  and  Farms  for  Neglected  Children,  127. 
Station  Houses,  92. 

Statistics  of  Prisons,  56,  62,  90,  126,  133,  633,  667. 
St.  Augustine,  St.  Basil,  St.  Chrysostom,  70. 
St.  Helena,  Prison,  288. 
St.  Hubert  Juvenile  Prison,  363. 
St.  Kevin,  Reformatory  in  Ireland,  239. 
St.  Kits  Prison,  279. 
St.  Lazare  Prison,  for  Women,  348. 
St.  Michael,  Juvenile  Prison  at  Rome,  7. 
St.  Paul's  doctrine  of  the  Conscience  seared,  658. 
St.  Vincent  Prison,  265. 

Stevens,  Inspector-general  of  Prisons,  42,  360. 
Stockholm,  International  Congress,  1878,  57. 


INDEX. 


Stocks,  Irons,  Pillory,  Torture,  3,  22. 
Straits  Settlement,  Prisons,  297. 
Studzieniec,  Farm-School  after  Mettray,  474. 
Suffering  or  Pain,  Memory  of,  685. 
Sunday,  101,  137,  179. 
Sunday  Occupation,  101,  451,  700. 

Bible  Class,  101. 

Moral  Lectures,  137,  656. 

Preaching  or  Mass,  420,  428. 

Visits  from  Friends,  451. 

Volunteer  Workers,  420. 
Sunday  School,  101,  137,  179. 
Superintendent,  State,  100,  606. 

Institutions,  371,  507,  606. 
Supervision,  too  minute,  639. 
Support,  Earnings  of  Prisoners,  416,  425,  433. 

Appropriation  by  State,  416. 

Prisoners  direct  payment,  416,  442. 
Suringar,  W.  H.,  Netherlands,  Mettray,  84,  398,  968. 
Sweden,  Penal  System,  341,  499,  501. 

Royal  Administrator,  499. 

Selection  and  Training  of  Prison  Officers,  503. 

Instruction,  Teachers  and  Methods,  504,  505. 
Switzerland,  Progress  in  Prison  Work,  526. 
Sympathy  and  Encouragement,  122,  562,  608,  695. 
Systems  and  Modifications,  92. 

Auburn,  or  Congregate,  215,  217. 

Crofton,  or  Irish,  32. 

Maconochie,  32. 

Pennsylvania,  26,  42,  63. 

Absence  of  any  and  all,  114. 

Ideal  System,  605. 

TALLACK,  Howard  Association,  243. 
Tasmania,  Penal  System,  312. 
Tauffer,  Emile,  Progressive  System,  455. 
Tenderness  and  Justice  Combined,  618. 
Tenure  of  Office,  150,  248. 

Bearing  on  the  Labor  Question,  no. 
Tennessee,  Prison  System,  207. 

Lease  System  of  Labor,  208. 
Term  of  Sentence,  Average,  119. 

Shortened  by  good  behavior,  38,  97. 

Classified  for  Punishment  and  Reformation,  614. 
Test  or  trial  of  reformatory  work,  615. 
Texas,  Prisons,  189. 
Theft,  44. 

American  Criminals,  112. 
Thiers,  M.,  Infant  Schools,  340. 
Thompson,  Prison  Cruelties,  1730,  8. 
Ticket-of-leave  Men,  300,  317. 
Tobacco  in  Prison,  270,  423,  511. 
Tocqueville,  Alexander  De,  109,  in,  115. 
Tofte-gift,  Farm  School,  524. 
Torture,  3. 

Chinese  Criminal  Treatment,  592. 
Trade-depression  and  Disturbance,  113. 
Trade-instruction  for  Children,  608. 
Trades,  followed  by  Criminals,  107,  419,  452, 652. 

Acquisition  of,  in  Prison,  33,  107,  158,  286,  357. 
Training  of  Prison  Officers,  342,  355,  691. 

Reformatory  Officers,  503. 

Preventive  Work,  415,  691. 

Tramps,  115.  [474, 

Trajeuski,  Teacher  of  Polish   Model  Reformatory, 
Transportation-penalty,  30,  344,  666. 

Abrogation,  30. 

Used  as  a  Reward,  470,  471. 

Transference  from  one  Prison  to  another,  485,  628. 
Treadmill,  Cubitt,  21,  321. 

Unknown  in  American  Prisons,  106. 
Trial,  Delay  of,  479. 

Separation  from  Convicts,  92. 
Trinidad  Prisons,  262. 
Truants  and  Truant  Schools,  135,  156. 
Turkey,  Prisons  and  Lock-ups,  385-391. 

Letter  of  Minister  at  Washington, 385. 
Turks  Island,  Prison,  278. 

VAGRANTS,  male  and  female,  in  N.  Y.  City,  130. 


Streets  free  in  School  Hours,  131. 
Valencia  Prison,  Montesinos'  Reform,  30. 
Vancouver  Island,  Prison,  254. 
Vander  Recke,  Count,  Dusselthal  Reformatory,  691. 
Vaux,  R.,  Individual  Treatment  System,  158,  159. 
Ventilation  and  other  Sanitary  Conditions,  54,  120. 
Victoria,  Irish  Prison  System,  307. 
Vilain,  Viscount,  Ghent  Prison,  1 1. 
Virgin  Island  Prison,  279. 
Virginia,  Prison  System,  203. 
Visiting  Agency  for  Juveniles,  135,  163. 
Visitors,  authorized,  but  unofficial,  241. 

Official,  242,  359,  497. 

Friendly  and  Family,  54,  536,  638. 

Medical  Officers,  242. 

Associations,  19. 

Voluntary  Associated  Preventive  Work,  609,  610. 
Volunteer  Prison  Workers,  24,  54,  108. 

City  Lock-ups  and  Station-houses,  118. 

Excluded,  425.  [694. 

Volter,    Ludovicus,    Child-saving    Institutions,   692, 
Von  Raumer,  Charles,  Child- saving  School,  692. 

WAKEFIELD,  Refuge  for  Discharged  Prisoners,  227. 
Wardens,  183,  284. 

Supreme  as  to  Discipline  and  Contractors,  628. 

Examples  of  Success,  145,  172,  207,  290,  515. 
Warwickshire  Asylum  for  Juvenile  Offenders,  78. 
Washburn,  Gov.,  Abrogating  Death-penalty,  176. 
Waukesha  Industrial  School,  175. 
Wayland,  Francis,  Prison-reform  Institute,  705. 
Werner,  Gustavus,  Child-saver,  692. 
Wesleys  and  the  Godly  Club,  Prison  Work,  9. 
West  Australia,  Prisons,  311. 
Westborough,  State  Reform  School,  126. 
West  Virginia,  Penal  Institutions,  164. 
Webster,  Daniel,  and  the  Old  Home,  142,  144 
Wethersfield,  State-prison,  ij8. 
Whately,  R.,  Primary  Object  of  Punishment,  29. 

Indeterminate  Sentences,  619. 
Whipping,  24,  99,  289. 

Wichern,  J.  W.,  Child-saving  Work,  55,  341,  688. 
Wilkinson,  Maryland,  State-prison,  211.  [615. 

Will  of  Prisoner  and  his  Reformer  Coincident,  50, 

Examples  of  highest  Success,  518. 
Windsor,  Vt.,  State-prison,  147. 
Wines,  E.  C,  State  of  Prisons,  Preface,  Death,  iii. 

Crime,  its  Causes  and  Cure,  641. 

International  Prison  Congress,  46. 

Ideal  System  of  Crime-prevention,  605. 

Prison-reform  Institute,  703. 
Wisconsin  Prisons,  Reformatories,  Asylums,  173. 

State  Board  of  Charities,  Women  Members,  173. 

Death-penalty  abolished,  more  Convictions,  176. 

Industrial  School  for  Girls  and  Boys,  175. 

Orphan  Asylums,  Denominational,  175. 
Wistar,  Richard,  and  Philadelphia  Society,  121. 
Women,  as  Criminals  in  Proportion  to  Men,  102,  416. 

Treatment  in  Special  Prisons.  137,  630,  378. 

Superintendents  of  Female  Convicts,  135,  237. 

Examples  of  Heroic  Devotion,  135,  143. 

Child-saving  Work,  55. 

Participators  in  International  Congresses,  54. 

Members  of  Prison  Boards,  133,  155. 

Special  Prison  at  Sherborn,  Mass.,  134. 

Other  Special  Prisons,  227,  377. 
Woolsey,  T.  D.,  Prison-reform  Institute,  704. 
Work,  Steady,  healthful  and  useful,  55,  107,  698. 

Calculated  to  Reform,  436. 
Workhouses  for  Vagrants,  Inebriates,  etc.,  1 14. 

Examples,  164. 
Wiirtemberg  Prison  System,  427. 

Child-saving  Institutions,  692. 
Wurtz,  P.  I.,  Home  for  Children  at  Neuhof,  692. 

YARDS  turned  into  Gardens,  519. 

Young  criminals,  special  treatment,  64,  350,  625. 

ZELLER,  C.  H.,  at  Beuggen,  690,  691. 

Zuickau  Penitentiary,  Individual  Treatment,  424. 


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